Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Cognosce, Elige, Matura

Here is today's emblem and distich by Joachim Camerarius, 4:8. In his essay for this emblem, Camerarius explains that it is adopted from the emblems of Achilles Bocchius; you can see the Bocchius version online at the British Museum.

Cognosce, Elige, Matura
Quid virgo haec delphino equitans in fluctibus errat?
Numquid et in vasto iustitia est pelago?



Here is the vocabulary:

cognosco - know
eligo - choose
maturo - hurry, grow ripe
quid - what, for what reason
virgo - maiden, young woman
hic - this, this one
delphinus - dolphin
equito - ride (on horseback)
in - in, into
fluctus - wave
erro - wander, roam
numquid - expects negative answer
et - and, and even, also
vastus - huge, vast
iustitia - justice
sum - be, exist
pelagus - sea