Tuesday, February 21, 2012

O homo, si scires...

Here is today's Rhyming Distich, and here are some more posts with Rhyming Distichs. This little poem is from Gartner's Dicteria Proverbialia (1598).

O homo, si scires, quidnam esses, unde venires,
Nunquam gauderes, sed in omni tempore fleres.


Here is the vocabulary:

quisnam, quaenam, quidnam interrog. - who? which?

fleo flēre flēvī flētum: weep
gaudeo -ēre gāvīsus sum: rejoice
homo hominis m.: human being
in: in, on (+ abl.); into onto (+ acc)
numquam: never
omnis -e: all, every, as a whole
scio -īre -īvī/-iī -ītum: know
sed: but
sī: if
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
tempus -oris n.: time
unde: from where
venio -īre vēnī ventum: come