Wednesday, May 30, 2012

HOMO

Here is another distich by John Owen, with an English translation by Thomas Harvey, 6.64:

Homo
Nil fueras (at nec potes hoc meminisse) priusquam
Natus eras; aliquid cum morieris, eris.

MAN
Before thy Birth (which thou remembrest not)
Thou nothing wert; Dead, something is thy lot.

The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. All the words in this poem are on that list:

aliquis -quae -quod: some, any; si quis, si quid: anyone who, anything that
at: but, but yet
cum: with (prep. + abl.); when, since, although (conjunction + subj.)
hic, haec, hoc: this; hōc, on this account
homo hominis m.: human being
meminī meminisse: remember, recollect
morior morī mortuus sum: die
nāscor nāscī nātus sum: be born; nātus, son
neque, nec: and not, nor; neque . . . neque, neither . . . nor
nihil, nīl: nothing; not at all
possum posse potuī: be able
prior -ius: earlier, preceding; prius or priusquam, before
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist