Do not do good lest you get evil in return.

[Alexey]

Dear forum members. I need your advice on translating the Russian proverb about ingratitude "Не делай добра - не получишь зла" (literally "Don't do good [and] you won't get evil [in return]).

"Non bene facias ne tibi male faciant" ?

By the way, what is the best way to translate this phrase into English?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Pacifica]

"Non bene facias ne tibi male faciant" ?

That isn't quite correct.

Unfortunately, I don't know Russian, so I can't say what's the best way to translate the original Russian phrase into English, but I can provide Latin translations based on your English translations, hopefully to be verified later by someone who knows Russian.

Noli bene facere, ne tibi malum reddatur = "Do not do good, lest you be repaid with evil."

Noli bene facere; malum tibi non reddetur = "Do not do good (and) you will not be repaid with evil."

 

[Alexey]

Thank you very much for your answer. So you think that imperativus praesentis in the first part of the sentence is preferable to coniunctivus imperativus. I used praesens coniunctivi because in the comprehensive grammar by Sobolevski there was a statement that it should be used if the instruction is addressed not to a particular person but to people in general or an unstated person ("rules of life" as he calls it).

 

[Imperfacundus]

That's some peak Russian cynicism right there.

My attempt at a literal translation that rhymes like the original would be: nil boni feceris — nil mali acceperis.

 

[syntaxianus]

I am thinking along the lines of

ne bene facias ne mala accipias.

I suppose one could interject vicissim for "in turn."

ne bene facias ne vicissim mala accipias.

= Don't do good so you don't get bad (things) in turn.

Late Latin could say:

ne benefacias ne malefias.

= Don't do good so you don't suffer injury.

 

[Pacifica]

I don't like the repetition of ne in two different senses.

Malefieri doesn't mean "to suffer an injury"; it means for an injury to be done. The person suffering the injury is in the dative.

 

[syntaxianus]

I don't like the repetition of ne in two different senses.

Malefieri doesn't mean "to suffer an injury"; it means for an injury to be done. The person suffering the injury is in the dative.

Malefio is defined by L&S as "to be injured (late Lat.), Cael. Aur. Signif. Diaet. Pass. 89." Not far from there to "to suffer an injury."

 

[Pacifica]

OK, that's a late and rare usage I wasn't aware of.

 

[cinefactus]

I really wanted to prove that ne + pres subj was in regular usage, but after a very long search, I could only find examples in Early Latin and the Vulgate.

 

[syntaxianus]

I really wanted to prove that ne + pres subj was in regular usage, but after a very long search, I could only find examples in Early Latin and the Vulgate.

Well it is a subject for research, and perhaps some personal preference. Cicero quotes "actum ne agas" in a letter to Atticus but, granted, that might be proverbial. You may have seen this article, which, again, deals with speech not properly classical, but which may point to something in the living instincts of the Latin language as popularly spoken, as against "Madvig's dictatorship."

 

[Pacifica]

Cicero quotes "actum ne agas" in a letter to Atticus

It's not a direct prohibition; it depends on malim: https://latin.packhum.org/search?q=actum+ne+agas

There's no doubt that ne + present subjunctive direct prohibitions became extremely common in late Latin, and at least occasionally occurred before that, though the perfect subjunctive is much more common during the classical period.

I'm not really bothered by your use of the present subjunctive, but by the double ne, as I said, which does feel rather awkward.

 

[cinefactus]

You may have seen this article, which, again, deals with speech not properly classical, but which may point to something in the living instincts of the Latin language as popularly spoken, as against "Madvig's dictatorship."

The link just went to a generic page. I did go through all the examples listed in a paper on the topic, and had to conclude that they could all be explained otherwise. It was unfortunate, as I was hoping to do a podcast on it

vide/cave ne + pres subjunctive is very common through.