Sunday, June 17, 2012

Lux et Aer

Here is another distich by John Owen, with an English translation by Thomas Harvey, 4.116:

Lux et Aer
Sit corpus quamvis, oculo non cernitur aer;
Lux corpus non est, cernitur illa tamen.

LIGHT AND AIR
Air, though a Body, is unseen with th’ Eye:
Light hath no body, yet is seen on high.

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

āēr āeris m.: air
cernō cernere crēvī crētum: discern, separate
corpus corporis n.: body
et: and
ille illa illud: that
lūx lūcis f.: light of day
nōn: not
oculus -ī m.: eye
quamvīs: however you like; although
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
tamen: nevertheless, still