Chapter Six:

Pulcherrimärum clädës terrärum

Part I:

Gens et Familia
Idioms and Numbers
Familiae duörum virörum

Part II:

Perfect Tense
Reading Notes
Pulcherrimärum clädës terrärum

Part III:

Imperatives
Comparisons
Pulcherrimärum clädës terrärum cont.

A street in Pompeii, with Mt. Vesuvius in the background

Gens et Familia

Our society puts a premium on individuality: individual potential, individual rights, individual identity and accomplishment. Roman culture, in contrast, put a much higher value on the elements that establish a deep, integrated identity of individual and community. A Roman’s name identified him or her as part of a family; the family property and the family members, slaves and ”household” who worked it, provided a solid foundation for family identity. Home town was also a point of identity (though many people might leave their home town and live in a big city like Rome). And finally, there was one’s position within the Empire. Most of the Romans who had the leisure and resources to leave us writings were from the elite classes and had Roman citizenship, but of course there were many slaves, resident aliens, and other non-citizens who made up much of the population.

nömen et gens: Most Roman men’s names have three parts: for example, Gaius Plinius Secundus or Marcus Tullius Cicero. The most important was the nömen, which identified your gens (Plinius and Tullius in our examples). gens, gentis f translates roughly as clan, or a number of families connected by a common descent and the use of the same gentile [i.e., gens] name.* gens connected each Roman with essential Roman history, since s/he could identify with the outstanding members of his/her gens throughout time. At the same time, gens was somewhat inclusive at least, since both wealthy and poor people often shared the same gens name, and freed slaves took the gens name of their former masters. (The word gens also has a broader meaning when it is used in the plural: races or peoples. So you could refer to the natiönës et gentës of the Roman Empire, for example.)

Before the nömen came the first name, praenömen, (from the adverb/preposition [it serves both functions] prae, before, and nömen, name). For boys, only a few first names were used. Gaius is probably the most common. Others were Gnaius, Lucius, Marcus (and its diminutive, Marcellus), and Publius. Some names are based on numerals: Quintus (5th), Sextus (6th), Septimus (7th), and Decimus (10th). A boy born after his father’s death would be named Posthumus. Girls were all given the feminine form of their family name: All the daughters of the Plinius gens would be named Plinia, all the daughters of the Tullius gens would be named Tullia. This could be confusing, so daughters often had nicknames to distinguish them. But this naming pattern reveals something central to the Roman feelings about identity: you were always representing your gens. First and foremost, for women as well as men, you were a member of your clan, and that was something to live up to.

The last part of a name (Secundus and Cicero in our examples) was called the cognömen, from cognoscö, -ere, cognovï, cognitum, to know or recognize – so cognömen means something like the name you are known by. Cognömen could be essentially another family name. For Gaius Iulius Caesar, for example, Caesar was a longstanding family name, and he was often referred to as Caesar. But for his rival Gnaeus Pompeius Maximus, Maximus was a congnömen he was given (or gave himself; it means the Greatest) and he was referred to as Pompeius or Pompeius Maximus. (Secundus, by the way, means second – but it also means favorable.)

Familia: Many of the words for family relationships have transferred into English, either because we share a linguistic history, or because of the effect of the long period when Latin was the language of science, literature and law. pater, patris m means father (we get paternal, paternity, etc.), while mäter, mätris f means mother (maternal, maternity, etc.). fräter, frätris m is brother (fraternity, fraternal organizations), and soror, sororis f is sister (sorority). There are several words for children. The most all-purpose word is lïberï, lïberörum m pl., which means offspring, and applies to your children as a collective group: the kids . . . fïlius, -ï m is son, and fïlia, -ae f is daughter, and together they are fïliï, since you use masculine forms for a mixed group.

The authority structure of the family was vital in Roman thought. The head of the family was called the paterfamiliäs (literally father of the family; familiäs is an old form of genitive). He had patria potestas (potestas, potestätis f is power, and patrius, -a, -um is paternal) – essentially life and death power over his children and descendants. The mäterfamiliäs, mother of the family, was a moral authority, expected to provide lifelong guidance for her children. You never really left your family to lead your own life: you were always a part of its structure. As we have already seen, familia did not mean only the biological relatives of a household: it meant everyone associated with it. Some familiae would be small, of course: they could be essentially nuclear families like ours, or include a few slaves and relatives attached to the household. The familiae of the wealthy could be huge, including hundreds of slaves – and the paterfamiliäs would have authority over all of them. When a fïlia left home for marriage, her family could choose whether she become part of her husband’s familia, or remained under her father’s potestas. A son, though, was always to some extent under his father’s potestas. The subtleties and differences of what this meant in individual families is detectible in many letters and other accounts by family members.

