Dicere et Facere Sunt Diversa
Multum inter sese praestare et dicere pugnant:
Illud difficile est; hoc nihil est levius.
Source: Johann Glandorp (1501-1564), Disticha, 207. Meter: Elegiac. The form sese is an emphatic form of the pronoun se. The infinitives praestare and dicere are serving as nouns here; they are the subjects of the verb pugnant, and they are the referents of the pronouns in the second line: illud = praestare, and hoc = dicere.
Excelling and speaking (praestare et dicere) are much at war (multum pugnant) with one another (inter sese); the former is hard (illud est difficile); there is nothing (nihil est) that is easier than the latter (levius hoc).
The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. All the words in this poem are on that list:
dīcō dīcere dīxī dictum: say; causam dicere, plead a case; diem dicere, appoint a day
difficilis -e: not easy, hard, difficult
dīversus -a -um: different, diverse
et: and
faciō facere fēcī factum: do, make
hic haec hoc: this; hōc: on this account
ille illa illud: that
inter: between, among; during (+ acc.)
levis -e: light, trivial
multus -a -um: much, many; multō, by far
nihil, nīl: nothing; not at all
praestō -stāre -stitī -stitum: excel, exhibit
pūgno -āre: fight
sui, sibi, sē: him- her- itself
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
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