Monday, April 9, 2012

Donec Totum Impleat Orbem

Here is today's emblem and distich by Gabriel Rollenhagen, Book 1:99, with an English rendering by George Wither. Here is the first stanza of Wither's poem:
What in this Emblem, that mans meanings were,
Who made it first, I neither know nor care;
For, whatsoere, he purposed, or thought,
To serve my purpose, now it shall be taught;
Who, many times, before this Taske is ended,
Must picke out Moralls, where was none intended.
Of course, Wither is not as baffled as he pretends, and goes on to explain the triple moon of the emblem's image, with the moon waxing and waning and also the crescent.

Donec Totum Impleat Orbem
Augescit, donec totum luna impleat orbem;
Gallorum talis gloria regis erat.


Shee shall increase in glory, still
Vntill her light, the world, doth fill.


Here is the vocabulary:

donec - until
totus - whole, entire
impleo - fill
orbis - circle, region, world
augesco - grow, increase in size
luna - moon
Gallus - French
talis - such
gloria - glory
rex - king
sum - be, exist