Sunday, July 22, 2012

Virtuti Mors Nocere Non Potest


185     -     186     -     187


Virtuti Mors Nocere Non Potest
Sola potest homines aeternos reddere virtus;
Huic soli e cunctis non Libitina nocet.


Source: Michaelis Verinus (c.1469-c.1487), Disticha. Meter: Elegiac. The phrase huic soli (dative) in the second line refers back to virtus in the first line.

Only excellence (sola virtus) can make (potest reddere) men immortal (homines aeternos); among all things (e cunctis) Libitina does not harm (non Libitina nocet) this thing alone (huic soli).

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:

Libitīna (Libitīnae, f.): Libitina, goddess of corpses

aeternus -a -um: everlasting, eternal
cūnctus -a -um: entire all together
ex ē: out of, from (+ abl.)
hic haec hoc: this; hōc: on this account
homo hominis m.: human being
mors mortis f.: death
noceō nocēre nocuī: harm
nōn: not
possum posse potuī: be able
reddō -dere -didī -ditum: return, give back
sōlus -a -um: only, alone; sōlum (adv.), only, merely
virtūs -ūtis f.: valor, manliness, virtue