Jump to content

Repulsae Nescia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Repulsae Nescia is a Latin phrase meaning "ignorant of defeat" in English.[1] The longer phrase from Horace, Virtus Repulsae Nescia, is often translated as "courage knows no defeat".

History

[edit]

It is found in Horace: Odes, III., 2, 17.[2] The following passage:

Virtus repulsae nescia sordidae
Intaminatis fulget honoribus,
Nec sumit aut ponit securis
Arbitrio popularis aurae.

was translated by Conington[3] as:

True Virtue never knows defeat:
Her robes she keeps unsullied still;
Nor take, nor quits, her curule seat,
To please a people's veering will.

Usage as a motto

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Lasell College: Traditions
  2. ^ "Horace: Odes III".
  3. ^ Dictionary of quotations (Classical). S. Sonnenschein & Co. 1906. p. 303.