Friday, July 29, 2011

Credulitas

Here is another distich by John Owen, with an English translation by Thomas Harvey, 4.65.

Credulitas
Qui cuivis quidvis credit, male creditur illi;
Quo credis mihi plus, hoc tibi credo minus.

Him I distrust, who trusteth all by guess:
The more thou me, I credit thee the less.

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

quīvis, quaevis, quidvis: anyone you please, whoever
crēdulitas (crēdulitātis, f.): readiness to trust, credulity

crēdō crēdere crēdidī crēditum: believe
ego meī mihi mē: I, me
hic haec hoc: this; hōc: on this account
ille illa illud: that
malus -a -um: bad, evil; male: (adv.) badly
minus -oris n.: a smaller number or amount, less; (adv.) minus: to a smaller extent, less
plūs plūris n.: a greater amount or number, more
qui quae quod: who, which, what / quis quid: who? what? which?
tū tuī tibi tē: you (sing.)