Hello,
I was told Mortem Vitae Sequens was Latin for “death follows life.”
Can it be translated another way? Also, is it grammatically correct?
Thanks in advance!
Jen
It’s certainly not correct if you are looking for “death follows life”.
I would say “Mortalitas vitam sequitur.”
But there are many here whose latin supercedes mine, so they may have some finer suggestions. 
klewlis said
It’s certainly not correct if you are looking for “death follows life”.
I would say “Mortalitas vitam sequitur.”
She certainly cleaned up the grammar.
I would prefer to use mors instead of mortalitas. Mortalitas seems to indicate the capability of dying; whereas mors is just death, plain & simple.
Magistra
i think since the phrase has a proverbial nature it would be nice to put it in the gnomic aorist, a thing latin and greek were most fond of, though rare in english (cf. perh. “curiosity killed the cat”).
mors and vita are pretty ineluctable words to use, though i think succedo may be the verb that most aptly captures the changed state from one to another.
for the sake of euphony: vitam successit mors.
i wouldn’t have thought of using mortalitas, although it is nicely reminiscent of tacitus or perhaps the quotation from cicero’s de natura deorum: …aut non omne quod ortum sit mortalitas consequatur.
~D
The Gnomic Perfect! Hurrah! I have been using that for months now. Everyone always thinks I’m stupid for saying stuff in the perfect they think should be in the present.. 