Saturday, February 25, 2012

Permutatio Glauci

Here is today's distich by John Owen, with an English translation by Thomas Harvey, 4.30. The title of this epigram - Permutatio Glauci, the Exchange of Glaucus - makes a comparison between the exchange between Diomedes and Glaucus in Homer's Iliad and the Biblical story of Jacob and Esau.

Esuriens fratri omni suum ius vendidit Esau,
Iacobus fratri ius dedit omne suum.


His Birth-right Esau unt' his brother sold:
Jacobs Pottage for it gave, not gold.

The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. There are only two words in this poem that are not on the DCC list, plus the two proper nouns:

Iacobus - Jacob
ēsurio -īre, ēsurītum - be hungry
Esau: proper name
iūs, iūris n. - sauce, broth, soup

do dare dedī datum: give
frāter, frātris m.: brother
iūs iūris n.: right, justice, law
omnis -e: all, every, as a whole
suus -a -um: his own, her own, its own
vēndo -dere -didī -ditum: sell