# bella res est morte sua mori



## LookIntoMyEyes

bella res est morte sua mori

Hi! I just can't understand it. Could You help me and translate this sentence?
Kisses!

Moderator note: this thread has been transferred from French-English to the Latin forum.


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## SwissPete

Pour autant que je sache, ce n'est pas du français !

Où as-tu vu ça ?


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## wildan1

LookIntoMyEyes said:


> bella res est morte sua mori
> 
> Hi! I just can't understand it. Could You help me and translate this sentence?
> Kisses!


 
It's Latin. I suggest you try the Latin forum for more precise help. My schoolboy Latin is pretty rusty!


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## FranParis

Non, c'est une phrase incomplète en latin..

Si je me souviens bien, cela veut dire: Une belle chose est sa (propre) mort, etc..


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## Kevin Beach

It isn't very good Latin. Literally, it says "It is a beautiful thing to die by his/her death".

I interpret it to mean that the way of a particular person's death would be a good way to die.


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## Fred_C

Perhaps "morte sua mori" is a set phrase meaning to die of natural death?


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## Giorgio Lontano

Kevin Beach said:


> It isn't very good Latin. Literally, it says "It is a beautiful thing to die by his/her death".
> 
> I interpret it to mean that the way of a particular person's death would be a good way to die.


 
Hello.

I agree with you on the meaning of the sentence. How would you correct the latin?

Thank you.


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## Hamlet2508

It has been taken from ep. 69 of Seneca's Epistulae Morales (he lived from about 1 BC to 65 AD) and I wouldn't try to correct his Latin

In this letter Seneca emphasizes the importance of leading a life devoid of obstructing emotions(Stoic point of view) so even death should be met with appropriate composure.
He claims that it's wrong to say "*It is a beautiful thing to die one's own death*," since this statement is coloured by emotions again and he goes on to say

_"No one dies except on his own day.  You are throwing away none of your own time; for what you leave behind does not belong to you"._

hope this helps.
regards,
Hamlet


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## Kevin Beach

Giorgio Lontano said:


> Hello.
> 
> I agree with you on the meaning of the sentence. How would you correct the latin?
> 
> Thank you.


It's not a case of correcting it, because it's an issue of style and era rather than "correctness". I suppose I should have said it isn't very elegant Latin rather than it isn't very good Latin.

It strikes me as coming from a much later period than Roman times, perhaps the middle ages.


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## relativamente

I have searched the web using "bella res est" and there are not many hits.Anyway I found an 
example of classical times.In Fables of Fedrus is what the donkey says when found the lyra 
"bella res, mehercule!"In general in Latin the word res was not used so frequently as we use 
the word thing or "chose", "cosa"...In plural the neuter gender in adjectives inmplied this 
meaning. "altiora" means "the higher things", and so on.So I don't think here is good 
language,
To be in the safe side you can just take the phamous line by Horace  "dulce et decorum est 
pro patria mori"(It is sweet and honorable to die for the Homeland) and make some little 
changes in it.dulce and also decorum are adjectives in neuter form.


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## wonderment

Hi,  

Maybe it will help if I copy and paste the Latin from the passage cited by Hamlet (Seneca, _Epistulae Morales_ 69):

_interest nihil, illa ad nos veniat an ad illam nos. Illud imperitissimi cuiusque verbum falsum esse tibi ipse persuade: 'bella res est mori sua morte'. Nemo moritur nisi sua morte. Illud praeterea tecum licet cogites: nemo nisi suo die moritur. Nihil perdis ex tuo tempore; nam quod relinquis alienum est._​
"There is no difference whether dead comes to us, or whether we go to death. Make yourself believe that all ignorant men are wrong when they say: 'It is a beautiful thing to die one's own death.' But there is no man who does not die his own death. No one dies except on his own day. You are throwing away none of your own time; for what you leave behind does not belong to you." (from the Loeb translation by R.M. Gumere)​There is also a note in the Loeb suggesting that the phrase means "dying when the proper time comes," an argument against suicide. Seneca is known for advocating suicide (gasp!) in preference to a life without freedom.


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## Bracarensis

Hello to all,
I'm new in this forum but I'm following with great pleasure and atention the threads about Latin (my new pasion).
I noticed that this last post (the passage with the full sentence of the subject - thank you *wonderment*) has the words _morte_ and _mori_ in reverse order.
Does it make any diference in semantics?

Thank's!

P.S. - It's really a pleasure for me to read the posts from *Hamlet2508 *or *Joca* or *Fred C* or *Kevin Beach* and so many other Latin experts. Thank you for giving Latin foruns the meaning they should have.


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## Joca

Dear Bracarensis

As far as I am concerned, thanks for your kind words, but on second thoughts, you should count me out: I am not really an expert on Latin. I am just a self-teaching student, and there is still a long way for me to go. 

Cheers,

JC


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