carpe diem

A sundial with a carpe diem inscription.

Another sundial with a carpe diem inscription.

Carpe diem is a phrase from a Latin poem by Horace (See "Source" section below). It is popularly translated as "seize the day". The general definition of carpe is "pick, pluck, pluck off, gather" as in plucking, although Horace uses the word in the sense of "enjoy, make use of."

Meaning of the phrase

In Horace, the phrase is part of the longer Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero – "Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the future.", and the ode says that the future is unknowable, and that instead one should scale back one's hopes to a brief future, and drink one's wine. Compare with the Biblical "eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die", a conflation, with emphasis on making the most of current opportunities because life is short and time is fleeting – an existential caution.

Related expressions

Biblical

The expression, "Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die" derives from verses from the biblical books of Isaiah 22:13 and 1 Corinthians 15:32, both in a negative context illustrating a life without faith. It also occurs many times in modern English-language popular culture.

In the Ecclesiastes are some paragraphs with a similar message (9,7–9):

7 Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.

8 Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.

9 Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.

Rabbinic

The phrase "And if not now, when?" (Pirkei Avoth 1:14)

Latin

Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May, by John William Waterhouse.

An 1898 German postcard, quoting Gaudeamus igitur.

The phrase Collige, virgo, rosas [...] ("gather, girl, the roses") appears at the end of the poem De rosis nascentibus^[1] (also called Idyllium de rosis) attributed to Ausonius or Virgil. It encourages youth to enjoy life before it's too late; compare "Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May" from To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time.

Related but distinct is the expression memento mori ("remember that you are mortal"); indeed, memento mori is often used with some of the sense of carpe diem. However, two major elements of memento mori are humility and repentance, neither of which figures prominently in the concept of carpe diem. So the two phrases could also represent opposing worldviews: with 'carpe diem' representing carefree, overflowing life and 'memento mori' a humble, meek existence.

Similarly, ubi sunt – "where are they [now]?" – invokes transience and meditation on death, but is not an exhortation to action. Compare Dead Poets Society, where a trophy case filled with pictures of long-dead boys ("these boys are now fertilizing daffodils") leads to an invocation of carpe diem.

De Brevitate Vitae (On the shortness of life), often referred to as Gaudeamus igitur, (Let us rejoice) is a popular academic commercium song, on taking joy in student life, with the knowledge that one will someday die; it is medieval Latin, dating to 1287.

Horace himself parodies the phrase in another of his poems, 'The town mouse and the country mouse'. He uses the phrase carpe viam meaning 'seize the road' to compare the two different attitudes to life of a person (or in this case, a mouse) living in a city and in the countryside.

Antiquity

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Siduri attempts to dissuade Gilgamesh in his quest for immortality, urging him to enjoy life as it is: "As for you, Gilgamesh, fill your belly with good things; day and night, night and day, dance and be merry, feast and rejoice. Let your clothes be fresh, bathe yourself in water, cherish the little child that holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace; for this too is the lot of man." ^[2]

Source

Original usage from Odes 1.11, in Latin and English:

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Carpe diem

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