Famam Serva
Omnia si perdas, famam servare memento,
Qua semel amissa, postea nullus eris.
Source: Anonymous, in Nihus (1642). Meter: Elegiac. The phrase qua amissa is an ablative absolute, fāmā āmissā.
If you lose everything (si perdas omnia), remember (memento) to preserve your reputation; (servare famam) once your reputation is lost (qua semel amissa) afterwards you will be (postea eris) nobody (nullus).
The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. All the words in this poem are on that list:
āmittō -mittere -mīsī -missum: let go, send away
fāma -ae f.: rumor, fame
meminī meminisse: remember, recollect
nūllus -a -um: not any, no one
omnis -e: all, every, as a whole
perdō -dere -didī -ditum: destroy
posteā: afterwards
qui quae quod: who, which, what / quis quid: who? what? which?
semel: once
servō -āre: save, watch over
sī: if
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
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