Fructus Veritus

Here is today's distich by John Owen, with an English translation by Thomas Harvey, 7.15. Notice here that Eve is not the focus, but rather Adam - while still in a state of innocence, he pulled that dread fruit from the forbidden tree. The poem ends with a paradox: what could be worse than evil itself? Answer: the origin of evil!

Fructus Veritus
Nudus Adam vetita quod vulsit ab arbore, malum
Haud fuit, at malo peius: origo mali.

THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT
It was not sole an Apple, It was worse,
Adam bought Sins Original, the Curse.

Here is the vocabulary:

fructus - fruit
vereor - fear, dread, respect
nudus - naked, nude
Adam - Adam
vetitus - forbidden, prohibited
quod - the fact that
vello - pluck, pull
ab - from
arbor - tree
malus - bad, evil
haud - not
sum - be, exist
at - but, on the other hand
peior - worse
origo - origin, beginning

(Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry)