Friday, January 27, 2012

Nil Mihi Vobiscum Est

Here is today's emblem and distich by Joachim Camerarius, 1:7. Camerarius explains in his essay accompanying the emblem that Dioscorides and other authors claim that the cypress tree can repel moths, as can pieces of cypress wood. Camerarius then finds a symbolic moral meaning: these moths are flatters, but the beauty of the cypress has no interest in such adulation.

Nil Mihi Vobiscum Est
Ite leves procul hinc aliorum in praedia blattae;
Noster adulantes nescit amare decor.



Here is the vocabulary:

nil - nothing
ego - I, me
vos - you (pl.)
sum - be, exist
eo - go
leves - light, trifling, frivolous
procul - far, far from, far off
hinc - from here, hence
alius - other, another, different
in - in, into
praedium - farm, estate
blatta - moth, chafer
noster - our, ours,
adulor - flatter, fawn upon
nescio - not know, be unaware
amo - love, like, be fond of
decor - beauty, good looks, appearance