Ad Medicos et Iurisconsultos

Here is today's distich by John Owen, with an English translation by Thomas Harvey, 1.15. The poem invokes the archetypal physician, Galen, and the archetypal jurist, the Emperor Justinian. Each line invokes a paradoxical success: the physician thrives on our sickness, ulceribus nostris valet, and the lawyer is wise by way of our foolishness, stultitia nostra sapit.

Ad Medicos et Iurisconsultos
Ulceribus, Galene, vales tantummodo nostris:
Stultitia nostra, Iustiniane, sapis.

TO PHYSICIANS AND LAYWERS
Galen, thine Health doth from our sickness rise;
Justinian, our Folly makes Thee wise.

Here is the vocabulary:

ad - to, towards
medicus - doctor, physician
et - and
iurisconsultus - lawyer
ulcus - sore, ulcer
Galenus - Galen
valeo - be strong, prevail
tantummodo - only, merely
noster - our, ours
stultitia - foolishness
Iustinianus - Justinian
sapio - taste of, understand, be wise

(Justinianus)

Ad Martialem

Here is today's distich by John Owen, with an English translation by Thomas Harvey, 2.160. Here Owen honors the Roman poet, Martial, the most famous epigrammatic poet in the Roman tradition. Owen's little poem is itself a work of elegant; the first line expresses a pious sentiment, while the second line is a wonderful interplay of three little food metaphors: fel, mel and sal. The image below shows a 15th-century Martial manuscript.

Ad Martialem
Dicere de rebus, personis parcere nosti,
Sunt sine felle tui, non sine melle sales.

TO MARTIAL
Persons thou know’st to spare, to speak of things,
All thy Conceits are honyed, have no Stings.

Here is the vocabulary:

ad - to, toward
Martialis - Martial
dico - say, speak
de - about, concerning
res - thing, matter
persona - person
parco - spare, be sparing
nosco - know, know how to
sum - be, exist
sine - without
fel - bile, bitterness
tuus - your, yours
non - no, not
mel - honey, sweetness
sal - salt; wit, shrewdness, elegance

(image source)

Felix et Miser

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140     -     141     -     142

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Felix et Miser
Dupliciter miser es, quia felix ante fuisti.
Dupliciter felix, qui fuit ante miser.

Twice wretched thou, because once fortunate,
Twice happy’s he, who wretched was of late.

Source: John Owen (c.1564-c.1628), Epigrammata, 3.157. The English version is by Thomas Harvey. Meter: Elegiac. The identity of the recipient, A.D., is unknown. I thought the wheel of Fortune, with its ups and down, would be a good image to use for this little poem.

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:

You are doubly wretched (dupliciter miser es) because you were happy in the past (quia felix ante fuisti); he is doubly happy (dupliciter felix) who was wretched in the past (qui fuit ante miser).

dūpliciter: doubly

ante: before, in front of (adv. and prep. + acc.)
fēlīx -īcis: lucky; adv. fēlīciter
miser misera miserum: wretched, pitiable
qui, quae, quod: who, which, what; quis quid: who? what? which?
quia: because
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist

(image source)

Bene qui latuit, bene vixit

Here is today's distich by John Owen, with an English translation by Thomas Harvey, 2.35. In this epigram, Owen is playing with a sentiment from Ovid's Tristia 3.4: "Crede mihi, bene qui latuit bene vixit, et intra / fortunam debet quisque manere suam." Owen follows up on Ovid's idea with a paradox: by hiding (latendo), the genius of Owen's addressee is revealed to all. Poor Ovid, of course, did not do such a good job of lying low! The identity of Owen's addressee is not known - which I guess is part of lying low. :-)

Ad D.B.
Si "bene qui latuit, bene vixit," tu bene vivis:
Ingeniumque tuum grande latendo patet.

TO D. B.
Thou livest well, if one well hid well lives:
And thy great wit conceal’d more splendour gives.

