Respiciendus Est Finis
Omnibus in rebus primum est expendere finem;
Totum onus incepti muneris ille gerit.
Source: Johann Glandorp (1501-1564), Disticha, 254. Meter: Elegiac. Note that the ille in the second line refers back to finis in the first line.
In all things (omnibus in rebus), the first thing to do (primum est) is to consider the end goal (expendere finem); the end goal bears (ille gerit) the whole weight (totum onus) of the project you've begun (incepti muneris).
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:
expendō, expendere: weigh, reckon, consider
fīnis -is m.: end, boundary
gerō gerere gessī gestum: bear, manage; bellum gerere, wage war
ille illa illud: that
in: in, on (+ abl.); into, onto (+ acc)
incipiō -cipere -cēpī -ceptum: begin
mūnus mūneris n.: gift, offering; office, duty, function
omnis -e: all, every, as a whole
onus oneris n.: load, burden
prīmus -a -um: first; adv. prīmum: at first, firstly
rēs reī f.: thing (rēs pūblica, commonwealth; rēs familiāris, family property, estate; rēs mīlitāris, art of war; rēs novae, revolution)
respicio -ere -spēxi -spectum: look back, regard, consider
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
tōtus -a -um: whole, entire
