De Munere
Quid non argento, quid non corrumpitur auro?
Qui maiora dabit munera, victor erit.
Source: Michaelis Verinus (c.1469-c.1487), Disticha. Meter: Elegiac. This is a cynical little poem, expressing not good advice for you to follow, but instead warning you about the corruption that rules the world.
What is not corrupted (quid non corrumpitur) argento (by means of silver), what is not corrupted (quid non) by means of gold (auro)? He who (qui) will give the greater gifts (dabit maiora munera) will be the winner (erit victor).
The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. All the words in this poem are on that list:
argentum -ī n.: silver, money
aurum -ī n.: gold
corrumpō -rumpere -rūpī -ruptum: break up, destroy, ruin
dē: down from, about, concerning (+ abl.)
dō dare dedī datum: give
māior -ius: greater, older; maiōres -um: ancestors
mūnus mūneris n.: gift, offering
nōn: not
qui quae quod: who, which, what / quis quid: who? what? which?
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
victor -ōris m.: conqueror
