Carpe Diem

Eric brought out several excellent points in his sermon yesterday. I especially enjoyed how he used Horace’s Carpe Diem as a sermon illustration (Eric’s message will be available HERE).

I found it quite ironic that today while studying Latin I came across Horace’s quote again. As I looked up the meaning of carpere I discovered that it can be translated as “harvest,” or “pluck.” In fact, one grammarian explains that Horace’s phrase was likely “an agricultural metaphor, since carpere really means to pluck or harvest from the vine or stalk” (Wheelock and LaFleur, 146). Kind of gives the phrase carpe diem an interesting nuance, doesn’t it? Seize the day? or harvest (the fields) today?

Interestingly, check out the translation of Horace’s quote at THIS SITE:

Ask not—we cannot know—what end the gods have set for you, for me; nor attempt the Babylonian reckonings Leuconoë. How much better  to endure whatever comes, whether Jupiter grants us additional winters or  whether this is our last, which now wears out the Tuscan Sea upon the barrier  of the cliffs!  Be wise, strain the wine; and since life is brief,  prune back far-reaching hopes! Even while we speak, envious time has passed:  pluck the day, putting as little trust as possible in tomorrow.

Notice the other harvesting-allusions in the quote, which I have italicized.

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