Slaves, servus, -ï m and serva, -ae f, were an integral part of the familia, but were essentially without rights. In contrast to the American model of slavery, there was no real ethnic distinction of slaves. Any number of misfortunes (but most commonly, being conquered in warfare) could lead to enslavement, so slaves were an ethnically diverse group in Pliny’s time – just as the inhabitants of Rome were becoming more ethnically mixed. Some slaves had miserable lives; others were treated reasonably well, given the essential degradation of slavery. Many servï were eventually freed or were able to buy their freedom. Cicero, the Roman orator and statesman whose name was used as an example above, freed his long-time secretary Tiro, to be, as his brother put it, ”our friend instead of our slave.” (The term for freeing a slave, manumissio, -önis f, comes from mittö, mittere, mïsï, missus, to send, and manus, manüs f, hand (which also had the meaning of authority, legal control). Manumission was the term used for freeing slaves in the United States as well.) The children of freed slaves could be Roman citizens, bearing a traditional Roman nömen and being incorporated into the increasingly multicultural society.

Vocabulary:

Reading Notes: Idioms

(1) Dative of possession: When describing close relationships, the Romans use a “dative of possession.” Where an English speaker might say, “I have a brother,” a Roman would say, “There is a brother to me,” using the dative case.

est mihi soror, there is a sister to me, or I have a sister.
erant eïs duo lïberï, there were two children to them, or they had two children.
est eï uxor bona, there is a good wife to him, or he has a good wife.

(2) Age: English speakers describe their age with expressions such as “I am twenty-five years old” or even, “I’m twenty-five.” Latin speakers use the expression “I’ve been born for twenty-five years”; nätus/näta sum is the “I’ve been born” part, and the years are expressed in the accusative case to show duration of time.

näta est decem annös, she’s been born for ten years, or she’s ten years old.
nätus sum duodëvïgintï annös, I’ve been born for 18 years, or I’m 18 years old.

Birth order is expressed by maïor or minor plus nätü, lit. by birth:

sunt eïs duo fïliï; nömen maïorï nätü est Publius, they have two sons; the name of the older one is Publius (lit., there are to them two sons, the name to the bigger/older by birth is Publius)
omnium minor nätü est Julia, the youngest of all is Julia (lit., the youngest/least of all by birth is Julia).

(3) Betrothal, Marriage & Divorce:

Most marriages in Rome were arranged between families, and daughters might be betrothed while they were still quite young. dëspondeö, -ëre, dëspondï, dësponsus, means to betroth, and the person to whom the child is betrothed is in the dative case:

dëspondëmus fïliam nostram puerö bonö, we are betrothing our daughter to a good boy.

The idiom for saying that two people got married is to say that the man “led the woman into marriage”:

Plinius Minor Calpurniam in matrimonium duxit, Pliny the Younger married Calpurnia (literally, Pliny the Younger led Calpurnia into marriage).

Divorce (dïvortium, -ï n )was fairly common amongst the upper classes of Rome during Pliny’s time. The idiom for describing a divorce is to say that the husband “made a divorce with the wife” (or vice versa):

Caesar dïvortium fëcit cum Pompeiä, Caesar divorced Pompeia (lit., Caesar made a divorce with Pompeia).

-PRACTICUM 6.3-

(4) Numbers: one to twenty-one plus . . .

Just for general literacy in Latin, you should be able to count from one to twelve and know the words centum and mille. You should also be able to recognize other numbers. This involves:

recognizing the –decim suffix as showing teens (trëdecim = 13, sëdecim = 16);
recognizing the –gintä suffix as showing multples of ten (vïgintï =20, trïgintä = 30, etc.);
recognizing the different forms of the basic numbers 1-10 in compounds (quinque = 5, quin + decim = 15, quinqua + gintä = 50, etc);
recognizing the “subtraction” method of counting for 8’s and 9’s (e.g. duodëvïgintï, two-from-twenty, = 18; undëtrïgintä, one-from-thirty, = 29, etc.)
recognizing the ordinal numbers when you see them in reading (especially since their endings change to agree with the words they describe).
recognizing the forms of unus, -a, -um (-ius declension); duo, duae, duo (irregular), and trës, tria (3^rd declension).

