Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Utere Ne Videaris Abuti


223     -     224     -     225


Utere Ne Videaris Abuti
Utere quaesitis, sed ne videaris abuti:
Qui sua consumunt, cum deest, aliena sequuntur.


Use without waste whatever gains thou'st made;
Who wastes his own, will others' rights invade.
(Chase)

Use your estate, et shun extravagance:
Want follows waste and begs for maintenance.
(Duff)

Source: The Distichs of Cato (4th century), 3.21. Meter: Dactylic Hexameter. Note the impersonal deest, "when there is a lack, when you're in need."

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:

abūtor, abūtī: use up, consume, misuse

aliēnus -a -um: foreign, strange
cōnsūmō -sūmere -sūmpsī -sūmptum: to use up, consume
cum: with (prep. + abl.); when, since, although (conjunction + subj.)
dēsum -esse -fuī: be lacking
nē: lest, that not
quaerō -rere -sīvī-situm: seek, inquire
qui quae quod: who, which, what / quis quid: who? what? which?
sed: but
sequor sequī secūtus sum: follow
suus -a -um: his own, her own, its own
ūtor ūtī ūsus sum: use
videō vidēre vīdī vīsum: see