Sunday, July 22, 2012

Ante Fores Ipsas Stat

This poem is from a book entitled Adagiorum Maxime Vulgarium Thesaurus, first published in 1730.

Ante Fores Ipsas Stat
Nescia mens hominum fati dum plurima fingit
Saecula, mors ipsas saepe stat ante fores.

The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. There are only two words in this poem that are not on the DCC list:

foris (foris, f.): door, gate, entrance
nescius, -a, -um: ignorant, unaware

ante: before, in front of (adv. and prep. + acc.)
dum: while (+ indic.); until (+ subj.); provided that (+ subj.)
fātum -ī n.: fate
fingō fingere finxī fictum: shape; invent
homo hominis m.: human being
ipse ipsa ipsum: him- her- itself
mēns mentis f.: mind
mors mortis f.: death
plurimus -a -um: the greatest number of, very many; plurimī, most people
saeculum -ī n.: generation, age, century
saepe: often
stō stāre stetī statum: stand