Visne Bonus Dici?
Ficta parum constant: quod haberi poscis, id esto!
Visne bonus dici? Cura sit esse bonum.
Source: François Oudin (1673-1752), Silva Distichorum, 133. Meter: Elegiac. Note the future imperative esto, "be!"
The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. All the words in this poem are on that list:
Fictions last only a little while (ficta parum constant): be that esto id which you desire (quod poscis) to be considered as (haberi)! Do you want (visne) to be called good? (bonus dici) Let it be your concern (cura sit) that you be good (esse bonum).
bonus -a -um: good
cōnsto -stāre -stitī: agree; constat, it is established that (+ infin.)
cūra -ae f.: care, concern
dīco dīcere dīxī dictum: say; causam dicere, plead a case; diem dicere, appoint a day
fingo -ere finxī fictum: shape; invent
habeo -ēre -uī habitum: have, hold
is ea, id: he, she, it; eō, there, to that place
nē: lest, that not
parum: too little
pōsco -ere popōscī: demand, claim; inquire into
qui, quae, quod: who, which, what; quis quid: who? what? which?
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
volo velle voluī: wish, be willing
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