Looking for help with a Latin translation?

Question

I am looking for a Latin translation of the moral from one of Aesop's fables, "The gods help them that help themselves." (Ironic, isn't it?) This is the best I could come up with on my own (after two years of Latin, no less)

Dei adjuvant illos qui ipsos adjuvant.

Any comments? I'm not exactly sure if adjuvare has the right nuance for the phrase. Would succurrere fit better?

Answer 1

DEI ADJUVANT EOS QUI SE IPSOS ADJUVANT

"Se" is not sufficient to translate "themselves" when used as a pronoun.In the above suggested sentence "Milites se interfecerunt" se is used alongwith the subject Milites and not as a reflexive pronoun. I've googled "se ipsos" (my Italian section) and you can see results
http://www.google.it/search?hl=it&q=se+ipsos&btnG=Cerca+con+Google&meta=



.

Answer 2

Dei adjuvant eos qui se IPSOS adjuvant. (I'll go along with answerer Marty who should receive credit for "best answer".)

Remember the "se"?
He killed her = Eam interfecit. He/She killed himself/herself = Is/Ea se interfecit. The soldiers killed themselves so as not to be captured = Milites se interfecerunt ne...

The French "Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera" ("Help yourself and heaven will help you") conveys the same meaning.

Good touch in recognizing the irony of your situation! Are you saying that we "out here" are the gods who are coming to your help because you helped yourself by asking us? After all, no one knows everything, but knowing where to go to get help is half the battle won, isn't it?

Itaque, quia te adjuvas, dei te adjuvamus.

Answer 3

That's the standard translation.

Answer 4

I take latin in school and it is very difficult, but my teach reccomende usin www.altavista.com for translating

Answer 5

GO TO BEBELFISH.COM