Friday, July 29, 2011

Vita et Mors

This is a poem from John Stradling's Epigrammatum Libri Quattuor, publishing in 1607. You can read the book online at Dana Sutton's website.

Vita et Mors
Vita hominis nihil est nisi messis plena laborum;
Ergo quid est esse hic absque labore? Mori.

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

absque: without, apart from, away from
messis (messis, f.): harvest

ergo: therefore
et: and
hīc: here; hinc: from here
homo hominis m.: human being
labor -ōris m.: toil, exertion
morior morī mortuus sum: die
mors mortis f.: death
nihil, nīl: nothing; not at all
nisi/nī: if not, unless
plēnus -a -um: full
qui quae quod: who, which, what / quis quid: who? what? which?
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
vīta -ae f.: life