Friday, January 13, 2012

Remigio Ventisque Secundis

Here is today's emblem and distich by Gabriel Rollenhagen, Book 1.13, with an English rendering by George Wither. This is an emblem I really like: success seems to me very much a combination of individual effort (rowing) and favorable circumstances (the winds that move you right along).

Remigio Ventisque Secundis
Navigo remigio felix ventisque secundis,
Sic bene perficiam, quod bene coepit, iter.


To him a happy Lot befalls
That hath a Ship, and prosp'rous Gales.



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

nāvigō, -āre - sail, go by ship
perficiō -ficere -fēcī -fectum: bring to a conclusion, accomplish
rēmigium, rēmigiī n. - rowing, oars

bene: well
coepī coepisse coeptus: have begun
fēlīx -īcis: lucky; adv. fēlīciter
iter itineris n.: journey, route
que (enclitic) - and
qui quae quod: who, which, what / quis quid: who? what? which?
secundus -a -um: following; favorable
sīc: in this manner, thus; sīc . . . ut: in the same way as
ventus -ī m.: wind