*Cardinal Numbers (How many?)*		*Ordinal Numbers (In what order?)*
one	ünus, -a, -um	prïmus, -a, -um	first
two	duo, duae, duo	secundus, -a, -um	second
three	trës, tria	tertius, -a, -um	third
four	quattuor	quärtus, -a, -um	fourth
five	quïnque	quïntus, -a, -um	fifth
six	sex	sextus, -a, -um	sixth
seven	septem	septimus, -a, -um	seventh
eight	octö	octävus, -a, -um	eighth
nine	novem	nönus, -a, -um	ninth
ten	decem	decimus, -a, -um	tenth
eleven	ündecim	undecimus, -a, -um	eleventh
twelve	duodecim	duodecimus, -a, -um	twelfth
thirteen	trëdecim	tertius decimus, -a, -um	thirteenth
fourteen	quattuordecim	quartus decimus, -a, -um	fourteenth
quindecim	quindecim	quintus decimus, -a, -um	fifteenth
sixteen	sëdecim	sextus decimus, -a, -um	sixteenth
seventeen	septendecim	septimus decimus, -a, -um	seventeenth
eighteen	duodëvïgintï	duodëvïcësimus, -a, -um	eighteenth
nineteen	undëvïgintï	undëvïcësimus, -a, -um	nineteenth
twenty	vïgintï	vïcësimus, -a, -um	twentieth
twenty-one	vïgintï unus	vïcësimus prïmus, -a, -um	twenty-first
thirty	trïgintä	trïcësimus, -a, -um	thirtieth
forty	quadrägintä	quadrägësimus, -a, -um	fortieth
100	centum	centësimus, -a, -um	hundredth
200	ducentï, -ae, a	ducentësimus, -a, -um	two hundredth
1000	mille	mïllësimus, -a, -um	thousandth

-PRACTICUM 6.1-

Reading: Familiae duörum virörum

The following passages describe the families of two famous Romans: Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE), a politician and prolific author, and Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus Minor, or Pliny the Younger (62-111 CE), a politician whose published correspondence survives. (He was the nephew and adopted son of G. Plinius Secundus Maïor [Pliny the Elder], author of the Historia Nätürälis.)

Marcus Tullius Cicero

nömen illö virö erat Tullius, praenömen Marcus, cognömen Cicero. eï erat fräter minor natü, nömine Quïntus Tullius Cicero; familia eörum in Arpinö, oppidö parvö, vivëbat. nömen prïmae uxorï Cicerönis erat Terentia. erant eïs duo lïberï: fïlius nömine Marcus, et fïlia Tullia. Cicero pater valdë Tulliam amäbat.

Tullia trës marïtös habëbat. Cicero eam, puellam decem annös nätam, Gaiö Calpurniö Pïsöne dëspondit. postea, Pïso, vir optimus, eam in matrimonium duxit. decem post annös, Pïso mortuus est. deinde alter marïtus eam in matrimonium duxit, sed Tullia celeriter dïvortium cum eö fëcit. tertius marïtus, Dollabella nömine, erat vir pessimus, quï multäs aliäs fëminas amäbat. Tullia dïvortium cum eö quoque fëcit. post dïvortiam, fïlium eius peperit, sed paucös post diës, mortua est. Cicero miser erat quod fïliam valdë amäbat; diü eam lügëbat*.

post trigintä annös, Cicero dïvortium fëcit cum uxore Terentiä et fëminam novam duxit, puellam nömine Publiliam; paucös post annös, cum eä quoque dïvortium fëcit.

in familiä Ciceronis erat servus optimus, nömine Tïro, quï erat et doctus* et fidëlis*. Tïro Cicerönem iuväbat in omnibus quae fëcit; erat quasi amïcus Cicerönï. itaque, multös post annös, Cicero eum manumïsit; novum nömen virö erat Marcus Tullius Tïro. Tiro etiam erat Cicerönï scriba*.

Marcus Tullius Cicero

*lügeö, -ëre: mourn

*doctus, -a, -um: well educated

*fidëlis, -e: faithful

*scriba, -ae m: personal secretary

perfect tense words:

dëspondit: he betrothed

duxit, he led

fëcit, he did

peperit: she gave birth to

manumïsit, he freed

mortuus/mortua est: s/he died

Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus Minor

Gaius erat illï virö praenömen, Caecilius et Plinius nömina, Secundus cognömen. “Minor” nön est nömen vërum; eum “Minorem” appellämus quod nömen avunculö eius quoque erat Gaius Plinius Secundus (“Maïor”). cür habet Plinius Minor duäs gentës?

mäter eius erat Plinia, soror Gaï Pliniï Secundï Maïoris, quï Historiam Nätürälem scripsit.* pater Pliniï Minoris, nömine Lucius Caecilius, mortuus est dum fïlius etiam puer est. mäter numquam alterum virum accëpit*; itaque Gaius et mäter saepe cum avunculö (Gaiö Pliniö Secundö Maïorï) vivëbant. Pliniö Minorï erant duae gentës, quod avunculus eius, Plinius Maïor, erat eï pater per adoptiönem. (Plinius Maïor numquam uxörem duxit, quod labor semper eum maximë occupäbat*.) post mortem avunculï, Plinius Minor Römam vënit. ibi labor gravis eum occupäbat. trës uxörës in matrimonium duxit: nescïmus nömina nec* prïmae nec secundae. nömen tertiae erat Calpurnia. Plinius eam valdë amäbat, sed Pliniö Calpurniaeque erant nullï lïberï.

