In these blog posts, I will be basing a lot of this from the book Amo, Amas, Amat and More, which I talked about in the last post. This is filled with lots of phrases and an explanation.
Today's phrase is:
vultus est index animi
WUUL-tuus est IHN-deks AH-nih-mee
the face is the mirror of the soul
From Amo, Amas, Amat and More, this explanation is given: 'Literally "the expression on one's face is a sign of the soul."' I love these old sayings, as they provide much insight, and I would even suggest that they provide spiritual insight, regardless of your belief.
Think about it, your facial expression is mirroring what is in your soul! Jesus teaches a similar thing, that the light of the body is the eye. Alma, in the Book of Mormon teaches another similar thing, about your countenance, how it should reflect that of the Lord's.
I do believe that you can learn much about a person by examining their eyes, and the expression on their face. Although, looks can often be deceiving, yet the eyes do reveal sadness, joy, hope, anxiety, grief, and whatever other emotion a human may experience.
I have found through my time of study, that learning Latin isn't just about learning a language or the roots of many of our words today. It's about learning wisdom from the past. Now, it's not everything from the past that is good and virtuous, but there are many things that seem God-inspired, and ring true in my ears. Latin isn't just about language, it's about spirit, and connecting back to the wisdom of our ancestors (I'm not sure if I have Roman ancestors, maybe, maybe not--but you get the gist).
Til next time, Valete!
Jonny