Nihil

Latin-English

nĭhil or nīl. (ˈni.kil) neut. indecl.

1. Nothing.

Loci

• αʹ Cicero, Ad Atticum 11.13:

Itaque tum et a tuo vilico sumpsimus et aliunde mutuati sumus cum Quintus queritur per litteras sibi nos nihil dedisse, qui neque ab illo rogati sumus neque ipsi eam pecuniam aspeximus.

So at the same time that we were taking handouts from your manager and borrowing from elsewhere, Quintus was whining in his letters that we had never given him anything; not only had he never asked us for the money — we hadn't even seen it ourselves.

• βʹ Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 2.32:

indignatas reliquas partes sua cura, suo labore ac ministerio ventri omnia quaeri, ventrem in medio quietum nihil aliud quam datis voluptatibus frui

The other body parts were upset that their stress and hard work and service got everything for the stomach, and the stomach rested inside doing nothing more than enjoy the treats it was given.

• γʹ Cicero, Ad Familiares 15.13:

Sed ita fato nescio quo contigisse arbitror, ut tibi ad me ornandum semper detur facultas, mihi ad te remunerandum nihil suppetat praeter voluntatem.

But I think it is somehow destined that, as the opportunity is always given to you to honor me, I get nothing to pay you back except the will to do so.

• δʹ Cicero, Ad Atticum 11.24:

Ita aut nihil puto eum habere quod putet ad me celerius perferendum aut adeo me in malis esse despectum ut, etiam si quid habet, id nisi omnibus suis negotiis confectis ad me referre non curet.

So I think either he has nothing he thinks he needs to relate to me any faster, or else I'm so looked down on in my troubles that, even if he did have something, he wouldn't worry about reporting it to me until after all his business is completed.

• εʹ Cicero, De Domo Sua 29.77:

Credo enim, quamquam in illa adoptatione legitime factum est nihil, tamen te esse interrogatum auctorne esses, ut in te P. Fonteius vitae necisque potestatem haberet, ut in filio

Because I do believe—even though nothing else was done legally in that adoption of yours—that you were still asked whether you authorized Publius Fonteius to have the same power of life and death over you that he would have over a son.

• στʹ Cicero, Ad Atticum 10.5:

Nunc quoniam agit liberaliter, nihil accuso hominem scripsique ad eum me a te certiorem esse factum.

Now because he's acting generously, I'm not accusing the man of anything, and I've written to him that you had informed me.

• ζʹ Cicero, De Fato 12.28-29:

Sic enim interrogant: 'Si fatum tibi est ex hoc morbo convalescere, sive tu medicum adhibueris sive non adhibueris, convalesces; item, si fatum tibi est ex hoc morbo non convalescere, sive tu medicum adhibueris sive non adhibueris, non convalesces; et alterutrum fatum est; medicum ergo adhibere nihil attinet.'

So their argument goes: 'If you are destined to recover from this illness, whether you were to call in a doctor or not, you would recover; furthermore, if you are destined not to recover from this illness, whether you were to call in a doctor or not, you would not recover—and either one or the other is destined to happen; therefore it doesn't matter if you call in a doctor.'

• ηʹ Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 23.9:

Lacrimantem inde iuvenem cernens medium complectitur atque osculo haerens non ante precibus abstitit quam pervicit, ut gladium poneret fidemque daret nihil facturum tale.

Then, noticing the young man was crying, he embraced him and, holding him tightly and kissing him, did not leave off his pleading until he convinced him to put down his sword and give his word that he would do nothing of the sort.

• θʹ Cicero, Ad Atticum 5.18:

nihil enim certi habebamus nisi accepisse nos tuas litteras a. d. XIV. Kal. Sextil. datas, in quibus scriptum esset te in Epirum iturum circiter Kal. Sextil.

For we had nothing for certain, except for your letter we received dated July 19, where it had been written that you would be going to Epirus around the first of August.