Sapiens Desipiens
Desipit ipse loco sapiens et tempore; verum
Rarus ut ille locus, sic breve tempus erit.
Source: François Oudin (1673-1752), Silva Distichorum, 213. Meter: Elegiac.
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:
Even the wise man (ipse sapiens) can play the fool (desipit) in a place and time (loco et tempore); in fact (verum) the place (ille locus) will be as rare (rarus ut) as the time will be brief (sic breve tempus erit).
dēsipio, dēsipere: be foolish, play the fool
brevis -e: short, shallow, brief; adv. breviter
et: and
ille illa illud: that
ipse ipsa ipsum: him- her- itself
locus -ī m.: place; loca (n. pl.) region
rarus -a -um: wide apart, loose, thin; rare, seldom
sapiens -ntis.: wise man
sīc: in this manner, thus; sīc . . . ut: in the same way as
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
tempus -oris n.: time
ut, uti: as (+ indic.); so that, with the result that (+ subj.)
vērus -a -um: true; vērē, truly
