I wanted to show a couple of 3rd declension nouns
“operating” in a particular construction which you will come across often.
IS DIĒS ERAT [I] A. D. V. ¦ [II] KAL. APR. ¦ [III] L.
PĪSŌNE, A. GABĪNIŌ CŌNSULIBUS. (Caesar)
This day was [i] the fifth day before ¦ [ii] the first of
April ¦ [iii] when L. Piso and A. Gabinius were consuls.
This matters if you’re planning to read the authors because
it shows you part of the Roman system of dates: only part of it!
cōnsul, -is: 3rd declension. The consul was the
highest political authority in the Roman republic. Two consuls were elected
each year and it is common to find in the literature not a year, but reference
to when two particular consuls were in charge. Presumably everyone who was
anyone in Rome knew what year was being referred to.
In this case the consuls were L(ucius) Piso and A(ulus)
Gabinius.
Pīsō, Pīsōnis: Piso, a third declension proper noun
Gabīnius, -ī: Gabinius, a second declension proper noun
Latin has a special use of the ablative which we’ll cover
later but, for the purposes of understanding this construction, take a look at
what’s happening in this statement.
L. Pīsōne, A. Gabīniō cōnsulibus:
I’ll translate it as “When Piso and Gabinius were the consuls”; it doesn’t mean
precisely that but it is fine for the moment. The entire phrase is in the
ablative and you can see the ablative plural in cōnsulibus.
For the sake of completeness:
Kal. is an abbreviation of kalendae: the
first day of any month
Kal. Apr. = kalendae Aprilis: the first of April
Caesar writes: a. d. V. = ante (before)
diem (the day) V = five days before the first of April
So you need to count five days backwards and include
the first of April:
[5] April 1st
[4] March 31st
[3] March 30th
[2] March 29th
> [1] March 28th
Caesar doesn’t actually state the year. He assumes you know:
but I looked it up! It was 58BCE.
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