*scripsit: he wrote (perfect)

*accëpit: (she) took

*occupö, -äre: occupy

*Römam: to Rome

nec . . .nec: neither . . .nor

-PRACTICUM 6.2-6.3-

PART II

Vocabulary

fortës Fortüna iuvat!

This is an old Latin saying, found in many authors: Fortüna (subject) is fortune, the concept and the goddess; fortës (direct object) “the brave,” is used substantively (an adjective used as a noun). During the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, Pliny is sailing for the house of his friend Pomponianus when he realizes the extent of the danger to his ship from the falling rocks and burning ashes. Though the captain urges him to turn back, Pliny concludes, “fortës Fortüna iuvat: Pomponianum pete! (seek!)”

Silver statuette of Fortuna (with attributes of Juno); VRoma

The Perfect Tense

The perfect tense, like the imperfect, is a used for narrating things in the past. But while the imperfect is used for describing long-time or continuing states, the perfect is used to describe action: one-time or completed events.

Forming the perfect tense is easy, because you do not have to worry about vowels and conjugations. The system is:

perfect stem, plus
personal endings

Finding the Perfect Stem: Begin with the third principle part of the verb:

dïco, dïcere, dixï, dictum
nävigö, nävigäre, nävigävï, nävigätum

Drop the –ï (which is a personal ending) and you have the stem:

dix-
nävigäv-

Personal Endings: The personal endings for the perfect tense are similar to the familiar endings from the present tense. Unlike the present and imperfect, though, their vowel is included in the ending.

1^st singular	I	-ï
2^nd singular	you (s.)	-istï
3^rd singular	s/he, it	-it
1^st plural	we	-imus
2^nd plural	you (pl.)	-istis
3^rd plural	they	-ërunt

In the perfect tense, once you have the stem, you do not have to worry about irregular verbs and conjugation differences (i.e. which vowel) because the vowel is included in the ending.

Sample conjugations of several verbs:

	ambulö, -äre, -ävï, -ätus (1^st)	dïcö, -ere, dixï, dictus (3^rd)	fero, ferre, tulï, latus (irreg.)
I	ambuläv-ï	dix-ï	tul-ï
*you s.*	ambuläv-istï	dix-istï	tul-istï
*s/he*	ambuläv-it	dix-it	tul-it
we	ambuläv-imus	dix-imus	tul-imus
*you pl.*	ambuläv-istis	dix-istis	tul-istis
*they*	ambuläv-ërunt	dix-ërunt	tul-ërunt

-PRACTICA 6.4-6.6-

Translating the Perfect Tense

Latin uses two tenses, the imperfect and the perfect, to describe action in the past. The imperfect tense is used for continuing and repeated actions and states, while the perfect tense is used for sudden or completed actions. English does not make this distinction in such a formal way, but there are ways of translating that are more appropriate for each tense:

Imperfect: ambuläbam.

I was walking
I used to walk
I walked (where the context implies continuing/repeated action or states)

Perfect tense: ambulävï

I walked (where the context implies a one-time or sudden action)
I have walked (showing a completed action)

Usually, a simple past tense will get the meaning across; sometimes, you will use “have –“ to indicate completed actions.

quod cinis ubïque cadëbant, nävem conscendërunt, Since ashes were falling everywhere, they boarded the ship.
“nävem conscendërunt, nunc fugere debëmus!” “They have boarded the ship, now we must flee!”

-PRACTICA 6.7-6.8-

Perfect Stems

Since the formation of the perfect tense is so straightforward (stem plus ending, no vowels to worry about), your main issue with forming it will be the stem. Stems are included in the dictionary form of verbs because they are not all formed the same, so you need to learn them separately. There are some rules to help you learn them, even though the rules have a lot of “usually’s” and “sometimes”.

First conjugation words are almost all regular, adding –äv- to the present stem. When you see (1) in the dictionary form, you know that the perfect stem follows this regular pattern.

nätö (1) ® natäv-
parö (1) ® paräv-

Some first conjugation words are different though:

dö, dare, dedï ® ded-
stö, stäre, stetï ® stet-

Fourth conjugation verbs usually add –ïv- to the present stem:

· audiö, -ïre ® audïv-

· dormiö, -ïre ® dormïv-

But others don’t:

· veniö, -ïre ® vën-

Second conjugation verbs often add –u- to the present stem:

· habeö, -ëre ® habu-

· teneö, -ëre ® tenu-

But others don’t:

· sedeö, -ëre, ® sëd-

Third conjugation verbs are the most unpredictable. While there are consistent patterns, there is no getting around just learning the dictionary forms.

