Friday, March 30, 2012

Exigis ut nostros...

Here is today's distich by Martial, 7.77:

Exigis ut nostros donem tibi, Tucca, libellos;
Non faciam: nam vis vendere, non legere.


Tucca most earnestly doth look
I should present him with my book:
But that I will not; for I smell
My book he will not read, but sell.
- Anon.

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:

libellus, libellī m. - little book, pamphlet
Tucca - proper name

dōno -āre: present with a gift (+ acc. of person and abl. of thing)
exigo -ere -ēgī -āctum: drive out; collect
facio facere fēcī factum: do, make
lego legere lēgī lēctum: gather, choose, read
nam: for, indeed, really
nōn: not
noster nostra nostrum: our
tū tuī tibi tē: you (sing.)
ut, uti: as (+ indic.); so that, with the result that (+ subj.)
vēndo -dere -didī -ditum: sell
volo velle voluī: wish, be willing