Saturday, July 14, 2012

Omnia Disce


74     -     75     -     76


Omnia Disce
Omnia disce, puer; tuus hic labor unus, at inter
   Omnia, disce prius vivere, disce mori.


Source: François Oudin (1673-1752), Silva Distichorum, 191. Meter: Elegiac. Of course, we all live and die, whether we have learned to do so or not - the idea is that we need to learn to live well and how to die well.

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

at: but, but yet
discō -ere didicī: learn
hic haec hoc: this; hōc: on this account
inter: between, among; during (+ acc.)
labor -ōris m.: toil, exertion
morior morī mortuus sum: die
omnis -e: all, every, as a whole
prior -ius: earlier, preceding; prius or priusquam: before
puer puerī m.: boy; slave
tuus -a -um: your
ūnus -a -um: one
vīvō vīvere vīxī victum: live



Learn All Things
Learn all things (disce omnia), my boy (puer); this shall be your one task (hic labor unus), and among those things (at inter omnia), first learn to live (prius disce vivere), learn to die (disce mori).

Omnia ~ disce, pu~er; tuus ~ hic labor ~ unus, at ~ inter
   Omnia, ~ disce pri~us | vivere, ~ disce mo~ri.