A sundial with a carpe diem inscription.

Another sundial with a carpe diem inscription.

Meaning of the phrase

One interpretation of the phrase might be as an existential cautionary term, much like "eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die," with emphasis on making the most of current opportunities because life is short and time is fleeting. It has some connections with another Latin phrase, Memento mori.

Related expressions

Evoking some of the same meaning is the expression, "Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die" which derives from verses from the biblical books of Ecclesiastes and Isaiah. ), and which occurs many times in modern English-language popular culture.

The phrase non-collige virgo rosas ("gather, girl, the roses") appears at the end of the poem De rosis nascentibus^[2] (also called Idyllium de rosis) attributed to Ausonius or Virgil. It encourages youth to enjoy life before it's too late.

Related but distinct is the expression memento mori ("remember that you are mortal"); indeed, memento mori is often used with some of the sense of carpe diem. However, two major elements of memento mori are humility and repentance, neither of which figures prominently in the concept of carpe diem.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Siduri attempts to dissuade Gilgamesh in his quest for immortality, urging him to enjoy life as it is: "As for you, Gilgamesh, fill your belly with good things; day and night, night and day, dance and be merry, feast and rejoice. Let your clothes be fresh, bathe yourself in water, cherish the little child that holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace; for this too is the lot of man."

In the Ecclesiastes (9,7-9):

7 Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.

8 Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.

9 Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.

Horace himself parodies the phrase in another of his poems, 'The town mouse and the country mouse'. He uses the phrase carpe viam meaning 'seize the road' to compare the two different attitudes to life of a person (or in this case, a mouse) living in a city and in the countryside.

Influence in Culture

Horace's influence is widespread in western culture as the Greek and Roman "Classics" were part of the everyday pedagogy of prep schools, many universities and colleges, until they gradually began to decline in emphasis and university influence during the early twentieth century, when institutions of learning had to cope with the plethora of new subjects generated by advances in industry, the sciences, and research in the humanities. Latin and Greek language instruction, which were for centuries core fundamentals universally taught, which practices fell to the wayside save for the science naming needs of science and medicine, and so too did studies in the Classics, which became the narrow specialty field now usually known as Classical studies.

Source

Original usage from Odes 1.11, in Latin and English:

References

External links

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