De vitiis hominum

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De vitiis hominum is a fable by the Roman fable poet Phaedrus . It bears the number 4.10; this is because it comes from his fourth book, where it is in tenth place.

Original text

De vitiis hominum

Perás impósuit Iúppiter nobís duas:

Propriís repletam vítiis post tergúm dedit,

aliénis ante péctus suspendít gravem.

Hac ré videre nóstra mala non póssumús;

alií simúl delínquunt, cénsorés sumus.

translation

About people's mistakes

Jupiter put two shoulder bags on us :

He gave the one filled with his own mistakes on our backs ,

He hung the heavy one with strange mistakes in front of our chests.

That's why we can't see our mistakes

but as soon as others make mistakes, we are sharp critics.

interpretation

The message of this fable can be understood on two levels: On the one hand, it shows us that nobody is perfect and that all people make similar or even the same mistakes in their lives ; on the other hand, that most people look to others primarily to expose their faults, but not even notice their own.

moral

The following main moral can be derived from the above interpretation of the text : "Find your own mistakes first, before you criticize others."

example

Here is another example for a practical illustration:

A family is waiting for the father to eat, who should come home from work. The mother has already cooked, the table is set and the father should have arrived fifteen minutes. After another ten minutes, they decide to start eating. A little later, the father comes in the door (much too late, because he wanted to have a beer with his work colleagues), sits down at the table and immediately complains that the food is already cold.