Latin Proverbs: Cado

This set of proverbs is for vocabulary building; all the proverbs below have some form of the verb cado-cadere, and then tomorrow I will share some proverbs that have compounded forms of this verb too. :-)

In pedes semper cado.
Compare the English idiom "to land on your feet."

Non uno ictu arbor cadit.
Non uno ictu cadit quercus.
The idea is that it takes many blows, not just one. 

In pratis ut flos, sic cadit omnis honos.
This is a rhyming medieval proverb, with the verb implied in the first part: In pratis ut (cadit) flos...

Dormienti vulpi cadit intra os nihil.
The idea is that you can't catch anything while you're sleeping; even the fox is going to have to wake up and get to work!

Fugis patellam et cadis in prunas.
Qui fugit patellam, cadit in prunas.
Compare the English saying, "out of the frying pan, into the fire."

PeakPX

Inter os et offam multa cadunt.
Inter calicem et os multa cadunt.
Compare the English saying, "There's many a slip 'twixt cup and lip."

Semper bene cadunt Iovis tesserae.
Semper Iovis feliciter tali cadunt.
Iudice Fortuna, cadat alea.
These are all ways of talking about different kinds of dice in Latin: tesserae, tali, alea (click on the links to read about each one). Note the subjunctive: cadat.

In laqueos quos posuere cadant.
Note the subjunctive form: cadant. The verb "posuere" is a shortened form of the perfect: posuerunt. (You'll find this in Ovid's Ars Amatoria.)

Quidquid excelsum est, cadet.
Note the future tense form: cadet.

In foveam cecidit quam fecerat ipse.
Note the perfect tense: cecidit. Compare the saying about "in laqueos" above.

Ubi libertas cecidit, audet libere nemo loqui.
Note the perfect tense here also.

Bene cogitata saepe ceciderunt male.
Note the perfect tense plural: ceciderunt.

Gutta cavat lapidem non vi, sed saepe cadendo.
Note the gerund: cadendo ("by falling"). Here is an expanded form of that saying: Gutta cavat lapidem, non vi, sed saepe cadendo; sic homo fit doctus, non vi, sed saepe legendo.

Cadenti porrige dextram.
Here you see the participle in the dative: "to someone who is falling."

Cadente quercu, quilibet ligna colligit.
Here the participle makes an ablative absolute: cadente quercu. The idea is that anybody at all can come get firewood when the oak falls down on its own, even people who didn't do any work to make it happen. You can find this saying in many other forms:
Cadente quercu, quivis ligna colligit. ("quivis" is a synonym for "quilibet")
Cadente quercu, ligna quisquis colligit. ("quisquis" is another synonym for "quilibet")
Cadente quercu, quilibet ligna secat. ("secat" here instead of "colligit")
Cadente quercu, ramos quivis amputat. ("ramos amputat" instead of "ligna colligit")

William Henry Hunt

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