Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Musica, Serva Dei

Here is today's emblem and distich by Gabriel Rollenhagen, Book 1.53, with an English rendering by George Wither. We are presumably looking at King David in the emblem, with the Hebrew letters of the divine, the tetragrammaton, there in the sky!

Musica, Serva Dei
Musica, serva Dei, nobis haec otia fecit:
Illa potest homines, illa movere Deum.


Though Musicke be of some abhor'd
She, is the Handmaid of the Lord.



Here is the vocabulary:

musica - music
servus - servant, slave
deus - god
nos - we, us
hic - this, this one
otium - leisure
ille - that, that one
possum - can, be able
homo - person, man
moveo - move