Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Tandem Fit Arbor

Here is today's emblem and distich by Gabriel Rollenhagen, Book 1.46, with an English rendering by George Wither. I really like the way the emblem shows the stripling side by side with the great tree that is next to it - and luckily for the little stripling, it is receiving the full beams of the sun which will allow it to grow big and tall.

Tandem Fit Arbor
Exiguus tandem grandis fit surculus arbor;
abiectusque puer saepe peritus homo.


Though very small, at first, it be,
A Sprout, at length, becomes a Tree.



Here is the vocabulary:

tandem - at last, finally
fio - become
arbor - tree
exiguus - slight, slender, small
grandis - large, great, grand
surculus - shoot, sprout
abiicio - cast away, abandon
puer - boy
saepe - often
peritus - experienced, accomplished
homo - person, man