Contra vim mortis non crescit herba in hortis

Contra vim mortis non crescit herba in hortis (or Contra vim mortis non crescit salvia in hortis, Latin: "No herb grows in the gardens against the power of death", "No sage grows in the gardens against the power of death" correspondently) is a phrase which appears in the medieval literature. According to Jan Wielewicki in his Dziennik spraw Domu zakonnego OO. Jezuitów u św. Barbary w Krakowie these words were said by Sigismund III Vasa on his deathbed. In Das Buch der Zitate by Gerhard Hellwig the phrase appears in Flos medicinae.

As many adages and proverbial or wisdom maxims handed on till nowadays from the Latin cultural tradition, this line is a hexameter: the rhythmical verse, typical of the great epic poetry, both in Greek and Latin literature.

The extensive meaning of the maxim is: " Although you search any garden, you won 't find a medical remedy against the lethal power of death".

The second wording that uses salvia in place of herba is a wordplay with the name of "salvia" (sage), which literally means healer or healthmaker (etymology shown in the related page).