Saturday, January 28, 2012

Rhyming Distichs: 1

I'm starting a new feature at the Disticha Latina blog, in preparation for the big summer distich extravaganza! Here are 10 rhyming distichs, and the vocabulary that is listed here is just for words that are less common (i.e. not part of the 500 most frequently used Latin words as indexed by Diederich). Each set of 10 is also arranged in what should be, more or less, increasing order of difficulty, based both on the number of less common words as well as on how commonly used the other words in the verse are. Sources here include Wegeler, Gartner, and Voigt.

Quod tibi vis fieri, mihi fac: quod non tibi, noli;
Sic potes in terris vivere iure poli.


polus - pole, sky, heaven

Rusticus est vere, dicens mala de muliere:
Nam scimus vere, sumus omnes de muliere.


rusticus - country, rural, rustic

Sit bonus interpres, nil mala verba nocent;
Sit malus interpres, nil bona verba docent.


interpres - interpreter, explainer, translator
noceo - harm, hurt, injure

Vir, qui consilio non credit, iure vagatur,
Et qui consilio factum facit, ille probatur.


probo - approve, test, commend
vagor - wander, roam

Si videas aliquem casurum sive cadentem,
Non ride, at potius gere te sibi compatientem.


compatior - suffer together, have pity
rideo - laugh, mock

Si lacrimae vel opes animas revocare valerent,
Lucifer atque sui soli sua regna tenerent.

Lucifer - Lucifer
revoco - call back, recall, revive


Quid prodest homini, si vivat saecula centum?
Cum moritur, vitam transisse putat quasi ventum.


centum - one hundred
prosum - be useful, benefit, profit

Si sanctos sequeris, sanctus sic efficieris,
Sed perverteris, si perversos comiteris.


comitor - accompany, go along with
efficio - bring about, produce, cause
perverto - destroy, ruin, corrupt

Quod sibi quisque serit praesentis tempore vitae,
Hoc sibi messis erit, dum dicitur: Ite, venite!

messis - harvest
praesens - present, at hand
sero - sow, plant

Sta pes, sta mi pes, sta pes, nec labere, mi pes!
Ni tu stes, mi pes, lectus erunt lapides.

labor - slip, glide, fall
lapis - stone, rock
lectus - bed