Sed ignotis perierunt mortibus illi
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"Sed ignotis perierunt mortibus illi" (English: "But of those forgiven, they pine away with love to death"[1]) is a dictum by Horace found in Sermones, I, 3:
- nam fuit ante Helenam cunnus taeterrima belli
- causa, sed ignotis perierunt mortibus illi,
- quos venerem incertam rapientis more ferarum
- viribus editior caedebat ut in grege taurus.
This phrase attributes, metaphorically (or more accurately through pars pro toto), the cause of the Trojan War to Helen of Troy's vulva.
Thomas Dugdale Jr. translates: Mankind had by long experience, been convinced of the fatal disorders of love; for long before the siege of Troy love had caused wars and divisions, because every one was apt to employ force and violence to gratify his passions.
And in another translation:
- For before Helen’s time there existed [many] a woman who was the dismal cause of war: but those fell by unknown deaths, whom pursuing uncertain venery, as the bull in the herd, the strongest slew. [2]
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