Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causos - meaning of this phrase

millies-ga, 

From Ask A Linguist:

Felix Qui Potuit Rerum Cognoscere Causas means Happy (is s/he) who is
able to know the causes of things.
http://www.linguistlist.org/~ask-ling/archive-1997.7/msg00259.html



This is a quotation from Virgil
Georgics: Book 2, Line 490
Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.
Happy he, who could understand the causes of things.
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~idmon/zmyth13a.htm
 


Latin:  Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.
Happy the man who has been able to learn the causes of things. 
Source: Georgics (II, 490)
World of Quotes 
http://www.worldofquotes.com/author/Virgil-or-Vergil-(Publius-Virgilius-Maro-Vergil)/1/



Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas???Happy is he who could learn
the reasons for things.?
http://www.mwc.edu/publ/read/grapevine/Archive/2000/May_June2000/Tributes.htm


?Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.? Happy was he who was able
to learn the causes of things.
(said of Lucretius) 
http://members.aol.com/Davus1/quotes.html


Vergil, Georgics 2.490 (ref. to Lucretius)

?Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,
atque metus omnis et inexorabile fatum
subiecit pedibus strepitumque Acherontis avari.
Fortunatus et ille, deos qui novit agrestis,
Panaque Silvanumque senem Nymphasque sorores?

?Blessed is he whose mind had power to probe
The causes of things and trample underfoot
All terrors and inexorable fate
And the clamour of devouring Acheron;
But happy too is he who knows the gods of the countryside, knows Pan
and old Silvanus
And the sister Nymphs.?

Translated by L. P. Wilkinson
http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/showcase/pendergraft2.html



Vergil's famous lines:

Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas atque metus omnis et
inexorabile fatum subiecit pedibus . . .
(Georgics 2.490-492) 

"Happy the man who can understand the causes of things and trample
under foot all his fears, and fate deaf to prayer as well."
http://www.euronet.nl/users/joostkok/boethius/1m4_n.htm



Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.
 
Literally: "Happy (Felix), who (qui) has been able (potuit) of things
(rerum) to recognize (cognoscere) the causes (causas).

Freely translated: "Happy, [is he] who has been able to recognize the
causes of things.

http://216.239.37.104/search?q=cache:4pzXevbmmHcJ:freerepublic.com/~patrickhenry/+%22Felix+qui+potuit+rerum+cognoscere+causas%22+Happy+is+he&hl=es&ie=UTF-8


Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas
??Happy is he who comes to know the causes of things??
Virgil?Georgics, Book II, line 490. 29 BCE
http://www.albany.edu/cpr/sdgroup/pad824/Lane2.pdf



Search criteria:
?Felix qui potuit rerum?
?Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas?

I hope this helps!

Best regards,
Bobbie7-ga

Great! and fast too!

Felix, and the translation "happy," have usually the connotation of
lucky or fortunate. Thus, one might also say, he is fortunate who is
able to understand the nature of things.

hlabadie-ga

First of all, you have the phrase spelled incorrectly.
It should be "felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causus."

Secondly, there is no Virgil text "Georgics." Virgil wrote Geogics.

Thirdly, the correct translation from the Latin is 'Happy is He who
knows the cause of things." The word 'causus' is singular, and means
'cause' not 'causes.'

The phrase is indeed: "felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,"
according to the Oxford Classical Text, which also fails to note any
manuscript disagreement about the "causas" - note that the singular of
"causas" is "causa," and not "causus." The translation of "causas" is,
of course, plural.

Virgil did write "Georgics", and not "Geogics" - again, so says my OCT
and every Classics scholar with whom I have ever spoken.