Exiguo Vivitur
Vivitur exiguo melius; natura beatis
Omnibus esse dedit, si quis cognoverit uti.
Source: Giuseppe Gatti, Sales Poetici, Proverbiales, et Iocosi (1703). Meter: Elegiac. Note the use of the neuter melius here as an adverb: vivitur melius, "one lives better, you can live better."
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:
You can live better (vivitur melius) by living modestly (exiguo); nature has allowed everyone (natura omnibus dedit) to be happy (beatis esse), if you have learned (si quis cognoverit) how to use it (uti).
exiguus, -a, -um: small, paltry, scanty
aliquis -quae -quod: some, any; si quis, si quid: anyone who, anything that
beatus -a -um: happy, blessed, prosperous, fortunate
cōgnōscō -gnōscere -gnōvī -gnitum: learn, understand
dō dare dedī datum: give
melior -ius: better
nātūra -ae f.: nature
omnis -e: all, every, as a whole
sī: if
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
ūtor ūtī ūsus sum: use
vīvō vīvere vīxī victum: live