Verb Review: The following verbs appear in the perfect tense in the reading section below. Review their perfect forms.

appäreö, -ëre	apparuï	appear
ascendö, -ere	ascendï	climb, ascend
constituö, -ere	constïtuï	decide
dïcö, -ere	dixï	say, speak, tell
dücö, -ere	duxï	lead
iubeö, -ëre	iussï	command
mittö, -ere	mïsï	send
teneö, -ëre	tenuï	hold

-PRACTICUM 6.9-

Reading Notes

(1) Impersonal Expressions. Like English, Latin has some “Impersonal expressions” in which “it” is the subject; often the Latin and English expressions are very close. Some examples:

· incertum est, it is uncertain. incertum est ex quö monte, it is uncertain from which mountain . . .

· cognitum est, it is known. cognitum est Vesuvium esse, it is known to be Vesuvius

· necesse est, it is necessary. necesse est nävem conscendere, it is necessary to board the ship

Sometimes literal translation sounds stilted in English, in which case you can be creative:

nunc cognitum est Vesuvium esse, lit. now it is known to be Vesuvius, can be translated now we know it was Vesuvius
necesse est nävem conscendere, lit. it is necessary to board the ship, can be translated we have to board the ship!

(2) similis, simile, an adjective meaning similar (to), goes with a genitive or dative:

illa puella est similis mätris (or mätrï), that girl is similar to her mother
magnam belvam vïdërunt similem insulae, they saw a huge sea-monster similar to an island (or translate, which resembled an island)

(3) Dative Direct Objects: Some Latin verbs have direct objects which are dative instead of accusative. incidö is one of these:

incidö, -ere (in + cadö) fall on; lapidës casïs incidëbant, the rocks were falling on the houses (casïs, the direct object, is dative).

Verbs with dative direct objects will be noted in your vocabulary.

Pulcherrimärum clädës terrärum

Pompeii with Vesuvius in the background

Some of the best preserved sites of the Roman world, which have given us a great deal of information about how Romans lived on a day to day basis, are two towns near one another on the Bay of Naples, Pompeii and Herculaneum. The reason they are so well preserved is that they were buried by volcanic ash and mud in a terrible disaster in 79 CE: the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, which cost over 3000 lives and destroyed these towns so thoroughly that they remained buried until the late 18^th century. On the 24th of August (nine days before the Kalends of September), at about 1 in the afternoon (the seventh hour), inhabitants of the area saw a huge cloud rising in the distance. At first, they could not tell what mountain it was coming from. The cloud exploded straight up into the air, then began to spread out, and as it spread, hot volcanic ash and pumice began to fall.

The volcanic eruption was accompanied by earthquakes, and mud and boulders crashed down the mountains into the sea. The shoreline was barely recognizable because the violent volcanic activity caused it to rise in places, sink in others. The earthquakes stirred up huge waves which made the seas too violent to navigate, and floating pumice also hampered navigation. As the day went on, the people of the towns nearby, Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae, began to evacuate as ash and pumice covered their towns some 4-6 feet deep. Animals who could not walk on the rough ground, mostly horses, were not so lucky. Some people, like Pliny’s friend Pomponianus in Stabiae, had no easy way out except by sea. Something like 90% of the population managed to get out. But the second day of the eruption, the towns were hit by a pyroclastic flow, a rapidly moving wall of superheated mud and rock, which buried both under a rapidly solidifying mass, 20 feet deep in Pompeii, 60 feet deep in Herculaneum. People who had not already escaped were killed instantly. Misenum, farther up the coast, fared better, but the burning ash, falling stones and earthquakes dealt a terrible blow to the the people living there.

At the time of the disaster, Pliny (Plinius Maior) was the administrative commander of the Roman fleet at Misenum. When the volcanic cloud was first observed, his first thought was to take a closer look and investigate it scientifically, and he was preparing to sail around the point of Misenum to do so when a friend sent him a message pleading for help. Realizing the danger to the people who lived along the coast, Pliny mobilized the ships at Misenum, the quadriremes, for a rescue mission. He set out by sea himself as well. His original intent may have been to bring help to Pompeii, but as conditions changed, he made for Stabiae by boat, where a friend, Pomponianus, was trapped in his seaside home.

