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Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi

Jupiter's head crowned with laurel and ivy. Sardonyx cameo.
Jupiter's head crowned with laurel and ivy. Sardonyx cameo.

Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi is a Latin phrase, literally "What is permissible for Jupiter is not permissible for a cow". The locus classicus (origin) for the phrase is the novella Memoirs of a Good-for-Nothing (1826) by Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff, although it is not entirely clear that Eichendorff coined the phrase himself. In his play Heauton Timorumenos,[1] Terence, a playwright of the Roman Republic, coined a similar phrase, Aliis si licet, tibi non licet ("to others it is permitted; to you it is not permitted").

The phrase is often translated as "Gods may do what cattle may not". It indicates the existence of a double standard (justifiable or otherwise), and essentially means "what is permitted to one important person or group, is not permitted to everyone."[2]

Hannah Arendt used the phrase as a title and theme for a well-known profile of Bertolt Brecht.[3][4][5]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Terence: Heauton Timorumenos". Retrieved 2016-06-07.
  2. ^ Danny J. Boggs. "Challenges to the Rule of Law: Or, Quod Licet Jovi Non Licet Bovi". Cato Supreme Court Review 2006-2007. Cato Institute. pp. 7–18.
  3. ^ Arendt, Hannah (October 28, 1966). "What Is Permitted to Jove". The New Yorker.
  4. ^ Stern, Peter; Yarbrough, Jean (Summer 1978). "TEACHING: Hannah Arendt". The American Scholar. 47 (3): 371–381. JSTOR 41210437.
  5. ^ Miller, Daegan (January 13, 2025). "For the Love of the Word". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved May 27, 2025.

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