VALE Hospice International has an official motto, a line from the Latin poet Marcus Annaeus
Lucanus (39A.D.-65A.D.), usually known as Lucan. In his poem Bellum Civile ("The Civil War") a (bad)
character is persuading the King of Egypt to kill his guest, a fugitive. One of his arguments is this:
Adversis non desse decet, sed laeta secutos; nulla fides umquam miseros elegit amicos.
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In English: |
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It's a fine thing when people don't abandon those in trouble - but they got to know them when they were prosperous;
No one, no matter how faithful, ever chose the
unfortunate as his friends.
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Lucan was not a Christian. He would have been surprised to learn that the word fides, by which
he meant "faithfulness, a faithful person", would be used by Christians to mean "faith, religion".
So one can interpret the motto to mean, "No religion ever chose the unfortunate to love before".
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