Plinius Minor was staying at his uncle’s house in Misenum when the disaster struck. He later wrote an account of it for the historian Tacitus, focusing on his uncle’s actions, which survives in a collection of his correspondence – the first eyewitness account in history of a volcanic eruption. This reading is adapted from his account.

eö tempöre avunculus meus Misenï classem* regëbat.* illö dië avunculus, mäter et ego* domï manëbämus. nonum Kal. Septembrës horä fere* septimä nübes magna novaque matrï meï apparuit. mater nubem avunculö meö ostendit; ille soleäs poposcit* et ascendit locum ubi maximë miräculum illud spectäre poterat. nübes ë montë quödam* ascendëbat in caelum; forma eius erat similis arborï. (eö tempore incertum erat ex quö monte nübes ascenderet*; postea cognitum erat Vesuvium esse.)

avunculus meus nübem propius* vidëre valdë volëbat: itaque iussit servös nävem parvam paräre. deinde Rectïna, fëmina amïcï eius, eï litteräs* mïsit: “të orämus, servä* nös – ignës quï in monte ardent timëmus quod sine näve nön possumus fugere.” avunculus meus statim constituit auxilium ferre et Rectïnae et aliïs quï prope lïtora vivëbant.

itaque quadriremës* dëduxit et nävem ipse* ascendit. dum aliï ä perïculö fugiunt, Plinius rectum cursum in perïculum tenëbat. festïnäbat illuc*, unde aliï fugiëbant. sine metü erat – omnia quae vïdit in illä cläde, ille vir eruditissimus* notäs scrïbae dictäbat.*

nävibus cinis incidëbant, calida et densa; undae magnae per mare fluëbant; lapidës igne fractï* ubïque cadëbant. lïtus novum apparëbat propter mötum terrae. magister nävis dixit, “debëmus redïre; nön possumus tutë nävigäre.” sed avunculus meus “fortës,” inquit, “Fortüna iuvat: Pomponiänum pete!*”

*classis, -is f: the fleet

regëbat: commanded

*ego: I

*fere: about

*soleäs poposcit: called for his sandals

*quödam: a certain, some

*ascenderet: (it) was ascending

*propius: more closely

*littera, -ae f: letter

*servä: command, save!

*quadriremës: war ships

*ipse: he himself

*illuc: to the place

*eruditissimus: very learned

*scrïbae dictäbat: dictated to his secretary

*fractï: broken, shattered (by)

*pete: command, “head for . . .”

-PRACTICA 6.10-6.11-

PART III

Vocabulary

The Imperative (Commands):

Latin has singular and plural command forms:

ad insulam navigä, Sail to the island (command to one person)
ad insulam navigäte, Sail to the island (command to more than one person)
manë! Wait! (command to one person)
manëte! Wait! (command to more than one person)

How to make commands:

For singular commands, drop the –re from the infinitive.

natä-re (1^st) ® natä, swim!
sedë-re (2^nd) ® sedë, sit down!
curre-re (3^rd) ® curre, run!
fuge-re (3^rd-io) ® fuge, flee!
audï-re (4^th) ® audï, listen!

For plural commands of 1^st, 2^nd, and 4^th conjugations, just add –te to the singular.

natä-re (1^st) ® natä, swim! ® natä-te, swim! (more than one person)
sedë-re (2^nd) ® sedë, sit down! ® sedë-te, sit down! (more than one person)
audï-re (4^th) ® audï, listen! ® audï-te, listen! (more than one person)

For plural commands of 3^rd and 3^rd-io, add –ite to the stem.

curr-ere (3^rd) ® curr-ite, run!
fug-ere (3^rd-io) ® fug-ite, flee!

The same information, in chart form:

*conj.*	*1^st*	*2^nd*	*3^rd*	*3^rd-io*	*4^th*
*ex.*	curö, -äre	maneö, -ëre	curro, -ere	fugiö, -ere	audiö, -ïre
*sing.*	cur-ä	man-ë	curr-e	fug-e	aud-ï
*pl.*	cur-äte	man-ëte	curr-ite	fug-ite	aud-ïte
	take care of!	stay!	run!	flee!	listen!

Irregular Commands

Naturally, some verbs have irregular command forms. These include irregular verbs such as sum, eö, and ferö, but also include three ordinary verbs whose singular command forms happen to be unusual in that they leave out the last vowel: dïcö, dücö, and faciö.

*verb*	*sum, esse*	*eö, ïre*	*dïcö, -ere*	*dücö, -ere*	*faciö, -ere*	*ferö, ferre*
*sing.*	estö	ï	dïc	düc	fac	fer
*pl.*	este	ïte	dïcite	dücite	facite	ferte
*means*	be!	go!	speak!	lead!	do/make!	carry!

-PRACTICA 6.12-6.13-

Negative Commands

Negative commands are commands not to do something. English typically uses don’t:

command: look!
negative command: don’t look!

