Sunday, July 15, 2012

Ratio Regina, Natura Mater


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Ratio Regina, Natura Mater
Rerum regina est ratio, naturaque mater,
Nam natura parit res, ratioque regit.


Source: Adagiorum Maxime Vulgarium Thesaurus (1730). Meter: Elegiac.

Reason is (est ratio) the queen of things (rerum regina), and nature their mother  (naturaque mater), for nature gives birth to things (nam natura parit res), and reason rules them  (ratioque regit).

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:

rēgīna (rēgīnae, f.): queen

māter mātris f.: mother
nam or namque: for, indeed, really
nātūra -ae f.: nature
pariō parere peperī partum: bring forth, give birth to; accomplish
que (enclitic) - and
ratio -ōnis f.: method, plan, reason
regō regere rēxī rectum: guide, rule
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