Sic vos non vobis
(so you not for yourself)

Initial words of four out of five hexameters which, according to the ancient biographer, Virgil would have written to claim the authorship of two lines, which a certain poetaster  Bathyllus had appropriated, being praised by August. People use them sometimes with regard to plagiarism or so, or otherwise, more generally, to express disappointment while finding out that another person has got an advantage of our work; or rather, with a different ethical meaning, to express the essence of moral life, as endeavour and self-sacrifice, with the purpose of meeting the good of our fellow creatures rather than our personal interest. In their entirety, verses above would sound:
 

Hos ego versiculos feci, tulit alter honores:
Sic vos non vobis nidificatis aves;
Sic vos non vobis vellera fertis oves;
Sic vos non vobis mellificatis apes;
Sic vos non vobis fertis aratra boves.
of these short verses I composed, another person had the honour:
so you not for yourself build a nest,o birds;
so you not for yourself bear the wool,o sheep;
so you not for yourself make honey,o bees;
so you not for yourself pull the plough,o oxen.

 (by Dizionario Enciclopedico Italiano - publication in ref. 6 of bibliography)

Back to home page