Astaci incocti patriae idonei sunt in pace; cocti autem in bello.

Raw lobsters are serviceable to their country in peace; but boiled
ones in war.

Lobster's _claws_ are nasty things to get into.

The Corporation of London seemed very much afraid of the _Police
clause_.

One of the reasons why a soldier is sometimes called a lobster, probably
is, that the latter is a _marine_ animal.

Balaenae persimile:

Very like a whale.

Qui color albus erat nunc est contrarius albo:

The colour which was white is now contrary to white.

Some people will swear white is black to gain their ends; and a man who
will do this, though he may not always be--

Jucundus amicis:

Pleasant to his friends;

is nevertheless frequently so to his _constituents_.

Hither are referred nouns compounded of the preposition _con_, as
contubernalis, a comrade; commilito, a fellow soldier, &c. You must
_con_ all such words attentively before you can _con_strue well, or the
_con_sequence will be, that you will be _con_siderably blown up, if not
_con_foundedly flogged.

Some of these which signify similitude, are also joined to a genitive
case, as

Par uncti fulminis:

Like greased lightning.

The familiarity of our transatlantic friends with the nature of the
electric fluid, is no doubt owing to the discoveries of their countryman
Franklin. _Q._ Was the lightning which that philosopher drew down from
the clouds, of the kind mentioned in the example?

Communis, common; alienus, strange; immunis, free, are joined to a
genitive, dative, and also to an ablative case, with a preposition, as

Aures longae communes asinorum sunt:

Long ears are common to asses.

Though _musical_ ears are not. We even doubt whether they would have the
slightest admiration for _Bray_-ham.

Non sunt communes caudae hominibus:

Tails are not common to men.

Except coat-tails, shirt-tails, pig-tails, and rats'-tails-- to which
en-_tails_ may perhaps also be added, though these last are often cut
off.

Non alienus a poculo cerevisiae:

Not averse to a pot of beer.

We should think we were not; and should as soon think of engaging in an
unnatural quarrel with our bread and butter.

Natus, born; commodus, convenient; incommodus, inconvenient; utilis,
useful; inutilis, useless; vehemens, earnest; aptus, fit, are sometimes
also joined to an accusative case with a preposition, as

Natus ad laqueum:

Born to a halt