User:ReprievedSoul/sandbox

"NISI DOMINUS FRUSTA" Fallacious simplistic translation of 'DOMINUS", which need not always mean "The Lord" (as in God, Religion, etc. The dominus could be any master, e.g. of a slave, and can be seen as an exhortation when combined with NISI.  Remember that in ancient Rome, the teachers were slaves.  What We were taught in Edinburgh (where the phrase is the civic motto) is that it means "Unless you achieve mastery, your effort is in vain", or more elegantly "Try til you succeed".