Wednesday, July 27, 2011

De Sepulcris

Here is another distich by John Owen, with an English translation by Thomas Harvey, 1.57:

De Sepulcris
Ne pereat tua fama, struis tibi, Paulle, sepulcrum,
Tamquam non possint ipsa sepulcra mori.

Thou to preserve thy Fame, hast built thy Tomb:
As if that Tombs should not to ruine come.

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

Paullus = Paulus (Pauli, m.): Paulus, Paul
struō, struere: arrange, build

fāma -ae f.: rumor, fame
in: in, on (+ abl.); into, onto (+ acc)
ipse ipsa ipsum: him- her- itself
morior morī mortuus sum: die
nē: lest, that not
nōn: not
pereō -īre -iī -itum: perish, be lost
possum posse potuī: be able
sepulcrum -ī n.: place of burial, tomb, grave
tamquam: so as, just as
tū tuī tibi tē: you (sing.)
tuus -a -um: your