Sunday, July 22, 2012

In Medio Securus

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

In Medio Securus
In medio securus eris; dum prendere summa
Quaeris, in adversum culmine saepe cadis.

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:

culmen (culminis, n.): peak, top, height
prendō, prendere: catch, grab, seize

adversus -a -um: facing, opposed; unfavorable; adversus (-um): (adv. and prep.) facing, opposite, against, opposed (to)
cadō cadere cecidī cāsum: fall, be killed
dum: while (+ indic.); until (+ subj.); provided that (+ subj.)
in: in, on (+ abl.); into, onto (+ acc)
medius -a -um: middle, central
quaerō -rere -sīvī-situm: seek, inquire
saepe: often
sēcūrus -ā -um: free from care, tranquil; careless
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
summus -a -um: highest, farthest, last