06.02.25: level 2; reading; a schoolmaster’s treachery; Livy’s account [3] language notes [2]; participles [1]

There’s no getting around it; original literature is crammed with participles! In English we very often need a clause or a phrase to convey an idea which Latin can convey in one word; that feature of Latin allows for more concise expression, often a “faster moving” narrative. Here are four excerpts all of which contain participles:

[i] virgasque eis, quibus proditorem agerent in urbem verberantes, dedit │ and he gave them rods by which they might drive the traitor into the city while beating him

[ii] arma habemus …  adversus armatos │ we use our weapons … against armed men

[iii] … qui nec laesi nec lacessiti a nobis ... │ …who, neither injured nor provoked by us, …

[iv] denudatum deinde eum … pueris tradidit │ he then handed him, stripped, to the boys

Let’s take them apart to see what’s happening …

armō, -āre, -āvi, armātus [1]: furnish with weapons

> armātus, -a, -um: having been furnished with weapons

laedō, -ere, laesī, laesus [3]: offend; hurt

> laesus, -a, -um: having been offended

lacessō, -ere, lacessīvī, lacessītus [3]: provoke

> lacessītus, -a, -um: having been provoked

dēnūdō, -āre, -āvī, dēnūdātus [1]: strip; make naked

> dēnūdātus, -a, -um: having been stripped

[i] present active participle: used to convey two actions happening at the same time

virgasque eis, quibus proditorem [1] agerent in urbem [2] verberantes, dedit │ and he gave them rods by which they might drive the traitor into the city while beating him

The other three are perfect passive participles, used to convey something that had already happened to someone

[ii] The participle being used as a noun:

arma habemus …  adversus armatos │ we use our weapons … against armed men / those who have been armed

[iii] The participle being used in a phrase describing the enemy

… qui nec laesi nec lacessiti ¦ a nobis ¦ ... │ …who, (having been) neither injured nor provoked ¦ by us, ¦ …

[iv] The participle being used as an adjective:

denudatum deinde eum … pueris tradidit │ he then handed him, stripped, to the boys = the man, who had been stripped, he handed over to the boys