Note 35 — VI.
Reading edition
In a public address, Mr. Adams once quoted the well-known words of Tacitus (Annal VI. 39), Par negotiis neque supra,—applying them to a distinguished man lately deceased. A lady wrote to inquire whence they came. Mr. Adams informed her, and added, they could not be adequately translated in less than seven words in English. The lady replied that they might be well translated in five—Equal to, not above, duty, but better in three—John Quincy Adams.