Wednesday, May 1, 2024

07.04.24: future tense of 3rd, 3rd-iō and 4th conjugations: introduction

Quis cūstōdiet ipsōs cūstōdēs? (Juvenal)

Who will guard the guards themselves?

cūstōdiō, cūstōdīre [4]: guard (verb)

cūstōs, cūstōdis [3/m]: guard (noun)

As the image shows, the phrase is used nowadays to criticise, for example, tyrannical governments and corruption, but the original statement referred to the impossibility of ensuring moral behaviour when those tasked to enforce it are themselves corruptible.

 





 

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