12.04.24: The Exploit of Horatius [conclusion]

[Latin for Today: Gray (1927)]

Read the text for understanding. Then look at the verbs in bold.

There are:

[1] 3 verbs in the imperfect tense

[2] 5 verbs in the future tense

[3] 18 verbs in the present tense, and that’s not unusual because the Roman authors sometimes used present tense verbs to describe past events in order to make those events seem more vivid.

Can you identify the tenses?

A version of this text is posted in the comments with the present tense marked in red, the imperfect marked in green and the future marked in blue.

Ūnō locō in flūmine erat pōns sublicius. Etrūscī iam appropinquant et pontem trānsīre parant. Interim perīculum Rōmānōrum augētur. Nam nūllī vīrī contrā Etrūscōs in ulteriōre rīpā flūminis pugnābant. Qūis Rōmam nunc servābit? Quī cum Etrūscīs pugnābunt et eōs superābunt? Ā quō Rōma et patria ā perīculō līberābuntur? Forte Horātius Cocles prope pontem stābat. Horātius, vir validus, perīculum videt, sed nōn diū dubitat. “Ego sōlus contrā Etrūscōs pugnābō, dum vōs ā tergō pontem rumpitis.” Tum trāns pontem properat et Etrūscōs oppugnat. In eum Etrūscī tēla iactant, sed Horātius pilis eōrum nōn vulnerātur. Et Rōmānī et Etrūscī audaciā Horātī dēlectantur. Duo Rōmānī, Lartius et Hērminius, Horātium paulisper iuvant, sed ā sociīs mox revocantur. Interim Rōmānī ā tergō pontem rumpunt. Tandem pōns in Tiberīm decidit. Statim Horātius armātus in flūmen dēsilit et inter tēla Etrūscōrum tūtus ad sociōs trānat. Posteā Rōmānī propter magnam audāciam Horātī statuam eius in forō locant.

appropinquō, appropinquāre [1]: approach

dēcidō, dēcidere [3]: fall down; collapse

dēsiliō, dēsilīre [4]: jump down

dubitō, dubitāre [1]: hesitate

forte: by chance

paulisper: (for) a little while

pōns sublicius: a bridge constructed from wooden piles

revocō, revocāre [1]: recall; call back

rīpa, -ae [1/f]: bank (of a river); in ulteriōre rīpā: on the further bank

rumpō, rumpere [3]: break; destroy

tergum, -ī [2/n]: back; ā tergō: behind me [literally: from the rear]

trānō, trānāre [1]: swim across

tūtus, -a, -um: safe