Ars longa, vita brevis

Ars longa, vita brevis is part of an aphorism by Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, usually truncated to its first two statements: art is long, life is short. The full text in Latin is:

Ars longa,

vita brevis,

occasio praeceps,

experimentum periculosum,

iudicium difficile.

In this commonly found Latin translation, the first two statements have been switched from the Greek original. Its original form in Hippocrates' work Aphorisms, (sect. I, no. 1) is:

Ὁ βίος βραχὺς,

ἡ δὲ τέχνη μακρὴ,

ὁ δὲ καιρὸς ὀξὺς,

ἡ δὲ πεῖρα σφαλερὴ,

ἡ δὲ κρίσις χαλεπή.

The full text is often rendered in English as:

Life is short,

[the] art long,

opportunity fleeting,

experiment dangerous,

judgment difficult.

Consider also Chaucer's “The lyf so short, the craft so longe to lerne” (from Parlement of Foules). Also, consider the ancient Jewish Rabbi Tarfon (c. 100 CE), who was known to say, "The day is short, the labor vast, the workers lazy, the reward great, the Master urgent." (Avot 2:17)

Analysis of Original Greek Text

This section may contain previously unpublished synthesis of published material that conveys ideas not attributable to the original sources. See the talk page for details. (October 2009)

The elements of the original Ancient Greek text parse in this way:

Bios brachys - "Bios" means "life" in most of the modern English senses of the word and as used as a root in words like "biology" and "antibiotic". Hippocrates here means "life" as in "the life lived by a person", "the course of a life", "the extent of a life"; "brachys" is an adjective meaning "brief" or, better "short" in the same way that the strings of a sling may be short but also in the sense that a tree may have few (be short of) leaves and that a measuring weight may be small or short compared to other weights. Hippocrates, then: Life is [too] short.

Techne makre - "Techne" is the root of the English words "technology" and "technical" but its meaning in Ancient Greek is not quite parallel. The corollary of "techne" in Ancient Greek is "episteme" which means a system of knowledge—in this sense, "techne" was the physical "doing" or "making" or "performing" of a task, anything requiring the use of the hands (including what we now call "art": sculpture, painting, etc., as well as the practice of medicine on a patient and the practice of religion as a series of gestures, motions, offerings, etc.) and its, opposite, "episteme", was strictly theory and idea without application. "Makre" is the root of the English "macro-" meaning "large" and is the English parallel of the prefix "micro-" ("mikr-") meaning "tiny" or "small" in the sense of size or, better yet, significance (a small shield as well as a small-time huckster) and with "makr-" having the opposite meaning of large significance or scope but also in the sense of taking long strides and in throwing a javelin a long distance. Hippocrates: The task is huge (esp. when compared to the smallness of life, to which it is being contrasted here).

Kairos oxus - "Kairos" means "opportunity" in the sense of "the right time", "the best time", "the critical moment". "Oxus" has the Ancient Greek meaning of "sharpening" (of tools) as well as the sense of "keen" and "pointed" (in the sense of the breasts of most animals, as opposed to the breastbone of a man which is flat). "Fleeting" is a loose translation: what Hippocrates really means is that "kairos" is like a sharp edge, a thing much needed but which does not last long, a thing that occurs seldom and is difficult to make much use of before it is gone again. Hippocrates: The right time is like a razor blade.

Peira sphalere - This line has also been translated into Latin as EXPERIENTIA FALLAX (= experience is deceptive). The first meaning attributed to the root σφαλερ- (H.G. Liddel and R. Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford U. Press) is "likely to make one stumble or trip." As to πεῖρ- the first meaning is "trial, attempt," but also "gain experience of." The section on πεῖρ- refers to the Latin word "ex-per-ior" (to test and to gain experience) and "per-itus" (ex-per-t). The Latin "experientia" conveys both the search and the possession of knowledge, skill, experience (Campanini and Carboni, Vocabolario Latino Italiano, Paravia). Hippocrates here is saying, To do anything or take any action is to risk stumbling and falling.

Crisis chalep - "Crisis" translates into modern English quite well as "judgment" but also means, with greater subtlety, "making a distinction between similar things", "the outcome of a court", "the choice" of a winner over a loser in a contest, "the election" of a person to a position of power, and "the interpretation" of dreams or portents. "Chalep-" has the meanings of "hard to bear", "grievous", and "painful" (of emotions), "rugged" (of ground), "cruel" (of persons or even of plants to the soil), "ill-fitting" (of armor), and "severe" (of the wind). Hippocrates: To interpret what has happened is like crossing a mountain.

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