Hey buggedout,
The words at the top of the round are from Seneca, a Roman philosopher/statesman. Ignis aurum probat, miseria fortes homines. In English this translates to:
”As gold is tempered by fire, so strong men are tempered by suffering".
The meaning is that in order to become pure gold, the original gold-bearing ore must go through the tempering process of fire; the analogy being that for a man strong in spirit, adversity and suffering are the tempering agents necessary to refine his character and bring out his true potential. Source
In the case of Steem and Steemit, there have been challenges, but ultimately our communities have become stronger as a result. ☺️
I like it a lot. We have some pretty strong women here too. Some languages like to have masculine/feminine variations on their words. Does homines translate to "humans" or "men" (as-in hombres)?
I would suppose it means both? Isn’t the plural in Romance language usually a masculine even when referring to male and female? 🤔 This sounds like a question for someone still in school! 😂😄
Yes, probably. Anyway, I really like the sentiment of the phrase. I think it is very fitting for SSG and even STEEM overall in 2019.