Mors Non Timenda
Fac tibi proponas, mortem non esse timendam:
Quae bona si non est, finis tamen illa malorum est.
Judge not that death's a thing to apprehend;
If 't is not good, yet 't is of bad the end.
(Chase)
Be this thy motto - "I do not dread death:"
Death, if no boon, our troubles finisheth.
(Duff)
If 't is not good, yet 't is of bad the end.
(Chase)
Be this thy motto - "I do not dread death:"
Death, if no boon, our troubles finisheth.
(Duff)
Source: The Distichs of Cato (4th century), 3.22. Meter: Dactylic Hexameter. Note the use of the imperative fac with a subjunctive to express a command: fac (ut) proponas.
Make it (fac) so that you propose to yourself (proponas tibi) that death is not to be feared (mortem non esse timendam): death which (illa quae), even if it is not good (si bona non est), is nevertheless (est tamen) the end of evils (finis malorum).
The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. All the words in this poem are on that list!
bonus -a -um: good
facio facere fēcī factum: do, make
fīnis -is m.: end, boundary
ille, illa, illud: that
malus -a -um: evil
mors mortis f.: death
nōn: not
prōpōno -ere -posuī -positum: put forth, propose, present
qui, quae, quod: who, which, what; quis quid: who? what? which?
sī: if
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
tamen: nevertheless, still
timeo -ēre -uī: to fear, to dread
tū tuī tibi tē: you (sing.)
