“I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at theopera, the gorged dowagers,[…], the jewelled animals whose moral code is the code of the barnyard—!"
opera in Géza Bárczi,László Országh,et al., editors,A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962.Fifth ed., 1992:→ISBN.
Quī dēnique ex bēstiīs frūctūs aut quae commoditās, nisi hominēs adiuvārent, percipī posset? Nam et quī prīncipēs inveniendī fuērunt, quem ex quāque bēluā ūsum habēre possēmus, hominēs certē fuērunt, nec hōc tempore sine hominumoperā aut pāscere eās aut domāre aut tuērī aut tempestīvōs frūctūs ex iīs capere possēmus; ab eīsdemque et, quae nocent, interficiuntur et, quae ūsuī possunt esse, capiuntur.
What produce of beasts, then, or what commodity could be obtained, if men didn't assist? For those that first found out what use we can have from each beast, were surely humans, and we cannot in the present either pasture them or break them in or take care of them or obtain the timely fruit from them without thelabour of humans; and by the same are killed those who do harm and captured those that can be of use.
Ego ĭstūc aetātis nōn amōrīoperam dabam sed in Asiam hinc abiī propter pauperiem atque ibī simul rem et glōriam armīs bellī repperī.
When I was your age I wasn't giving muchattention to love but instead I left for Asia because of poverty and there I found fortune and glory by the arms of war.
Cēterum, compositā sēditiōne cīvīlī, Cornēlium Dolabellam cōnsularem et triumphālem repetundārum postulāvit; absolūtōque Rhōdum sēcēdere statuit, et ad dēclīnandam invidiam et ut per ōtium ac requiem Apollōniō Molōnī clārissimō tunc dīcendī magistrōoperam daret.
Then, with the civil unrest quietened, he chargedCornelius Dolabella, former consul who had triumphed, with extortion; with him acquitted, he resolved to leave for Rhodes, to escape the hate as well as to payattention in rest and recreation toApollonius Molon, then the most distinguished teacher of speaking.
Ut exercitum locīs habeam opportūnīs, prōvinciam tuear, etiam sī ille exercitus descīerit, omniaque integra servem dabōoperam, quoad exercitūs hōc summittātis parīque fēlīcitāte rem pūblicam hīc vindicētis.
I shall takecare to keep the army in suitable locations, to protect my province even if that army defects, and to preserve the whole position uncompromised, until you send armies to my support and defend the commonwealth with just as much success.
Sī modestē ac rārō haec fēcit, nōnne ea dissimulāre nōs magis hūmānum est quam dareoperam id scīre, quī nōs ōderit?
If he did these things reasonably and unfrequently, would it not be more human to turn a blind eye to that than take thetrouble to find out, due to which he might hate us?
TYNDARUS. Fateor, omnia facta esse ita ut tū dīcis, et fallāciīs abiisse eum abs tē meāoperā atque astūtiā; an, obsecrō hercle tē, id nunc suscēnsēs mihī?
TYNDARUS. I confess that all were done just like you say, and by deceit he went away from you by mydoing and astuteness; and, please, by Hercules, now you are inflamed at me?
Atque ego, Neptūne, tibi ante aliōs deōs grātiās agō atque abeō summās; nam tē omnēs saevomque sevērumque atque āvidīs mōribus commemorant, spurcificum, immānem, intolerandum, vēsānum: contrāoperā expertus, nam pol placidō tē et clementī meō ūsque modō, ut voluī, ūsus sum in altō.
And I, Neptune, give thanks to you above other gods and in the highest; for all remember you cruel and strict and with the greediest character, obscene, frightful, intolerable, crazy: unlike how I've known you in myexperience, for, by Pollux, in my own gentle and merciful way have I benefitted from you, as I wanted, at sea.
Dē versibus quōs tibi ā mē scrībī vīs, dēest mihi quidemopera sed abest etiam ἐνθουσιασμός, quī nōn modo tempus sed etiam animum vacuum ab omnī cūrā dēsīderat.
