Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Ne Quid Nimis

This poem is from a book published in 1624 by Jean Pignewart (Iohannes Pignevvart), a Cistercian monk and scholar. He attributes his collection of distich poetry to "Cato Bernardinus," invoking both the legendary "Cato" of Latin distich fame and also Saint Bernard of Clairveax who was famously associated with the Cistercian order.

Ne Quid Nimis
Austerus ne sis nimium, nimiumque solutus;
Sic odium vitas, et levitate cares.

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

austērus, -a, -um: harsh, strict, gloomy
levitas (levitātis, f.): lightness, levity, fickleness

aliquis -quae -quod: some, any; si quis, si quid: anyone who, anything that
careō -ēre -uī: lack (+ abl.)
et: and
nē: lest, that not
nimius -a -um: too much, excessive; nimis or nimium: excessively
nimius -a -um: too much, excessive; nimis or nimium: excessively
odium -ī n.: hatred
que (enclitic) - and
sīc: in this manner, thus; sīc . . . ut: in the same way as
solvō solvere solvī solūtum: release, set sail
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
vītō -āre: avoid, shun