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:

grandis, grande; grandis - great, large, grand

bene: well
ingenium -ī n.: disposition, ability, talent
lateo -ēre latuī: lie hidden, be hidden
pateo -ēre patuī: lie open, extend, spread
que: and (enclitic)
qui, quae, quod: who, which, what; quis quid: who? what? which?
sī: if
tū tuī tibi tē: you (sing.)
tuus -a -um: your
vīvo -ere vīxī victum: live

(Ovid, from the Nuremberg Chronicle)

Ad Amicum Pauperem

Here is today's distich by John Owen, with an English translation by Thomas Harvey, 3:181. This is another one of those epigrams that plays upon a paradox - let things go from bad (male) to worse (peius), as the first line wishes; that is because the best things (optima) can follow on the heels of the very worst things (summis malis). As we say in English, it's always darkest just before the dawn!

Ad Amicum Pauperem
Est male nunc; utinam in peius sors omnia vertat!
Succedunt summis optima saepe malis.

TO A POOR FRIEND
Is’t bad? I would ’twere worse: for at the worst
Oft better things succeed than came at first.

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

pēior, pēiōris - worse
succēdo -ere, successī, successum - advance, follow, climb
utinam - if only! oh that! (particle of wishing)

ad: to, up to, towards (+acc.)
amīcus -a -um: friendly; (as subst.) friend
in: in, on (+ abl.); into onto (+ acc)
malus -a -um: evil
nunc:  now
omnis -e: all, every, as a whole
optimus -a -um: best, excellent; adv. optimē
pauper -eris: poor, lowly
saepe: often
sors, sortis f.: lot, fate, destiny; oracle
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
summus -a -um: highest, farthest, last
verto vertere vertī versum: turn

(image source)

Ad Amicum Divitem

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217     -     218     -     219

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Ad Amicum Divitem
Si quantum valeat res quaeque carendo sciatur,
Quid valeant nummi divitiaeque scio.

If by the want of things their worth is known,

I know the worth of Wealth, for none’s mine own.

Source: John Owen (c.1564-c.1628), Epigrammata, 4.84. The English version is by Thomas Harvey. Meter: Elegiac. Notice that the verb scire introduces an indirect question in each line of the epigram; the question in the first line is "quantum valet res quaeque?" and the question in the second line is "quid valent nummi et divitiae?" The conditional statement, meanwhile, is all about lacking: if this question can be answered by lacking, "si carendo sciatur," well, that means Owen knows full well what the value of coins and riches must be... why? Because he lacks them! Owen thus declares himself to be a poor man, and by writing this poem to a rich friend, he wittily calls attention to that disparity.

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

nummus (nummī, m.): coin, cash, money

ad: to, up to, towards (+acc.)
amīcus -a -um: friendly; (as subst.) friend
dīves, dīvitis: rich (poet. dīs, dītis)
dīvitiae -ārum f. pl.: riches, wealth
quantus -a -um: (interr.) how great? (rel.) of what size, amount, etc.
que (enclitic) - and
qui quae quod: who, which, what / quis quid: who? what? which?
rēs reī f.: thing (rēs pūblica, commonwealth; rēs familiāris, family property, estate; rēs mīlitāris, art of war; rēs novae, revolution)
sciō -īre -īvī/-iī -ītum: know
sī: if
valeō valēre valuī: be strong, excel, be valid, prevail; valē: farewell!

(image source - full size poster; poster made with AutoMotivator)

Ad Amicum Avarum

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368     -     369     -     370

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Ad Amicum Avarum
Solus habet quod avarus habet; nil donat amico.
Nil sibi dat; solus non habet hoc, quod habet.

TO A COVETOUS FRIEND
The Covetous hath all himself, not giving:
He nothing hath Himself, but wants while living.

