Maior Post Otia Virtus
Materiam rebus sapiens intra otia quaerit,
Cum stultus, perdens rem, simul ipse perit.
Source: Georgius Carolides (1569-1612), Farrago, 4.43. Meter: Elegiac.
A wise man (sapiens), while resting (intra otia), seeks opportunity (materiam quaerit) for his business (rebus), while the fool (cum stultus) ruins his business (perdens rem) and comes to ruin himself (simul ipse perit).
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:
stultus, -a, -um: foolish, silly; fool
cum: with (prep. + abl.); when, since, although (conjunction + subj.)
intrā: within (+ acc.)
ipse ipsa ipsum: him- her- itself
māior -ius: greater, older; maiōres -um: ancestors
māteria -ae f.: material, subject matter; timber, lumber
otium -iī n.: leisure
perdō -dere -didī -ditum: destroy
pereō -īre -iī -itum: perish, be lost
post: after (adv. and prep. +acc.)
quaerō -rere -sīvī-situm: seek, inquire
rēs reī f.: thing (rēs pūblica, commonwealth; rēs familiāris, family property, estate; rēs mīlitāris, art of war; rēs novae, revolution)
sapiens -ntis.: wise man
simul: at the same time
virtūs -ūtis f.: valor, manliness, virtue
