Talk:Fex urbis lex orbis

Untitled
Could merge with list of Latin phrases... AnonMoos (talk) 12:29, 10 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes, if you like. I created this page but I would be happy with that. One less page on Wiki could be good.  Smokey TheCat  09:00, 26 November 2011 (UTC)

Scum or Dregs?
My friend Jonathan Clark tells me that faex means dregs, not scum. My Collins Gem Latin Dictionary (1964) agrees. I've emended the page accordingly. Sicherman (talk) 15:43, 31 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Not sure what the difference is as an insult (as opposed to a specific technical term)... AnonMoos (talk) 23:13, 31 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Scum lies on the top, dregs on the bottom, so "dregs" is more appropriate. It means something unwanted that's on the bottom. Sicherman (talk) 13:42, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

St. Jerome?
It seems that someone claims that this phrase should be attributed to St. Jerome only because he is referenced as having used it by Hugo in Les Misérables:
 * It was of this rabble that Saint Jerome [emphasis added] was thinking, no doubt, and of all these poor people and all these vagabonds and all these miserable people whence sprang the apostles and the martyrs, when he uttered this mysterious saying: "Fex urbis, lex orbis,"—the dregs of the city, the law of the earth.

Someone needs to either find the reference by Saint Jerome, delete the reference and only elaborate on the phrase's usage in Les Misérables, or clarify that Hugo is the one who references Saint Jerome but we can't corroborate such usage. Eddie (talk) 05:25, 26 June 2013 (UTC)