Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Ingenii Largitor Venter

Here is today's emblem and distich by Gabriel Rollenhagen, Book 1.52, with an English rendering by George Wither. The emblem alludes to the famous Aesop's fable about the wise crow who uses little stones to raise the level of water in the jar.

Ingenii Largitor Venter
Me docet ingenii venter largitor et artis,
Calculus impositus quod bene trudat aquam.


When wee by Hunger, Wisdome gaine
Our Guts, are wiser then our Braine.



Here is the vocabulary:

ingenium - talent,
largitor - liberal giver, donor
venter - stomach, belly
ego - I, me
doceo - teach
et - and
ars - art, skill
calculus - small stone
impono - put in, put on
quod - that
bene - well
trudo - shove, force, drive
aqua - water