[3]
[i] bōs, bōvis [3 m/f]: ox (or: head of cattle; bull)
[ii] iuvencus, -ī [2/m]: bullock
[iii] iuvenca, -ae [1/f]: heifer
[iv] taurus, -ī [2/m]: bull
[v] vacca, -ae [1/f]: cow
(1) Catullus 64
Rūra colit nēmō, mollēscunt colla iuvencīs,
| no one cultivates the countryside; the necks of the young bulls grow
soft
nōn humilis curvīs purgātur vīnea rāstrīs, | the
low vineyard is not cleared with curved hoes
nōn glēbam prōnō convellit vōmere taurus,
| the bull does not break up the earth with a sloping ploughshare
(2) Aulularia (Plautus)
Venit hoc mihi, Megadōre, in mentem, tēd*
esse hominem dīvitem, | It comes to my mind [= it strikes me], Megadorus, that
you are a wealthy man,
factiōsum, mē autem esse hominem pauperum
pauperrimum; | influential, but I am a poor man, a very poor one.
nunc sī fīliam locāssim* meam tibi, in
mentem venit | Now if I were to give my daughter to you [in marriage], it
strikes me
tē bovem esse et mē esse asellum:
| that you’d be the ox and I the (little) donkey.
ubi tēcum coniūnctus siem,* | Once I’d
been joined with you,
ubi onus nequeam ferre pariter, | when I
couldn’t bear the load equally,
iaceam ego asinus in lutō, | I, the donkey,
would be lying in the mud,
tū mē bōs magis haud respiciās, | you,
the ox, would no more look back at me [ = not pay any more attention to
me]
gnātus quasi numquam siem.*| than as if
I had never been born.
* In the works of, for example, Plautus and Terence, there are
occasional examples of older Latin word forms; these are archaisms:
tēd = tē
locāssim: archaic subjunctive form, the equivalent here of ‘if
I were to do / have done something’
siem = sim
[4]
[i] camēlus, -ī [2/m]: camel
[ii] dromas, -adis [3/m]; dromedārius, -ī [2/m]:
dromedary
[iii] elephantus, -ī [2/m]: elephant
Dromadēs camēlī inter dōna erant vēlōcitātis eximiae, XII elephantī ā
Dārēō ex Indiā accītī (Quintus Curtius Rufus)
- Among the presents were dromedaries of
extraordinary swiftness, twelve elephants imported by Darius from India
[5] iūmentum, -ī [2/n]; armentum, -ī [2/n]
Columella mentions both terms, and broadly distinguishes their
function:
Unde etiam [i] iūmenta et [ii] armenta
nōmina ā rē trāxēre quod nostrum labōrem vel [i] onera subvectandō vel [ii]
arandō iuvārent.
- And so it is that iumenta and armenta
have drawn their names from the fact that they aid our work either by bringing
up burdens or by ploughing.
[i] iūmentum, -ī [2/n]: animals used for transport, either
pulling chariots and wagons or serving as pack animals for traveling e.g.
horses and donkeys
[ii] armentum, -ī [2/n]: heavy-duty animals used in
field work e.g. ploughing, mainly oxen and bulls but also horses
Original images of the animals, however, do not always convey
such a precise ‘dictionary’ distinction, nor is the type of animal depicted
always clear.
iūmenta et camēlōs et ā Sūsīs et ā Babylōne contrahī iussit
(Quintus Curtius Rufus)
- he ordered camels and other beasts of
burden to be brought together from Susa and Babylon.
A hired man complains about the weight of the
luggage he is carrying:
'quid vōs' inquit 'iūmentum mē putātis
esse aut lapidāriam nāvem? hominis operās locāvī, nōn caballī’
(Petronius)
- "What do you think I am," he said,
" a beast of burden or a ship for carrying stones? I contracted for
the work of a man, not a dray-horse!
