Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto
Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto ( Latin : I am a person, nothing human, I think is alien to me. ) Is a popular word .
This verse is an iambic Senar from the comedy Heauton Timorumenos ( Eng . "The Self- tormentor ") by the poet Terence (verse 77).
When the title character, Menedemus, accuses his neighbor Chremes that he cares about things that are none of his business (literally: that are alien to him ), Chremes gives him this sentence as an answer.
The passage was already received in antiquity, Cicero alludes to it (Cic. De fin . 3,63), Seneca also quotes it ( Ep. 95,54), and according to Augustine (Ep. 155,14) this passage is always applauded by the whole audience.
In the course of the plot, the “humane” Chremes turns out to be just a thrashing phrase, but the verse is mostly taken absolutely and quoted as an expression of common human compassion.
Georg Ebers put the verse in front of his novel Homo sum as a literary motto.
Metric
The presumed original text of the poet reads:
- Hŏm ō s (um), hūm ā nī n ī l ā m (e) ă lĭēn ŭ m pŭt ō .
- υ - | - - | - - | - υυ | - - | υ -
Today it is mostly quoted with two-syllable nihil , but still fulfills the conditions of the same verse form:
- Hŏm ō s (um), hūm ā nī n ĭ hĭl ā m (e) ă lĭēn ŭ m pŭt ō .
- υ - | - - | - υυ | - υυ | - - | υ -
Web links
- Eckard Lefèvre : I am human, nothing human is alien to me (PDF; 1.1 MB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lefèvre (see link), 40.