O tempora, o mores
O tempora, o mores! ( Latin for "O (what for) times, o (what for) customs!") is a Latin saying that is supposed to lament the change in times and the deterioration of customs even today.
The fact that Cicero used it in four speeches contributed to its fame, which continues to this day :
70 BC Chr. In his second speech against Verres , v 63rd Chr. In his first speech against Catiline , v 57th Chr . in the speech on his own behalf and 45 v. Chr. In his speech for the king Deiotarus .
About a hundred years later, the Roman poet Martial quotes this saying:
"Dixerat 'O mores !, O tempora' Tullius olim" ("Tullius [Cicero] once said: 'O customs !, O times!'")
literature
- Klaus Bartels , Ludwig Huber: Veni, vidi, vici. Winged words from Greek and Latin . Artemis, Zurich 1986, ISBN 3-7608-4003-5 , p. 66
- Georg Büchmann : Winged words and treasure trove of quotes . Johannes-Asmus-Verlag, Konstanz and Stuttgart 1950, p. 214
- Andreas Halthoff u. a .: O tempora, o mores! Roman values and Roman literature in the last decades of the republic (= contributions to antiquity, volume 171). Saur, Leipzig / Munich 2003, ISBN 978-3-598-77720-2 (partly German and partly English texts).
- Clifford A. Hull, Steven R. Perkins, Tracy Barr: Latin for Dummies . 2nd edition, Wiley-CH, Weinheim 2013, ISBN 978-3-527-70971-7 .
- Heinrich G. Reichert: Latin sentences. Essays . Dieterich, Wiesbaden 1948, p. 71
Web links
Commons : O tempora o mores - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Oratio in Catilinam Prima in Senatu Habita - Sources and full texts (Latin)
