Perseverando

Here is today's emblem by Joachim Camerarius, 2:96. Here the beaver is being celebrated for his persistent hard work, but not as a positive exemplum, but a negative one. The tree may stand tall, but the gnawing of the beaver lays that tree low - and we better watch out for anything that might undermine us in the same way. With the word improbus, Camerarius is alluding to the words of Vergil's Georgics, 1: labor omnia vicit / improbus.

Perseverando
Quid non perficiat labor improbus? Aspicis, arbor
Ut cadat a morsu castoris assiduo.

The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. There are five words which are not on the DCC list:

assiduus -a -um - constant, regular, incessant
castor, castoris m. - beaver
inānis -e: empty, vacant, insubstantial; adv. inaniter
morsus, morsūs m. - biting, bite
perficiō -ficere -fēcī -fectum: bring to a conclusion, accomplish

 

ā ab abs: from, by (+abl.)

arbor arboris f.: tree
aspiciō -ere -spēxī -spectum: look to or at, behold
cadō cadere cecidī cāsum: fall, be killed
labor -ōris m.: toil, exertion
nōn: not
qui quae quod: who, which, what / quis quid: who? what? which?
ut, uti: as (+ indic.); so that, with the result that (+ subj.)