In Latin, the idea “don’t!” is expressed with with nölï (singular) and nölïte (plural), used with the infinitive of the verb.

command: spectä! (one person); spectäte! (more than one person), look!
negative command: nölï spectäre! (one person); nölïte spectäre! (more than one person), don’t look!
command: fuge! (one person); fugite! (more than one person); run away!
negative command: nölï fugere (one person); nölïte fugere! (more than one person); don’t run away!

*conj.*	*1^st*	*2^nd*	*3^rd*	*3^rd-io*	*4^th*
*ex.*	curö, -äre	maneö, -ëre	curro, -ere	fugiö, -ere	audiö, -ïre
*sing.*	cur-ä	man-ë	curr-e	fug-e	aud-ï
*sing.*	nölï curäre	nölï manëre	nölï currere	nölï fugere	nölï audïre
*pl.*	cur-äte	man-ëte	curr-ite	fug-ite	aud-ïte
*pl.*	nölïte curäre	nölïte manëre	nölïte currere	nölïte fugere	nölïte audïre

PRACTICA -6.14-6.15-

Comparisons:

English forms comparisons of adjectives by adding –er to an adjective or by putting “more” in front of it:

she is friendlier than her brother
we are more tired now than we were this morning

Latin forms comparisons by adding –ior (m/f), -ius (n) to the adjective’s stem:

obscürus, -a, -um, dark, - obscür-ior, obscür-ius darker
brevis, breve, short, - brev-ior, brev-ius, shorter

No matter what declension the adjective starts off as, with the –ior/ius ending it is a third declension adjective whose stem ends in –ior:

*Case*	*Singular*		*Plural*
	*m/f*	*neuter*	*m/f*	*neuter*
*nom.*	obscürior	obscür-ius	obscüriör-ës	obscüriör-a
*acc.*	obscüriör-em	obscür-ius	obscüriör-ës	obscüriör-a
*gen.*	obscüriör-is	¬	obscüriör-um	¬
*dat.*	obscüriör-ï	¬	obscüriör-ibus	¬
*abl.*	obscüriör-e	¬	obscüriör-ibus	¬

Note: unlike most 3-rd declension adjectives, comparatives are not i-stems.

Irregular Comparisons: Some of the most common words have irregular comparisons (just as in English). This table shows irregular comparisons and also shows irregular superlatives as a review:

*Adjective*	*Comparative Form*	*Superlative Form*
bonus, -a, -um good	melior, melius better	optimus, -a, -um best
malus, -a, -um bad	pëior, pëius worse	pessimus, -a, -um worst
parvus, -a, -um small	minor, minus smaller	minimus, -a, -um smallest
magnus, -a, -um great	maïor, maïus greater	maximus, -a, -um greatest

-PRACTICUM 6.16-

When you are comparing things, there are two ways of expressing “than”:

(1) quam, than: the things you are comparing are in the same case.

ille diës obscürior erat quam nox, that day was darker than night.
fräter maior est natü quam soror, the brother is older than the sister.
equum habeö vëlöciörem quam equum tuum, I have a horse faster than your horse.

(2) putting the thing compared in the ablative case:

ille diës obscürior erat nocte, that day was darker than night.
fräter maior est nätü sorore, the brother is older than the sister.
equum habeö vëlöciörem equö tuö, I have a horse faster than your horse.

Latin comparisons can be translated as “more ___” or “___er,” or as “quite ___” or “rather ___”

nox fiëbat obscürior, the night was becoming darker
nox est obscürior, the night is quite dark
haec puella est pulchrior quam illa, this girl is more beautiful than that one
haec puella est pulchrior, this girl is rather beautiful

Context will help you decide which meaning works best.

PRACTICUM 6.17

Reading notes:

(1) Accusative case to show “place to which”: Usually, travel to or toward a place is shown with the preposition ad plus the place in the accusative case:

ad agrös festïnävërunt, they hurried to the fields
ad insulam pulchram advënërunt, they arrived at a beautiful island

However, the accusative is used by itself, without ad, to show travel toward a named town, city or small island:

Römam festïnävërunt, they hurried toward Rome
Stabiäs nävigävit, he sailed to Stabiae

ad is also omitted with some other words: domus, -üs f (home) and rüs, rüris n (the country):

domum festïnävërunt, they hurried home.
rüs iter faciunt, they are traveling to the country

-PRACTICUM 6.18-

Verb Review:

The following verbs appear in the reading below in the perfect tense. Review their perfect forms:

veniö, -ïre	vënï	come
adveniö, -ïre	advënï	arrive
inveniö, -ïre	invënï	find
videö, -ëre	vïdï	see
currö, -ere	cucurrï	run
volö, velle	voluï	want
dormiö, -ïre	dormïvï	sleep

