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esse quam videri

Latin Phrases
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

To be rather than to seem; the preference for genuine virtue over its outward appearance.

Detailed Definition
Esse quam videri, the motto of North Carolina, expresses the ethical priority of authentic being over social performance. In poetry, it appears in verse critiquing hypocrisy, social pretension, and the gap between reputation and reality. It connects to the Romantic valuation of sincerity and the lyric poet's claim to speak authentically from the self. Poets who invoke this phrase are asserting a commitment to genuine expression over the conventions and performances that social life demands.
Example
Example in poetry:
The Stoics were the great philosophers of esse quam videri — they valued genuine virtue over its social performance; Cato the Younger adopted Esse quam videri as his personal motto, and his life became a touchstone for virtuous poetry; Ben Jonson's poetry of praise — particularly "To Penshurst" — celebrates people and places that embody esse quam videri, the genuine virtue that needs no display; A student might write a poem contrasting a person of genuine character with one of social performance — exploring how poetry can distinguish between esse and videri; Walt Whitman's poetry makes an esse quam videri claim — the poet as the genuinely democratic self rather than the social persona; but the enormous performance of "Song of Myself" complicates this claim in interesting ways; Contemporary poetry about social media might engage esse quam videri — the platform designed for videri rather than esse, for display rather than genuine being
Additional Notes
Esse quam videri is the motto of North Carolina (Esse Quam Videri, adopted 1893) and derives from Cicero's De Amicitia (XXVI, 98), where it appears in the context of a discussion of true friendship. Students should note that Cicero attributes the sentiment to Cato the Elder (not Cato the Younger, who adopted it as his motto), and that in context it is specifically about the difference between a true friend and a flatterer: the flatterer videtur (seems) but does not esse (is). This context is important for understanding the phrase's use in poetry: it is not just a general preference for authenticity but a specific warning about the dangers of those who perform virtue without possessing it. The phrase is also relevant to discussions of persona in poetry: the mask or persona through which a poet speaks may videri (seem) without that appearance exhausting the esse (being) of the poet behind the mask.
Also Known As
to be rather than to seem being rather than seeming esse non videri
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