Memorable lines of poetry

[Serenus]

Mostly for fun, I like the idea of knowing lines of poetry that could function well out of the context they were taken from. Literary allusions. What are some good ones you know or have recently come across? I would especially appreciate non-classical ones, that is, from late antiquity or the middle ages or later.

An example would be that line of Vergil that is mentioned in that famous anecdote about a schoolboy who, visited by Queen Elizabeth I and asked if he had ever been beaten, allegedly replied with īnfandum, rēgīna, iubēs renovāre dolōrēm (Aeneid 2.3)...

Here are some examples from the 10th-century poem Waltharius:

Quō mē, domne, vocās? quō tē sequar, inclite prīnceps?
line 1098. Could be said in jest to a "superior" in some sense.

At nōs aut fugere aut acrum bellāre necesse est.
line 1125. Could be said when facing something hard.

Ecce tuās (sciŏ praegrandēs) ostenditŏ vīrēs!
Mē piget incassum tantōs sufferre labōrēs.
lines 1354-1355. Neat for praising someone else's efforts, especially when they seem hopeless or pointless.

 

[Serenus]

Other famous lines from Vergil are:
Carmina vel caelō possunt dēdūcere lūnam,
carminibus Circē sociōs mūtāvit Ulixī (Eclogues 8.69, especially the first line)
and
Ō sociī neque enim ignārī sumus ante malōrum,
ō passī graviōra, dabit deus hīs quoque fīnem (Aeneid 1.198-199, especially the second line)
and
Quidquid id est, timeō Danaōs et dōna ferentīs. (Aeneid 2.49; also a good line to remember the indicative with "quidquid": quidquid Latīnē scrībitur, altum vidētur...)

This one is very allusive, but if you're among those who can get the reference of Aeneas crying on a boat...
Extemplō Aenēae solvuntur frīgore membra;
ingemit et duplicīs tendēns ad sīdera palmās
tālia vōce refert: "Ō terque quaterque beātī,
quis ante ōra patrum Troiae sub moenibus altīs
contigit oppetere! ō Danaum fortissime gentis
Tȳdīdē! (Aeneid 1.92-97)

Others that I think are pretty nice:
Dī maris et terrae tempestātumque potentēs,
ferte viam ventō facilem et spīrāte secundī! (Aeneid 3.528-529, could be said before any metaphorical "journey")
and
aut videt aut vīdisse putat per nūbila lūnam,
dēmīsit lacrimās dulcīque adfātus amōre est: (Aeneid 6.454-455)

I once saw someone mention the following lines, with the comment "what the fuck did vergil take to make me teary eyed at every line":
Hīc tamen hanc mēcum poterās requiēscere noctem
fronde super viridī. sunt nōbīs mītia pōma,
castaneae mollēs et pressī cōpia lactis,
et iam summa procul vīllārum culmina fūmant
maiōrēsque cadunt altīs dē montibus umbrae. (Eclogues 1.79-83)
I also once saw someone quote the last line upon the arrival of sunset.

 

[Dantius]

Here are some examples from the 10th-century poem Waltharius:

I just read this last semester. Quite a strange work overall.

I like a lot of the lines from Medea's speech in book 7 of the Metamorphoses:
nescio quis deus obstat,' ait, 'mirumque, nisi hoc est,
aut aliquid certe simile huic, quod amare vocatur.

sed trahit invitam nova vis, aliudque cupido,
mens aliud suadet: video meliora proboque,
deteriora sequor.

 

[Serenus]

I just read this last semester. Quite a strange work overall.

As part of schoolwork?? o ___ O

What kind of awesome college do you go to that you get to read something like the Waltharius, if so?

 

[Dantius]

Harvard; they generally have about one medieval Latin class per semester (maybe they don't even have that consistently) and last semester it was the Waltharius. My professor, Jan Ziolkowski, has been working on a book on the poem, I believe.

 

[Matthaeus]

A Polish guy?

 

[Serenus]

Harvard; they generally have about one medieval Latin class per semester (maybe they don't even have that consistently) and last semester it was the Waltharius. My professor, Jan Ziolkowski, has been working on a book on the poem, I believe.

I see! And it sounds like you only read the Waltharius in that class? How curious, and coincidental.

 

[Ybytyruna]

Verum operi longo fas est obrepere somnum. (Hor., Poet., 360)