Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Dic Spartae

This is from the enormous anthology of distich poetry assembled by Barthold Nihus, Epigrammata Disticha, published in 1642; the poem is anonymous. The men speaking to us here are the Spartans who fell at the Battle of Thermopylae.

Dic Spartae
Dic, hospes, Spartae, nos te hic vidisse iacentes,
Dum sanctis patriae legibus obsequimur.


The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. There are two words in this poem that are not on the DCC list:

obsequor, obsequī: yield to, comply with
Sparta (Spartae, f.): Sparta

dīcō dīcere dīxī dictum: say; causam dicere, plead a case; diem dicere, appoint a day
dum: while (+ indic.); until (+ subj.); provided that (+ subj.)
hic haec hoc: this; hōc: on this account
hospes hospitis m.: guest, guest-friend; stranger; host
iaceō iacēre iacuī: lie
lēx lēgis: f. law
nōs nostrum/nostrī nobis nōs: we
patria -ae f.: fatherland, country
sānctus -a -um: sacred, inviolable
tū tuī tibi tē: you (sing.)
videō vidēre vīdī vīsum: see