Source: John Owen (c.1564-c.1628), Epigrammata, 4.205, with an English translation by Thomas Harvey. Meter: Elegiac. Like many epigrams, this one is based on paradox. In the first line, Owen states that the stingy man selfishly keeps what he has all to himself (avarus solus habet quod habet), i.e. he does not give anything to a friend (nil donat amico) - that is the standard definition of a miser. Since Owen has addressed the poem to a "stingy friend," presumably he is alluding to the fact that this man will not give anything to his friend Owen in particular! Then, in the second line, we get the paradox: the miser is not even a friend to himself (nil sibi dat), and as a result he is so selfish that he does not even have what he has (solus non habet hoc, quod habet). The miser paradoxically has - and does not have - as a result of the fact that he is unable to share his wealth, even with himself! Although he has many possessions, his stinginess makes his having the same as not having. I thought this was a very fitting epigram for Open Access Week; find out more about that at the Open Access Week website. :-)

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:

avārus, -a, -um: greedy, stingy; miser

ad: to, up to, towards (+acc.)
amīcus -a -um: friendly; (as subst.) friend
do dare dedī datum: give
dōno -āre: present with a gift (+ acc. of person and abl. of thing)
habeo -ēre -uī habitum: have, hold
hic, haec, hoc: this; hōc, on this account
nihil, nīl: nothing; not at all
qui, quae, quod: who, which, what; quis quid: who? what? which?
sōlus -a -um: only, alone; sōlum (adv.), only, merely
sui, sibi, sē: him- her- itself

(Albert Finney as Scrooge)

Ad Adamum

Here is today's distich by John Owen, with an English translation by Thomas Harvey, 3:46. It recounts how Eve deceived Adam with the apple and it plays on the anagrams of EVA (Eve), VAE (woe!), and AVE (hello!). There's no way to get that wonderful play on words into the English, although Harvey tries to make up for that with some nice parallels and alliteration. There is also a play on words in the Latin between malum, the fruit, and the word malum, meaning "evil."

Ad Adamum
Eva, parens mortis, malo te falsa fefellit,
Cumque tuum struet vae, tibi dixit ave.

TO ADAM

False Eve, Death’s Parent, thee deceiv’d by Fruit;
And foully ruin’d with a fair salute.

Here is the vocabulary:

ad - to, towards
Adamus - Adam
Eva - Eva
parens - parent (mother or father)
mors - death
malum - apple
tu - you
falsus - false
fallo - trick deceit
cum - when
que - and (enclitic)
tuus
struo - build, construct
vae - woe!
dico - say, speak
ave - hail! hello!

(Lucas Cranach's Adam and Eve)

A Centro ad Circumferentiam

Here is today's distich by John Owen, with an English translation by Thomas Harvey, 4:7. It is a wonderful play on mathematics, comparing the infinite number of radii in a circle to what Owen believed to be the one true way to heaven provided by religion. I think it is fascinating how, just like the "Tao of Physics" crowd in our day (a crowd to which I avowedly belong), Owen was turning to the math and science of his time to find metaphors for spirituality. Owen uses the circle as a counter-example here, contrasting the infinity of the circle with a single faith. In a more pluralistic society like the one we live in today, we would be more inclined to take it in the opposite way: just as there are an infinite number of radii in a given circle, so there are an infinite number of spiritual paths we might traverse in order to get to that great circle. For the poem's vocabulary, see the bottom of this blog post.

A Centro ad Circumferentiam
A centro ad circum non unica linea ducit,
A terra ad coelum fert tamen una via.

FROM THE CENTER TO THE CIRCUMFERENCE
Not from the Center to th’ Circumference
Sole one Line’s, yet but one way t’ Heaven’s hence.

Here is the vocabulary:
a - from
centrum - center
ad - to, towards
circumferentia - circumference
circus - circle, orbit
non - not
unicus - single, unique
linea - line
duco - lead
terra - earth
coelum (caelum) - heaven
fero - carry, bear, go
tamen - however, but
unus - one
via - road, way

(image source)