Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Nocere Posse

This little poem is from Giuseppe Gatti's Sales Poetici, Proverbiales, et Iocosi, published in 1703.

Nocere Posse
Quid prudentis opus? Cum possit, nolle nocere.
Quid stulti proprium? Non posse et velle nocere.

The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. There are two words in this poem that are not on the DCC list:

prūdens (prūdentis): wise, having foresight
stultus, -a, -um: foolish, silly; fool

cum: with (prep. + abl.); when, since, although (conjunction + subj.)
et: and
noceō nocēre nocuī: harm
nōlō nōlle nōluī: be unwilling
nōn: not
opus operis n.: work
possum posse potuī: be able
proprius -a -um: one’s own, peculiar
qui quae quod: who, which, what / quis quid: who? what? which?
volō velle voluī: wish, be willing