Lacrimae rerum (pronounced /ˈlækrɨmaɪ ˈrɛərəm/[1]; Latin IPA: [ˈlakrimai ˈreːrum][2]) is the Latin for "tears for things."
The term comes from line 462 of Book I of The Aeneid, an epic poem written in Latin by Virgil, one of Rome's most distinguished poets, in the first century BC. Aeneas, while crying, says, "sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt" as he gazes at one of the murals found in a Carthaginian temple, which depicts battles of the Trojan War and deaths of his friends and countrymen. Translated this says, "These are tears for events and mortal things (sufferings) touch the soul." As he stands there, Aeneas is overcome by the futility of warfare and waste of human life. The burden man has to bear, ever present frailty and suffering, is what would define the essence of human experience.
A translation by the famous classicist Robert Fagles renders the quote as: "The world is a world of tears, and the burdens of mortality touch the heart."
Robert Fitzgerald, meanwhile, translates it as: "They weep here \ For how the world goes, and our life that passes \ Touches their hearts."
See also
References
- ^ OED[page needed]
- ^ "lacrimae rerum". Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/rerum. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
External links
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