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{{Short description|Brief moral saying}}
{{italic title}}
'''''Sententiae''''', the nominative plural of the [[Latin]] word [[wikt:sententia|''sententia'']], are brief moral sayings, such as [[proverbs]], [[adages]], [[aphorisms]], [[Maxim (philosophy)|maxims]], or [[apophthegm]]s taken from ancient or popular or other sources, often quoted without context. '''''Sententia''''', the nominative singular, also called a "sentence", is a kind of rhetorical proof. Through the invocation of a proverb, quotation, or witty  turn of phrase during a presentation or conversation one may be able to gain the assent of the listener, who will hear a kind of non-logical, but agreed-upon truth in what one is saying. An example of this is the phrase "age is better with wine"<ref>{{cite book|first1=Elizabeth|last1=Schneider|author-link1=Elizabeth Schneider|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cQuiDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA111|title=Wine for Normal People: A Guide for Real People Who Like Wine, but Not the Snobbery That Goes with It|page=111|publisher=Chronicle Books|date=November 5, 2019|isbn= 9781452171418|oclc=	1119627959}}</ref> playing off of the adage "wine is better with age".{{citation needed|date=September 2021}} The same saying is present in {{bibleverse|Luke|5,39|KNJV}}.<ref>{{cite book|first1=John|last1=Trapp|author-link1=John Trapp (writer)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vtfaDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA726|title=A Commentary or Exposition upon all the Books of the New Testament|via=[http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/browse?type=atitle&key=Trapp%2C%20John%2C%201601-1669&c=x onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu]|access-date=July 11, 2021|page=387|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|date=March 9, 2020|isbn= 9781725269965|oclc=	1145561623}}</ref>

==History==
The use of ''sententiae'' has been explained by [[Aristotle]]<ref>''Rhetoric'' 2.21 [1394a19ff]</ref> (when he discusses the γνώμη ''gnomê'', or sententious maxim, as a form of [[enthymeme]]), [[Quintilian]],<ref>''Institutes of Oratory'', 8.5</ref> and other classical authorities.

Early modern English writers, heavily influenced by various [[humanism|humanist]] educational practices, such as harvesting [[commonplace book|commonplaces]], were especially attracted to ''sententiae''. The technique of sententious speech is exemplified by Polonius' famous speech to Laertes in ''[[Hamlet]]''.<ref>Act 1, scene 3</ref> Sometimes in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama the sententious lines appear at the end of scenes in rhymed couplets (for instance, [[John Webster]]'s [[Duchess of Malfi]]). In some early modern dramatic texts and other writings, ''sententiae'' are often flagged by marginal notes or special marks.<ref>G.K. Hunter, "The Marking of Sententiæ in Elizabethan Printed Plays, Poems, and Romances," ''The Library'' 5th series 6 (1951): 171-188</ref>

The "first Roman book of literary character" was the ''Sententiae'' of [[Appius Claudius Caecus|Appius Claudius]], which was composed upon a Greek model.<ref name = "boak">Boak, Arthur E. R. &  Sinnigen, William G. ''History of Rome to A.D. 565''. 5th Edition. The Macmillan Company, 1965. p. 95</ref>

A similar literary genre recurred in 1150 within the ''[[Sentences|Libri Quattuor Sententiarum]]'' (The Four Books of Sentences) of [[Peter Lombard]], a book which was widely [[Commentary (philology)|commented]] during the [[Middle Age]], namely by Saint [[Thomas Aquinas]]<ref>{{cite book|title=Commento alle "Sentenze" di Pietro Lombardo e testo integrale di Pietro Lombardo. Libro quarto. Distinzioni 14-23, La penitenza, l'unzione degli infermi|language=Italian|oclc=	469296610|publisher= Ed. Studio Domenicano |location=Bologna|year=1999|via=[https://archive.today/20210711075054/https://www.worldcat.org/search?qt=hotseries&q=se:%22Commento+alle+Sentenze+di+Pietro+Lombardo%22 archive.is]|series=Commento alle Sentenze di Pietro Lombardo}} (FRBNF38880564).</ref> and [[Saint Bonaventura]].<ref>{{cite book|author= Giovanni Ballaini|title=D. Bonauenturae S.R.E. Episcopi Card. Albanienis. Doctorisq. SERAPHICI In Secundum Librum Sententiarum elaborata dilucidatio. Collectis vniuersis prioribus editionibus; quidquid aut elegantiae, aut eruditionis in illis anteà sparsim legebatur; huic uni appositum est totum; & longè copiosus, ac emendacius: ita ut vix ampliùs sit, quod in tanto opere desiderari queat|language=Latin|year=1573|location=Venice|oclc=	898175147|via=[https://archive.today/20210711075640/http://opac.unicatt.it/search*ita/o(OCoLC)ocn898175147 archive.is]}}</ref>

There is a classical, Roman novel written by [[Publilius Syrus]]. The book is a series of proverbs written in Latin.

==See also==
*[[Commonplace books]]
*[[Publilius Syrus]], a writer of ''sententiae''
*[[Sentences]], or ''The Four Books of Sentences'' (''Libri Quattuor Sententiarum''), a book of theology written by [[Peter Lombard]]

==References==
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[[Category:Texts in Latin]]


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