Saturday, July 30, 2011

Crystallina

Here is a distich by Martial, 14.111:

Crystallina
Frangere dum metuis, franges crystallina; peccant
Securae nimium sollicitaeque manus.


You crystal break, for fear of breaking it:
Careless and careful hands like faults commit.
- Anon.

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

crystallinus, -a, -um: made of crystal
sollicitus, -a, -um: anxious, worried

dum: while (+ indic.); until (+ subj.); provided that (+ subj.)
frangō frangere frēgī frāctum: break, shatter
manus -ūs m.: hand; band of men
metuō metuere metuī: to fear, to dread
nimius -a -um: too much, excessive; nimis or nimium: excessively
peccō -āre: commit a wrong, injure
que (enclitic) - and
sēcūrus -ā -um: free from care, tranquil; careless