Ars Remanet
Disce aliquid; nam cum subito Fortuna recessit,
Ars remanet vitamque hominis non deserit umquam.
Learn thou a trade lest wealth may fly away;
For skill, once gained, shall ever with thee stay.
(Chase)
Learn something; for when Luck is sudden gone,
Art stays nor ever leaves man's life alone.
(Duff)
For skill, once gained, shall ever with thee stay.
(Chase)
Learn something; for when Luck is sudden gone,
Art stays nor ever leaves man's life alone.
(Duff)
Source: The Distichs of Cato (4th century), 4.19, with English translations by Duff and Chase. Meter: Dactylic Hexameter.
Learn something (disce aliquid); for when all of a sudden (nam cum subito) Luck runs out (Fortuna recessit), your skills remain (ars remanet) and they do not ever fail (-que non deserit umquam) you as long as you live (vitam hominis).
The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. There is only one word in this poem that is not on the DCC list:
remaneo, remanēre: continue, remain, stay behind
aliquis -quae -quod: some, any; si quis, si quid: anyone who, anything that
ars artis f.: skill
cum: with (prep. + abl.); when, since, although (conjunction + subj.)
dēsero -ere dēseruī dēsertum: leave, desert, abandon
disco -ere didicī: learn
fortūna -ae f.: fortune
homo hominis m.: human being
nam: for, indeed, really
nōn: not
que: and (enclitic)
recēdo -ere -cessī -cessum: step back, recoil, recede, withdraw
subitō: suddenly, unexpectedly
umquam: ever
vīta -ae f.: life
