Contra vim mortis non crescit herba in hortis-Cedar Herald Index

"Contra vim mortis non crescit herba in hortis" ( alternatively "contra vim mortis non crescit salvia in hortis") is a Latin maxim which literally translates as "no herb grows in the gardens against the power of death" or, alternatively, "no sage grows in the gardens against the power of death.". In Robert Hellenga's novel The Fall of a Sparrow the translation is given as "against the strength of death, no herb grows in the garden". A broader meaning of the phrase is: "nothing can revert the embrace of death." The second wording, that uses salvia in place of herba, is a wordplay with the name of "salvia" (sage), which in Latin literally means "healer", or "health maker".