Sōcrates
“Nosce ipsum tē,” sīc est umquam sors proba Delphīs,
“Ignōrō omnēs,” ac mens bona Sōcratis est.
Translation
“Know yourself,” so is ever the excellent oracle at Delphi,
“I am ignorant of all things,” and so wise is the mind of Socrates.
[The references are to the famous Delphic oracle in Greek “gnothi seauton,” which eventually led Socrates to define true wisdom as knowing that I do not know.]
Aristotoles
Nec timidus nec tam stultus vir nec malus esto,
Elige, perge viam fortiter ad mediam.
Translation
Neither cowardly nor so foolish nor evil a man be,
Choose, go forward bravely to the Middle Way.
[The reference is to the “via media” or middle way of Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics, in which courage is the middle way between the vice of cowardice as a lack of courage and the vice of foolish recklessness as an excess of boldness.]
Stoicus
Dulcis vel non? Sic quid tunc est potus ad horam?
Sed non curo, si dulcis an acris aqua.
Translation
Sweet or not? So what then is the timely drink?
But I am not disturbed, if it be sweet or bitter water.
[The Stoic philosophy of indifference teaches that we should not be disturbed by events, neither excessively elated by good fortune (or providence, depending on your personal beliefs) nor excessively deflated by misfortune. The “cup” is very much a metaphor of the experience of life. Here I use the Latin “pōtus” meaning “drink” for metrical reasons, but drink is obviously associated with a cup as metonymy. Both in the Hebrew Bible and in the Christian Gospels, we see the cup as a metaphor for life: in good times your cup overflows (Psalm 23), while in bad times you may ask the Deity to let this cup pass, as we see in the Garden of Gethsemane in the Gospels.]