PRACTICUM 6.19

Mors Pliniï

18^th c. painting of the death of Pliny

As Pliny sailed around the point of Misenum, conditions were becoming worse, both because of the clouds of ash and volcanic gasses now settling on the area, making visibility and breathing difficult, and because the seismic and atmospheric disturbances made it difficult to navigate. Like many who have tried to observe natural disasters – notably, in recent times, the spectators killed in the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in Washington state – Pliny underestimated the danger. By the time he arrived at his friend’s house, conditions had worsened so much that it was impossible to escape by sea; he, like the others, was trapped. Nevertheless, he did his best to encourage everyone, talking down the risks of the situation that they were helpless to escape, and making a show of normalcy by taking a bath and a nap after dinner. But soon the earthquakes and falling ash made it impossible to stay in the house. The household was forced to leave their shelter and go down to the shore in hopes that sailing conditions would improve. But Pliny’s scientific and humanitarian interests had led him to go beyond his physical strength. He died in his sleep that night. His nephew thought his death must have been due to the poisonous gasses’ effects on his constitutionally weak lungs; modern scholars think a heart attack is more likely. In any case, Pliny died as he lived, full of curiosity and humanity.

The reading below, loosely based on Plinius Minor’s account, is partly in dialog form.

Plinius näve parvä per mare saevum nävigäbat. omnës nautae territï erant; ignës in monte procul vidëre poterant, et lapidës magnï marï incidëbant. ubïque cinis calida lapidësque igne fractï cadëbant. undae fiëbant saeviörës; cinis calidior densiorque ubïque cadëbat. nubës quae ex monte ascenderat* nunc per tötum caelum extendëbat. sölem vidëre nön poterant; diës obscürior erat quam nox.

Plinius Stabiäs iter fëcit; ibi amïcös quaerit quï nön possunt sine nävë fugere.

Plinius: magister, rectum cursum tenë; festïnä. debëmus Pomponiänum familiamque eius serväre.

magister: perïculum maximum timeö; cinis nävï incidunt; undae sunt maximae!

Plinius: fortës Fortüna iuvat, magister! Pomponiänum petë!

ubi Stabiäs accedëbant, ventï fortissimï nävem oppugäbant; nautae vix nävigäre poterant. ubïque casae ardëbant; cinis lapidësque dë caelö omnibus incidëbant; hominës territï ë casäs currëbant, magnopere clämäbant; deös öräbant. tandem nävis ad casam Pomponiänï advënit. nävis ad lïtus vënit; ubi nävem vïdërunt, duo servï dë familiä Pomponiänï ad lïtus cucurrunt:

servus: serväte nös! tötus mundus ardet! ïte celeriter, nös accipite in nävem!

Plinius: nölïte timëre. ibi manëte; nunc nön possumus nävigäre quod ventï adversï* sunt. debëmus ventös meliörës exspectäre.

servus: eheu! quid facere possumus? venïte ad casam, festïnäte; nön possumus ibi manëre, quod cinis ubïque cadit!

omnës ad casam vënërunt; Pomponiänus et familia territï erant.

Pomponiänus: spectä magnäs flammäs quae in monte ardent! quid facere possumus? omnës moriturï* sumus!

Plinius: placidus estö; perïculum procul est; paucae casae in monte ardent, sed procul sunt. placidus exspectä ventös meliörës; mox possumus nävigäre. nunc quiescere debëmus. servï, mihi balneum* paräte!

Plinius in casam vënit. quod amïcös consolärï* voluit, aut hilaris erat aut (quod* est aequë* magnum) similis hilarï. cënävit*, deinde dormïvit. sed cinis densior in casam cadëbant; mötus terrae mürös casae nütäbant*. aliï territï erant.

aliï quï in casä manent: fugere debëmus! moriturï sumus! deï, nös serväte!

Plinius: nölïte timëre, nölïte fugere sine consiliö. casa nön est tüta, sed sï ad agrös fugimus, cinis lapidësque quï ubïque cadunt possunt nös interficere. necesse est placidë cogitäre. ad lïtus ambuläte, capita operïte*, et spectäte mare; forsitan* nunc possumus nävibus fugere.

sed nön poterant marï fugere. itaque omnës extra casam manëbant dum nox obscürissima advenit. prïmä lüce, servus Pomponiänï corpus mortuum Pliniï invënit. ille propter cinerem nön poterat spïräre, itaque mortuus est dum dormit.

*ascenderat: (it) had risen

*adversus, -a, -um: opposed, adverse

*mortiurï: about to die

*balneum, -ï n: bath

*consolarï: “to console”

*quod:which

*aequë: equally

*cënö (1): dine

*nütö (1): shake

*operiö, -ïre: cover

*forsitan: perhaps

Gens et Familia

Adjectives

Reading: Familiae duörum virörum

Marcus Tullius Cicero

Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus Minor