Friday, December 30, 2011

Fert Omnia Secum


143     -     144     -     145


Fert Omnia Secum
O felix, secum sua quicumque omnia portat,
Fortunae vivens liber ab arbitrio.


Source: Joachim Camerarius (1534-1598), Symbola, 4.100. Meter: Elegiac. The idea of the wise man who fert omnia secum, "carries everything with him," is here appropriated for the snail, who even carries its own home on its back. For an Aesop's fable that conveys this same message, see the story of Simonides and the shipwreck.




The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. There is only one word in this poem that is not on the DCC list:

arbītrium (arbītriī, n.): judgment, decision, will

O happy is he (O felix) whoever carries (quicumque portat) all his own goods (sua omnia) with him (secum), living free (vivens liber) from the judgment of Fortune (Fortunae ab arbitrio).

ā, ab, abs: from, by (+abl.)
cum: with (prep. + abl.); when, since, although (conjunction + subj.)
fēlīx -īcis: lucky; adv. fēlīciter
fero ferre tulī lātum: bear, carry
fortūna -ae f.: fortune
līber lībera līberum: free; līberī (m. pl.), freeborn children
omnis -e: all, every, as a whole
porto -āre: carry a load
quī-, quae-, quodcumque: who-, whatever
sui, sibi, sē: him- her- itself
suus -a -um: his own, her own, its own
vīvo -ere vīxī victum: live