# libellus meus et sententiae meae vitas virorum monent



## FRee^ARouND

<< Topic sentence: libellus meus et sententiae meae vitas virorum monent >>

Merry xmas!
Just wondering how am I supposed to understand _vitas virorum monent_?

"...*advice *lives of men" does not work for me; I have no idea how to advice someone's life


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## Schimmelreiter

FRee^ARouND said:


> Merry xmas!
> Just wondering how am I supposed to understand _vitas virorum monent_?
> 
> "...*advice *lives of men" does not work for me; I have no idea how to advice someone's life


_My little book and what I wrote myself *remind me of the lives of the men*.


_Probably:
_What I wrote in my little book reminds me of the lives of the men.
__​What I wrote in my little book reminds me of the men's lives._


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## FRee^ARouND

Schimmelreiter said:


> _My little book and what I wrote myself *remind me of the lives of the men*.
> 
> 
> _Probably:
> _What I wrote in my little book reminds me of the lives of the men.
> __​What I wrote in my little book reminds me of the men's lives._




It makes great sense! Thanks!


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## Cagey

I see that this is an exercise from Chapter 3 of _Wheelock's Latin_.  It has been adapted fromPhaedrus, _Fabulus _1, Prologus 4.  (This information is in the "Location of the Sententiae" section in the back of the book.)

  That sentence in Phaedrus is: _.
Duplex libelli dos est: quod risum movet
et quod prudenti vitam consilio monet._

The gift of the little book is twofold: that it raises laughter 
and that by prudent counsel it advises life. ​.
It is not easy to construct a sentence given the constraints on vocabulary and syntax so early in the course.   Wheelock has wandered far from the original in vocabulary and syntax.  However, the original does contain a precedent for the construction monet vitam/vitas, with the intended meaning of 'gives advice about how to live / conduct ones life.' 

Later in the book, Wheelock's adaptations are closer to the originals. 

Like you, I find 'warning lives' awkward, and there are no examples of that construction in _Lewis and Short_. I think you should translate this sentence as best you can, but I wouldn't imitate it. This construction apparently is not used by the classical authors we usually take as models.


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## Schimmelreiter

Quo dicto, Cagey, how do you suggest the sentence should be translated?

Perhaps: _My aphorisms, as contained in this little book of mine, __give advice about how men should live._


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## Cagey

That is a very good rendering of the intended meaning.   

If you are supposed to give a more literal (but more clumsy) translation, you could try:

_My little book and my sentences advise the lives of men.  _

It has the advantage that it shows that you understand the structure of the Latin sentence. It has the disadvantage the it has the awkward structure _'advise the  lives.'_   You could improve it by saying _'give advice about the lives of men.'_


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## wandle

Rather than 'advise about', I would submit that *moneo* here means 'teach' in the sense of 'show' or 'explain'. 
This is meaning *I Lit γ* in Lewis and Short: *moneo* with a double accusative: *aliquem aliquid moneo*: 'I teach somebody something'.

The original Phaedrus line makes good sense on this basis:
*prudenti vitam consilio monet *
Here we have to understand a second accusative, such as *nos*: *nos vitam monet* means 'it teaches us life', in other words, teaches us what life is.

The Phaedrus line basically expresses the same sentiment as that in the Prologue to Book 3:
_*mens est mihi
... ipsam vitam et mores hominum ostendere*._
'My intention is to display life itself and people's customs.'

He is saying that his fables are meant to show us life as it is.

Wheelock's adaptation changes the sense, but still works as Latin, provided that the second accusative (such as *nos*) is again understood.

*libellus meus et sententiae meae vitas virorum monent *
My little book and my opinions teach us the lives of heroes (show us what the lives of heroes are).


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