Expert: Maria - 9/5/2008

Question
Hi Maria,

Could you please translate the following Latin saying for me - omnia mea mecum porto

Thank you!

Answer
Hello,

The Latin sentence “Omnia mea mecum porto” means “I carry my all with me” as well as “I am carrying all my things with me “ and  “All that is mine I carry with me”.

We read such a phrase either in Cicero, Paradoxa Stoicorum (Stoic Paradoxes)1.8, or  in Seneca, Epistulae Morales (Moral Letters)9,18-19, to mean that  spiritual values are always with us, even if we  have lost all our possessions, like Bias, one of the seven sages of ancient Greece (see Cicero) and the Greek philosopher Stilpon (see Seneca) who both had lost all their material goods when the enemy had captured their  homeland.

They both however, when told by someone if they had lost anything, said that they had lost nothing, for  all of their  goods were with them, i.e.  spiritual values like justice, virtue, prudence, that nobody could have  stolen.

Best regards,
Maria
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Note that:

-OMNIA (accusative neuter plural of OMNIS) = all / all things

-MEA (accusative neuter plural of  MEUS) = my

-MECUM = with me (CUM is ‘with’ and ME is ‘me’)

-PORTO = I carry /I’m carrying