Saturday, February 18, 2012

Castor et Pollux

Here is today's distich by John Owen, with an English translation by Thomas Harvey, 9.28. The quarrels of brothers (earthly brothers, in any case) are proverbial in Latin, e.g. Fratrum inter irae sunt acerbissimae.

Castor et Pollux
Concordes duo sunt in caelo sidera fratres;
In terra unanimes vix reor esse duos.


CASTOR AND POLLUX
In Heaven the two Brother-Stars agree;
In Earth, I doubt, scarce two such Brothers be.


The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. There are two words which are not on the DCC list, plus two proper nouns:

concors, concordis - of the same mind, in agreement, concordant
ūnanimis, ūnanime; ūnanimis - of one mind, unanimous
Castor - Castor, one of the Dioscuri, twin of Pollux
Pollux - Pollux, one of the Dioscuri, twin of Castor

caelum -ī n.: sky, heavens
duo: two
et: and
frāter, frātris m.: brother
in: in, on (+ abl.); into onto (+ acc)
reor rērī rātus sum: think, imagine, suppose, deem
sīdus -eris n.: star, constellation
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
terra -ae f.: land
vix: scarcely