Paulo hoc melius quam mediocre, hoc minus malum quam ut pessumum." - Meaning and context.">
This is a little better than middling, that is a little less bad than what you would call the worst.
• Fragment of Book XXVII, quoted by Nonius, 29, 21; Warmington (1935), p. 253
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Paulo hoc melius quam mediocre, hoc minus malum quam ut pessumum.

— Gaius Lucilius

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Paulo hoc melius quam mediocre, hoc minus malum quam ut pessumum." in the context of "This is a little better than middling, that is a little less bad than what you would call the worst.
• Fragment of Book XXVII, quoted by Nonius, 29, 21; Warmington (1935), p. 253" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Gaius Lucilius" (Quotes: E. H. Warmington, Remains of Old Latin, vol. 3, LCL 329 (1935) Norbert Gutterman, A Book of Latin Quotations (1966), pp. 40–42) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 19, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Gaius Lucilius

About Gaius Lucilius

Gaius Lucilius (180, 168 or 148 – 103 BC) was the earliest Roman satirist, of whose writings only fragments remain. A Roman citizen of the equestrian class, he was born at Suessa Aurunca in Campania, and was a member of the Scipionic Circle.