concept
Rara avis in terris (Juvenal)
rara avis
also: rara avis in terris, редкая птица
Latin tag meaning "a rare bird," from Juvenal's Satires (6.165, "rara avis in terris nigroque simillima cygno" -- "a rare bird on earth, and very like a black swan"), used proverbially for anything seldom encountered; Chekhov borrows the phrase as the title of his sketch, where it names the ideally honest person the detective must pause to think about, in contrast to the endless supply of criminals he can produce on demand.
Reading notes
- Rara Avis §2 Rare bird (Lat.)
"Rara avis" is a genuine Latin tag, not Chekhov's coinage, going back to Juvenal's Satires (6.165: "rara avis in terris nigroque simillima cygno," "a rare bird on earth, and very like a black swan"). Chekhov attaches his own footnote translating the phrase for readers unfamiliar with Latin, then lets the title do double duty as the sketch's punchline: the truly rare species turns out to be not any criminal type but the ideally honest man.