Your vacant gape

“We may agree with Horace, I think — Raro antecedentem scelestrum deseruit pede poena claudo. I see from your vacant gape that you’re no better acquainted with his works than you were on the College, damn you ignorance! So I’ll tell you it means that Justice, though moving slowly, seldom fails to overhaul the fleeing villain.”


Flashman and the Angel of the Lord, p.59, Harper Collins, 1995.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, justice.

A rat like him

“Now, make your oath — and take care . . . aye, quid de quoque viro, et sui dicas, saepe cavetto,* mind — even with a rat like him!

*Take special care what you say of any man, and to whom it is said — Horace.


Flashman and the Angel of the Lord, p.55, Harper Collins, 1995.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, oath.