Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Virtutibus Nitemus

This rhyming distich comes from the Florilegium Gottingense edited by Voigt.

Virtutibus Nitemus
Si quadam virtute nites, ne despice quemquam;
Ex alia quadam forsitan ipse nitet.

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

dēspicio, dēspicere: look down on, despise
niteō, nitēre: shine, glitter, glisten

alius -a -um: other, another; alias: at another time
ex ē: out of, from (+ abl.)
forsitan, fortasse: perhaps, perchance
ipse ipsa ipsum: him- her- itself
nē: lest, that not
quī- quae- quoddam: a certain one, someone
quis- quicquam/quidquam: any (single) person, anyone at all
sī: if
virtūs -ūtis f.: valor, manliness, virtue