Saturday, April 14, 2012

Pando Recondita

Here is today's emblem and distich by Gabriel Rollenhagen, Book 2:4, with an English rendering by George Wither. The emblem displays the figure of the Roman god Janus, who looks both ahead and behind.

Pando Recondita
Omnia luminibus perlustro, recondita pando;
Me nihil incauto, callide Munde, facis.


He, that concealed things will finde
Must looke before him, and behinde.


Here is the vocabulary:

pando - spread out
recondo - hide, conceal
omnis - all, every
lumen - light, lamp
perlustro - scan, go through
ego - I, me
nihil - nothing
incautus - unprotected, off one's guard
callidus - crafty, sly, cunning
Mundus - world
facio - make, do