Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Bacchus Fonti Impositus
This distich comes from the Iuvenilia of Marcus Antonius Muretus which you can find online at Google Books. The distich plays with the legend that Dionysus, while still an infant in his mother's womb, was blasted by the fire of Zeus' lightning bolt; you can read the story of Zeus and Semele at Wikipedia.
Bacchus Fonti Impositus
Nondum natus eram, cum me prope perdidit ignis;
Ex illo fontes tempore Bacchus amo.
The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. All the words are on the DCC list except for one proper name:
I was not yet born (nondum natus eram) when the fire (cum ignis) almost killed me (prope perdidit me); from that time (ex illo tempore) I, Bacchus (Bacchus) love fountains (amo fontes).
Bacchus - Bacchus, Dionysus, god of wine
amo -āre: to love
cum: with (prep. + abl.); when, since, although (conjunction + subj.)
ego me mihi mē: I, me
ex, ē: out of, from (+ abl.)
fōns, fontis f.: spring, fountain
īgnis -is m.: fire
ille, illa, illud: that
impōno -ere -posuī -positum: put in, put on, impose, levy upon
nāscor nāscī nātus sum: be born; nātus, son
nōndum: not yet
perdo -ere -didī -ditum: destroy
prope: near, next; (comp.) propior, (superl.) proximus; (adv.) propē, nearly, almost
tempus -oris n.: time
