Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Ex Utroque Caesar

Here is today's emblem and distich by Gabriel Rollenhagen, Book 1.32, with an English rendering by George Wither. This king of the two talents holds a sword in his right hand and a book in his left; meanwhile, in the background on the right you can see a king going to war while on the left he is instead deliberating.

Ex Utroque Caesar
Artibus ac armis: ab utrisque ego Caesar in orbe
Dicor; erunt artes armaque noster amor.


A Princes most ennobling Parts,
Are Skill in Armes, and Love to Arts.


The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. All the words in this poem are on that list! Note also one proper noun not on the list:

Caesar, Caesaris m. - Caesar, emperor

ā, ab, abs: from, by (+abl.)
amor -ōris m.: love
arma -ōrum n. pl.: arms
ars artis f.: skill
atque, ac: and in addition, and also, and; (after comparatives) than; simul atque, as soon as
dīco dīcere dīxī dictum: say; causam dicere, plead a case; diem dicere, appoint a day
ego me mihi mē: I, me
ex, ē: out of, from (+ abl.)
in: in, on (+ abl.); into onto (+ acc)
noster nostra nostrum: our
orbis -is m.: circle; orbis terrārum world
que: and (enclitic)
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
uter-, utra-, utrumque: each of two