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What is the proper translation of the phrase (though, I am not sure it is a complete phrase):

Mors dolorum omnium exsolutio est et finis

As far as I can see, this is an excerpt from section 19 from Of Consolation: To Marcia by Seneca the Younger.

By comparing it side-by-side to the translation by Aubrey Stewart, I can see that the whole sentence, which is:

Mors dolorum omnium exsolutio est et finis ultra quem mala nostra non exeunt, quae nos in illam tranquillitatem in qua antequam nasceremur iacuimus reponit.

was translated as:

Death is a release from and an end of all pains: beyond it our sufferings cannot extend: it restores us to the peaceful rest in which we lay before we were born.

So I am concluding, that mentioned excerpet must be translated as:

Death is a release from and an end of all pains

Am I correct in this assumption? (and if not - what is the proper translation)

1 Answer 1

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Your assumption is correct!

Moving the words around to correspond to the English word order:

Mors est

Death is…

exsolutio et finis

…a release and an end…

dolorum omnium

…of all pains.

You could also use "suffering" or "sorrow(s)" for dolōrum here, if you prefer, and/or "every" for omnium. But the idea is the same.

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