Sunday, July 22, 2012

Furor Perniciosus

This poem is from the proverbial distichs of Georgius Carolides (1569-1612), which you can read online at the University of Mannheim.

Furor Perniciosus
Nec propera dextra sumpturus vindice poenas;
Ante alias res est perniciosa furor.

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:

perniciōsus, -a, -um: dangerous, destructive
vindex (vindicis, m.): defender, avenger, protector

alius -a -um: other, another; alias: at another time
ante: before, in front of (adv. and prep. + acc.)
dexter -tra -trum: right; dextera -ae f.: right hand
furor -ōris m.: rage, fury
neque nec: and not, nor; neque . . . neque, neither . . . nor
poena -ae f.: penalty, punishment
properō -āre: hasten, speed
rēs reī f.: thing (rēs pūblica, commonwealth; rēs familiāris, family property, estate; rēs mīlitāris, art of war; rēs novae, revolution)
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
sūmō sūmere sūmpsī sūmptum: take up