Carpe diem

Carpe diem is a phrase from a Latin poem by Horace (see "Source" section below) that has become an aphorism. It is popularly translated as "seize the day". Carpe is the second-person singular present active imperative of the Latin verb carpō, which literally means "I pick, pluck, pluck off, cull, crop, gather, to eat food, to serve, to want", but Ovid used the word in the sense of, "enjoy, seize, use, make use of".^[1] It is related to the Greek verb (carpoomae) καρπόομαι, (I grab the fruit, profits, opportunity), (carpos) καρπός=fruit of tree, of effort, etc. Diem refers to "day".

Meaning

In Horace, the phrase is part of the longer Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero – "Seize the Day, putting as little trust as possible in the next (day)", and the ode says that the future is unforeseen, and that instead one should scale back one's hopes to a brief future, and drink one's wine. This phrase is usually understood against Horace's Epicurean background.^[2]

Related expressions

Hebrew

The phrase ?ואם לא עכשיו,אי מתי "And if not now, Then when?" (Pirkei Avoth 1:14) carpe diem- seize the day/נצל את היום

Other Latin

"Collige, virgo, rosas [...]" ("gather, girl, the roses") appears at the end of the poem "De rosis nascentibus"^[3] (also called Idyllium de rosis) attributed to Ausonius or Virgil. It encourages youth to enjoy life before it is too late; compare "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may" from "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time".

Nunc est bibendum ("now is the time to drink") from the Odes of Horace: "Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede libero pulsanda tellus" ("Now is the time to drink, now the time to dance footloose upon the earth").

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 satires, '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.

Related but distinct is the expression memento mori ("remember that you are mortal") which carries some of the same connotation as carpe diem. For Horace, mindfulness of our own mortality is key in making us realize the importance of the moment. "Remember that you are mortal, so seize the day." Over time the phrase memento mori also came to be associated with penitence, as suggested in many vanitas paintings. Today many listeners will take the two phrases as representing almost opposite approaches, with 'carpe diem' urging us to savour life and 'memento mori' urging us to resist its allure. This is not the original sense of the memento mori phrase as used by Horace.

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.

Source

Original usage from Odes 1.11, in Latin and English:

Tu ne quaesieris, scire nefas, quem mihi, quem tibi	Don't ask (it's forbidden to know) what end
finem di dederint, Leuconoe, nec Babylonios	the gods have granted to me or you, Leuconoe. Don't play with Babylonian
temptaris numeros. ut melius, quidquid erit, pati.	fortune-telling either. How much better it is to endure whatever will be!
seu pluris hiemes seu tribuit Iuppiter ultimam,	Whether Jupiter has allotted to sink you many more winters or this final one
quae nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare Tyrrhenum:	which even now wears out the Tyrrhenian sea on the rocks placed opposite
sapias, vina liques et spatio brevi	— be wise, strain the wine, and scale back your long hopes
spem longam reseces. dum loquimur, fugerit invida	to a short period. While we speak, envious time will have {already} fled
aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.	Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the next (day).^[4]

References

^ Lewis, Charlton T. (1890). "carpō". An Elementary Latin Dictionary. New York, Cincinnati, and Chicago: American Book Company.
^ Harrison, S. J. (2012). The Cambridge companion to Horace. Cam Press. pp. 154, 168. ISBN 0-521-83002-8, 9780521830027. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
^ De rosis nascentibus, Template:De icon in a collection of the works of Virgil under the note Hoc carmen scripsit poeta ignotus ("This poem was written by an unknown poet").
^ [1], Ode I-XI: Carpe Diem by Quintus Horatius Flaccus.

External links

Media related to Carpe diem at Wikimedia Commons
The dictionary definition of carpe diem at Wiktionary
Carpe Diem Artist Community
Carpe Diem International Education Website

[1] Lewis, Charlton T. (1890). "carpō". An Elementary Latin Dictionary. New York, Cincinnati, and Chicago: American Book Company.

[2] Harrison, S. J. (2012). The Cambridge companion to Horace. Cam Press. pp. 154, 168. ISBN 0-521-83002-8, 9780521830027. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)

[2-3] De rosis nascentibus, Template:De icon in a collection of the works of Virgil under the note Hoc carmen scripsit poeta ignotus ("This poem was written by an unknown poet").

[4] [1], Ode I-XI: Carpe Diem by Quintus Horatius Flaccus.

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