Regarding the verses which you want composed by me to you, I don't have thetime, but theafflatus is absent too, which needs not only time but also a soul empty of every worry.
59 BC–AD 17,Titus Livius,Ab urbe condita libri 4.8.3:
Ortum autem initium est reī, quod in populō per multōs annōs incēnsō neque differrī cēnsus poterat neque cōnsulibus, cum tot populōrum bella imminerent,operae erat id negōtium agere.
The beginning of the office appeared because in the people devastated in the course of many years neither could a census be held, nor was it worth thetime of the consuls when wars from so many tribes were threatening.
Et tamen in silice facilior existimātur opera; est namque terra ex quōdam argillae genere glāreā mixta—gangadiam vocant—prope inexpugnābilis. Cuneīs eam ferreīs adgrediuntur et īsdem malleīs, nihilque dūrius putant, nisi quod inter omnia aurī famēs dūrissima est. Perāctō opere cervīcēs fornicum ab ultimō caedunt. Dat signum rīma, eamque sōlus intellegit in cacūmine eius montis vigil. Hic vōce, nūtū ēvocārī iubetoperās pariterque ipse dēvolat. Mōns frāctus cadit ab sēsē longē fragōre quī concipī hūmānā mente nōn possit, aeque et flātū incrēdībilī. Spectant victōrēs ruīnam nātūrae. Nec tamen adhūc aurum est nec sciēre esse, cum fōderent, tantaque ad perīcula et inpendia satis causae fuit sperāre quod cuperent.
And still the work is considered to be easier in flint; for there is earth, consisting of some kind of clay, mixed with gravel—they call itgangadia—almost impenetrable. They approach it with iron wedges and with the same hammer machines [as above], and they consider nothing harder, save for the fact that hunger for gold is the hardest among all things. With the work done, they cut down the supports of the arched roofs beginning from the last one. A fissure gives the sign, and only the watchman in the peak of that mountain notices it. He orders by voice and by gesture theminers to be called outside, and rushes down in the same manner. At a distance, the mountain, broken, falls by itself with a crash which cannot be conceived by the human mind, and with an incredible blast as well. The victors watch the ruin of nature. And the gold is not even there yet, nor did they know whether there was any when they were digging, and hoping for what they desired was enough of a reason to go through all these dangers and expenses.
C. Octāvius pater a prīncipiō aetātis et rē et existimātiōne magnā fuit, ut equidem mīrer hunc quoque ā nōnnūllīs argentārium atque etiam inter dīvīsōrēsoperāsque campestrēs prōditum; amplīs enim innūtrītus opibus honōrēs et adeptus est facile et ēgregiē administrāvit.
The fatherGaius Octavius was from the beginning of his age of great wealth as well as reputation, so that I wonder that he too is alleged by some to have been a money-changer and even among the electoral bribe distributors andaiders in theCampus Martius; for, brought up with ample riches, he obtained honours with ease as well as administering them excellently.
59 BC–AD 17,Titus Livius,Ab urbe condita libri 41.4.6:
Ante omnēs īnsignisoperā fuit C. Popilī equitis; Sabellō cognōmen erat. Is pede sauciō relictus longē plūrimōs hostium occīdit.
More distinguished than others indeeds was Gaius Popilius the knight; Sabello was hiscognomen. He, left behind with a wounded leg, killed the most enemies by far.
The word, in its “spare time” meaning, is frequently used in the ante-classic period, and especially by Plautus, in the locutionoperae esse, meaning 'to be worth the time'. Later on, it is characteristic ofLivy's style and of the archaising tendencies ofSilver Latin.
^Ernout, Alfred,Meillet, Antoine (1985) “opera”, inDictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine: histoire des mots (in French), 4th edition, with additions and corrections ofJacques André, Paris: Klincksieck, published2001, page465
"opera", inCharlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879)A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
"opera", inCharlton T. Lewis (1891)An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
opera inEnrico Olivetti, editor (2003-2025),Dizionario Latino, Olivetti Media Communication
"opera", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’sGlossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “opera”, inGeiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
