Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Sisyphium Pondus

Here is a distich by Michele Verinus:

Sisyphium Pondus
Si scires quanti plenum diadema pericli est,
Malles Sisyphii ponderis esse reus.

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

diadēma (diadēmatis, f.): diadem, crown
Sisyphius, -a, -um: Sisyphean, belonging to Sisyphus

et: and
gravis -e: heavy
mālō mālle māluī: prefer
perīculum -ī n.: danger
plēnus -a -um: full
pondus ponderis n.: weight
quantus -a -um: (interr.) how great? (rel.) of what size, amount, etc.
rēgnum -ī n.: kingship, kingdom
reus -ī m.: defendant
sciō -īre -īvī/-iī -ītum: know
sī: if
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist