Malum Minus Elige
Quando duo mala sunt, minus elige, grande relinquens,
Nam damni quis non optat habere minus?
Source: Anton Moker (1540-1605), Decalogus Metricus. Meter: Elegiac.This is a nice Latin take on "the lesser of two evils." Note the partitive genitive in the second line: damni minus, "less (of) harm."
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:
grandis, -e (grandis): great, large, grand
damnum -ī n.: damage, injury
duo: two
ēligō ēligere ēlēgī ēlēctum: pick out, select
habeō habēre habuī habitum: have, hold
malus -a -um: bad, evil; male: (adv.) badly
minus -oris n.: a smaller number or amount, less; (adv.) minus: to a smaller extent, less
nam or namque: for, indeed, really
nōn: not
optō -āre: choose, select
quandō: when?; since; si quando: if ever
qui quae quod: who, which, what / quis quid: who? what? which?
relinquō -linquere -līquī -lictum: abandon
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
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