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In the context of live life, die with memories

I’m going to have a tatto, vitam vivere(live life) on my right arm, and I want to tattoo die with memories on my left one.

"Memories" as in good, remarkable memories. Like memories you make in your life, through events and etc. And yes, it is desirable to die having them.

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2 Answers 2

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If you want to go with a complement to vitam vivere, you could use an infinitive like mori or perire and an alliterative word to match it.

Memori(i)s Mori = To die with (things) remembered.

or

Memor Mori = To die unforgetting.

The former rolls off the tongue a little better to my ears. Though the latter might sound stronger in combination with vitam vivere; I am not certain which would be preferable.

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    Memoriis mori sounds like "to die from memories," I feel there needs to be a cum. Nov 22, 2021 at 19:57
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If you have not already chosen a tattoo, what about something like:

Qui multas bonas memoria comprehendo, tandem mori possum.
I, who hold many good memories, at last am able die.

You can make a nice, stylistic tattoo out of it. It's not pithy, though, if that's what you're going for.

Note that this is a sentiment at the end of one's life. It's reflective. It's not an exhortation to live one's life to the fullest, which to my ears reads a bit farcical. I know I've seen it before, but it really is quite something if you think about it. We're commanding someone to die?

The Romans though didn't typically use memoria to mean a recollection of a specific event, but rather one's recollection in general. The former is more common in English, but rare in Latin.

That's why I changed it to multas bonas, but perhaps something more specific can be substituted instead.

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    That sounds to my ear like something you'd say at the point of death (morituri te salutant sprang to mind), whereas I understood the OP's intention as being about an aspiration for when they eventually (not any time soon) die.
    – dbmag9
    May 16, 2022 at 13:17
  • to me it also sounds like the memories are bad and that person is somewhat relieved to finally die and free himself from the bad memories. But this probably because I recelty read this quote from Ovid: sed nocet esse deum, praeclusaque ianua leti aeternum nostros luctus extendit in aevum. (It is a dreadful thing to be a god, for the door of death is shut to me, and my grief must go on without end. Loeb translation)
    – d_e
    May 16, 2022 at 13:23
  • @dbmag9 Thanks, and changed some things around.
    – cmw
    May 16, 2022 at 17:08
  • (@de and you too)
    – cmw
    May 16, 2022 at 17:08

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