Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Multos Copia Perdit

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

Multos Copia Perdit
Semper ama medium; multa et sublimia sperne:
Copia nam multos perdere magna solet.

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

sperno, spernere: scorn, reject, despise
sublimis, -e (sublimis): raised up, elevated

amō -āre: to love; amans -ntis m./f.: lover
cōpia -ae f.: abundance; (pl.) troops
et: and
māgnus -a -um great
medius -a -um: middle, central
multus -a -um: much, many; multō, by far
nam or namque: for, indeed, really
perdō -dere -didī -ditum: destroy
semper: always, ever
soleō -ēre -uī -itum: be accustomed