Ubi panis ibi patria

"Ubi panis ibi patria" ("Where there is bread, there is (my) country"). According to J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur in "What is an American", the third of his Letters from an American Farmer is the motto of all emigrants/ immigrants. It is not clear if this is from Crèvecoeur's quill or somebody else's. It reminds in its form another anonymous motto that might have served as mould: "Ubi bene ibi patria"("my homeland is where I am at ease") used by those who put their well-being above patriotism. This last motto, however, reminds a verse (Teucer, fr. 291) of the Roman tragic poet Marcus Pacuvius (ca. 220-130 BC) quoted by Cicero (106 BC – 43 BC): Patria est ubicumque est bene (45 BC) Tusculanae Quaestiones, V, 37, 108 (Questions debated at Tusculum, V, 37, 108).^[1]

Notes

^ Commentary by J. B. Bamborough with Martin Dodsworth, in The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford University Press, 1989, vol. V, p. 242 (commentary on 2.174:27-8)

[1] Commentary by J. B. Bamborough with Martin Dodsworth, in The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford University Press, 1989, vol. V, p. 242 (commentary on 2.174:27-8)

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