Sunday, July 22, 2012

Bellum et Foedus

This poem is from a book entitled Adagiorum Maxime Vulgarium Thesaurus, first published in 1730.

Bellum et Foedus
Est bellum nomen, sed res foedissima bellum;
Est foedum nomen, sed res bellissima foedus.

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

bellus, -a, -um: pretty, handsome
foedus (foederis, n.): treaty, alliance

bellum -ī n.: war
foedus -a -um: foul
nōmen -inis n.: name
rēs reī f.: thing (rēs pūblica, commonwealth; rēs familiāris, family property, estate; rēs mīlitāris, art of war; rēs novae, revolution)
sed: but