Saturday, November 26, 2011

Dives et Lazarus

Here is today's distich by John Owen, with an English translation by Thomas Harvey, 3:18. The epigram is inspired by the famous parable of "The Rich Man and Lazarus" from the Gospel of Luke 16. Owen plays on the fact that while we know the name of the poor man in this story, Lazarus, the rich man is sine nomine, without a name.

Dives et Lazarus
Est in Evangelio, verum sine nomine, dives,
Pauper ubi aeternum, Lazare, nomen habes.


DIVES AND LAZARUS
The Gospel doth a nameless Rich man blame,
Where Lazarus hath an eternal Name.

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

ēvangelium, n. - gospel, good news
Lazarus - proper name

aeternus -a -um: everlasting, eternal
dīves, dīvitis: rich (poet. dīs, dītis)
et: and
habeo -ēre -uī habitum: have, hold
in: in, on (+ abl.); into onto (+ acc)
nōmen -inis n.: name
pauper -eris: poor, lowly
sine: without (+ abl.)
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
ubi: where, when
vērus -a -um: true; vērē, truly