# Get ready to die anytime



## Thexxaxx

may I ask how to translate the following into Latin?

"Get ready to die anytime"

Or

"Live like get ready to die anytime"


Million thanks!


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## Naemnik

Hm... would semper vive quasi moriturus (always live as if soon to die) work for you?


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## Thexxaxx

Is there a way to translate the exact meaning? or it is impossible to do so in Latin?

thanks a lot for help!


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## Naemnik

It's a jargon sort of phrase in english. It's not something one can translate into other languages directly (but probably some languages have similar idioms.)

However, there is a way to make it a little more literal. _Mortem caveto_, or "always be on guard against death."
 If this isn't the right idea, please explain what you mean


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## wtrmute

Thexxaxx said:


> Is there a way to translate the exact meaning? or it is impossible to do so in Latin?
> 
> thanks a lot for help!



Translation with the completely exact same meaning is usually impossible between any two languages, since there might always be some shade of meaning which exists in one but doesn't in the other, but it's usually possible to get a fairly literal translation.  The question then becomes what purpose does this serve: allow me to illustrate with an exercise going the opposite way.

Imagine that I am a native Latin-speaker trying to learn English.  I want to translate the expression _ad triarios redisse_. Our wise veterans like Scholiast and Wandle might give me a translation approaching "to have been in deep trouble", or "to have been at the end of one's rope".  These are great translations of the spirit of the expression, but if I then ask for an exact translation I am left with something akin to "to have fallen back on the veterans in the third/last row", which is fairly close in literal meaning, but if I try to use it in actual conversation I will only get blank looks from my listeners.

This is why, when someone asks for translation of a phrase into Latin, it's useful to explain which context the phrase will be used in and which senses should be emphasized so we can find an expression which will not simply look like a literal rendition of an English expression.


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## aasheq

Thexxaxx said:


> "Live like get ready to die anytime"



This is not English.


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## consumimurigni

Does anyone know the phrase "_memento mori_"? It means "_remember that you have to die (someday)_". It's very well known. You can say "_memento homo_" ("_remember, man_) as well,i.e the short version of ""_Memento homo, pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris_". This last sentence comes from the latin version of the Bible - the so-called "Vulgata" translated by Jerome.

Genesis 3,19:
"_In sudore vultus tui vesceris pane, donec revertaris in terram de qua sumptus es: quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris_" (Vulgata)
"_By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return_.”  (NIV)

If I were you though I'd use "_memento mori"_ since it's still very common.

Valete,
My regards.


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## consumimurigni

Naemnik said:


> It's a jargon sort of phrase in english. It's not something one can translate into other languages directly (but probably some languages have similar idioms.)
> 
> However, there is a way to make it a little more literal. _Mortem caveto_, or "always be on guard against death."
> If this isn't the right idea, please explain what you mean



Never heard of "_Mortem caveto_". Is that an idiom or whatnot or you just made it up? I think "_caveto_" is not right anyway - or usual, at least. You should say "_cave_" that is the second person singular of the imperative or "_cavete" _which is the plural form. I know imperative future would fit in it (_memento_, in fact, is future as well), but I've never heard of "_cavere_" used in this way - it's very usual for instance "_cave canem_" but not in the future form. I mean, I believe many other expressions might use the future and actually they are very very frequent - such as "_esto_"; "_memento_"; "_scito_"; that don't even have the present of the imperative. At the end of the day I just reckon that "_caveto_" might sound just a little strange and "artificial" since I've never heard it before.


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## Naemnik

The future imperative conveys the idea that one should make a habit out of doing something.

I've read the specific form _caveto _before
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Cato/De_Agricultura/A*.html


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## wandle

Yes; you could say _*vivito ad mortem paratus*_: 'Live your life prepared for death'.


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## Copperknickers

I think a good port of call for this might be Seneca, Epistulae ad Lucilium No. 61. He uses a variety of similar phrases:


paratus exire sum

I am prepared to die.


Ad mortem... praeparandi sumus.

We must be prepared for death.


Vixi quantum satis erat; mortem plenus exspecto. 

I have lived as much as was enough. I await death sated.

(i.e. when death comes, I will have lived a full life, so I'll be ready for it).


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## Jondel

Mori umquam para. 
Umquam =at any time. But a Roman I think would say:
Parandum est tibi moriturum .


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## wandle

Jondel said:


> (*a*) Mori umquam para.
> ...
> (*b*) Parandum est tibi moriturum .


Sorry, but I am afraid neither of those is good Latin.

In (a), the verb _*paro *_does not take a simple infinitive. _*Umquam*_ is used in negative contexts ('not ... ever') or virtually negative contexts ('hardly ever', 'have you ever ...?'). It is not used in positive statements, let alone commands.

In (b), _*parandum est tibi*_ means 'you must prepare' (literally 'preparing is required for you'), but _*moriturum*_ is in agreement with _*parandum*_ (as if the 'preparing' were about to die). To make the sentence grammatical, the participle should agree with the person:
_*Parandum est tibi morituro*_. However, now the problem is the meaning.

_*Parandum est tibi morituro* _means 'You must make preparation, now that you are about to die'.
This is the standard advice people would receive on their deathbed from a relative, say.

It is not the same as saying 'Live always prepared to die'.


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