18.03.24: reading about the Gauls

Read the text for understanding and note the verbs in bold; they will be explained in the next post.

Gallī ad urbem Rōmam veniunt

[Latin for Canadian Schools; Breslove and Hooper (1958)]

Gallī virī magnī sunt et fortiter hastīs gladiīsque pugnant. Gallī Rōmam capere et Rōmānōs superāre parant. Gallī cōpiās ē Galliā dūcunt. Nunc Gallī in viīs prope Rōmam sunt. Magnīs cum cōpiīs in agrōs agricolārum veniunt. Multōs virōs fēmināsque interficiunt; multōs in agrīs capiunt. Propter perīculum agricolae Rōmānī līberōs servōsque cōgunt et ex agrīs ad urbem fugiunt. Rōma mūrōs altōs et longōs habet. Gallī ad portās Rōmae properant. Mox Rōmānī Gallōs circum urbem audiunt. Incolae Gallōs nōn timent, sed in urbe est magna inopia frūmentī. Līberī Rōmānī sunt ieiūnī.

Vocabulary

cōgō, cōgere [3]: (here) collect; gather together

copiae (plural): troops; (military) forces

fortiter: bravely

Gallus: Gaul (person)

hasta: spear

ieiūnus, -a, -um: hungry

inopia: scarcity

mox: soon

perīculum: danger

propter; preposition + accusative: on account of

superō, superāre [1]: overcome; overpower; conquer

urbs: city (ad urbem: to the city; circum urbem: around the city; in urbe: in the city)

verbs to be discussed in the next post:

• capiō, capere [3-iō]: capture
• fugiō, fugere [3-iō]: flee
• interficiō, interficere [3-iō]: kill

Notes

[1] fortiter: bravely i.e. an adverb describing how the Gauls fight

We need to make a distinction between an adverb and an adverbial phrase:

[i] They fight bravely i.e. a single word in English often ending in -ly: slowly, quickly, angrily etc.

[ii] They fight ¦ for many hours. This is an adverbial phrase: none of those three words are adverbs, but put together as a phrase, they do act as an adverb describing the length of time the fighting takes place.

We’ll do more on adverbs in a later post but, for the moment, just note these two endings that indicate single adverbs, like [i] above:

[a] fortiter: these ones are easy to spot because of the ending –(i)ter:

• audācter: boldy
• celeriter: quickly
• diligenter: diligently; carefully
• sapienter: wisely

[b] 1st / 2nd declension adjectives change to -ē:

• avidus (greedy) > avidē (greedily)
• certus (certain) > certē (certainly; of course)
• longus (far) > longē (a long way off; far away)

There are many adverbs that do not have these endings just as English adverbs do not all end in -ly; mox (soon) listed in the vocabulary is also an adverb, as are, for example:

• multum: a lot
• numquam: never
• valdē: greatly; very

The big plus point about adverbs is that, both in Latin and in English, regardless of how they are formed, they don’t change.

[2] Gallī … fortiter hastīs gladiīsque pugnant.

ablative of means / instrument

Russian speakers would grasp this concept immediately. When, in Russian, you say “I write with a pencil”, a case without a preposition, known as the instrumental case, is used. That ‘instrumental’ case did exist in Latin but was absorbed into the ablative case. This is another use of the ablative case: to define by what means or what ‘instrument’ an action is performed:

Gallī … fortiter hastīs gladiīsque pugnant.

• The Gauls … fight bravely with [i.e. by means of] spears and (with) swords.

[3] Magnīs cum cōpiīs (with large forces): note the word order where the preposition is inserted between the adjective and the noun; this is a common feature in Latin literature.

[4] Multōs … capiunt: They capture many people.

The map shows the territory of Gaul and the surrounding areas including Lūtētia (modern day Paris).

And since the text is about the Gauls, there's an image of the most famous of them all!