Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Rectus Ordo Diligendi

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.

Rectus Ordo Diligendi
Quod supra, quod es, et quod iuxta, deinde quod infra
Te fuerit, rectus diligere ordo docet.

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

infrā: below, beneath
iuxtā: close by, near

deinde: then, next
dīligō -ligere -lēxī -lēctum: choose, cherish, love
doceō -ēre -uī doctum: teach
et: and
ōrdo -īnis m.: order, rank
qui quae quod: who, which, what / quis quid: who? what? which?
rectus -a -um: straight, direct
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
suprā: above, beyond (adv. and prep. +acc.)
tū tuī tibi tē: you (sing.)