Monday, May 28, 2012

Amicus Inimicus


172     -     173     -     174


Amicus Inimicus
Paucis fide: tibi quem tu nunc reris amicum,
Post horam ille tibi, fors, inimicus erit.


Source: Urbano Appendini (1777-1834), De Educatione Disticha. Meter: Elegiac. Note the adverbial use of fors, meaning "perhaps, perchance."

Put your faith in just a few people (paucis fide): whom you now think (quem tu nunc reris) to be your friend (tibi amicum), perchance an hour from now (post horam fors), he will be your enemy (ille tibi inimicus erit).

The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. There is only one word in this poem that is not on the DCC list:

fīdo, fidere: trust in, be confident in

amīcus -a -um: friendly; (as subst.) friend
fors, fortis f.: chance
hōra -ae f.: hour
ille, illa, illud: that
inimīcus -a -um: unfriendly
nunc: now
paucī -ae -a: few
post: after (adv. and prep. +acc.)
qui, quae, quod: who, which, what; quis quid: who? what? which?
reor rērī rātus sum: think, imagine, suppose, deem
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
tū tuī tibi tē: you (sing.)