Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Ars

Here is another distich by John Owen, with an English translation by Thomas Harvey, 3.89:

Ars
Naturae in gremio Deus artes condidit, ut sit
Usque quod acquirat, quodque requirat homo.

ART
God hath all Arts laid up in Natures breast,
That man might thence require, acquire the best.

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:

gremium, n. - lap. bosom

ars artis f.: skill
condo -ere -didī -ditum: build, found; store up; hide, conceal
deus -ī m.; dea -ae f. god; goddess
homo hominis m.: human being
in: in, on (+ abl.); into onto (+ acc)
nātūra -ae f.: nature
que: and (enclitic)
qui, quae, quod: who, which, what; quis quid: who? what? which?
requīro -ere -quīsīvī -quisītum: seek again, search for, demand
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
ūsque: up to; continuously
ut, uti: as (+ indic.); so that, with the result that (+ subj.)