Sunday, April 24, 2011

Cogita Quid Desit Tibi

This poem is from a book published in 1624 by Jean Pignewart (Iohannes Pignevvart), a Cistercian monk and scholar. He attributes his collection of distich poetry to "Cato Bernardinus," invoking both the legendary "Cato" of Latin distich fame and also Saint Bernard of Clairveax who was famously associated with the Cistercian order.

Cogita Quid Desit Tibi
Quid sibi desit homo, non quo supereffluat alter,
Cogitat utilius, providet hincque sibi.

The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. There are only two words in this poem not on the DCC list:

prōvideō, prōvidēre: foresee, provide for
supereffluo, supereffluere: overflow, be abundant

alter altera alterum: other of two
cōgitō -āre: think, reflect
dēsum -esse -fuī: be lacking
hīc: here; hinc: from here
homo hominis m.: human being
nōn: not
que (enclitic) - and
qui quae quod: who, which, what / quis quid: who? what? which?
sui, sibi, sē: him- her- itself
tū tuī tibi tē: you (sing.)
utilis -e: useful