04.10.24: the Return of the Cat in the Hat

Image: if you’re studying Latin, it’s a good plan to have a sense of humour; eat your heart out, Sesame Street.

The Cat in the Hat

Let’s take him apart

Let’s look at the grammary

This’s and thats

Let’s look at the things

That we’ve done since the start

Some who-words and do-words

We must know by heart

The when, what and where words, the how’s and the why’s

The words with the em’s, and the oom’s and the i’s

And here’s a surprise -

The verb endings tell you “it’s we or it’s it!”

And you’ll get to like them  -

Well,

Maybe a bit.

Cattus petasātus

Imber tōtum diem fluit │ The rain’s been pouring the whole day

Urceātim semper pluit. │ It always rains in buckets.

Taedet intus nōs manēre: │ It bores us to stay inside:

Numquam potest sōl splendēre │ The sun can never shine

Dēsidēsque sīc sedēmus, │ And thus we sit idle at home

Nec rīdēmus, nec gaudēmus. │ We neither laugh nor rejoice

** Fore fīnem quiēscendī / Mihi spēs est et sedendī. │ I have the hope that there will be an end to resting and sitting **

Frīgus vetat forās īre, │ The cold forbids (us) from going outdoors

Caelum vetat lascīvīre. │ The sky / weather forbids (us) from having fun

Domī sumus quiēscentēs, │ We are at home, resting

Nīl omnīnō facientēs. │ Doing nothing at all.

There’s a lot  in there; the only line I won’t look at is marked ** because it contains two points of grammar which need a lot of study and will be discussed in later posts.

2^nd declension nouns

• cattus, -ī [2/m]: cat
• caelum, -ī [2/n] sky; can also refer to weather

3^rd declension nouns

• fīnis, -is [/f]: end; finish
• frīgus, frīgoris [n]: cold
• imber, imbris [m]: rain
• sōl, -is [m]: sun

5^th declension nouns

• diēs, diēī [m / f]: day
• spēs, speī [f]: hope

1^st conjugation verbs

• vetō, -āre: forbid

2^nd conugation verbs

• gaudeō, -ēre : rejoice
• maneō, -ēre: stay
• rideō, -ēre: laugh
• splendeō, -ēre: shine

3^rd conjugation verbs

• fluō, -ere: flow; pour
• quiescō, -ere: rest
• faciō, -ere [3-iō]: do

4^th conjugation verbs

• lasciviō, -īre: be “frisky”

Irregular verbs

• eō, ire:  go
• sum, esse: to be
• possum, posse: to be able

3^rd declension adjective

• dēses, dēsidis: idle

participles

• faciēns, facientis > facientēs: doing
• quiēscēns, quiēscentis > quiēscentēs: resting

adverbs

• forās: outdoors
• intus: inside
• nec … nec: neither … nor …
• numquam: never
• omnīnō: completely; entirely
• semper: always
• sīc: thus; in this way

Other points:

[i] domī: at home; locative case

[ii] These two lines are impersonal expressions which don’t refer to a subject; English translates these using ‘it’, referring to nothing or nobody in particular

• taedet nōs: it bores us
• urceātim pluit: it rains in buckets

[iii] the accusative case used to indicate for how long something happens

• tōtum diem: for the whole day

[iv] nil = nihil: nothing

[v] -que: added to the end of a word: and

04.10.24: Level 2; Practice in reading the perfect tense; a First Latin Reader (Vincent) [24]

Sed Rōmānī, ubi ad locum plānum pervēnērunt cōpiās suās expōnere nōn potuērunt. Magna erat difficultās propter causās multās: loca Rōmānīs erant incognita; Rōmānī aquam timēbant; magna et gravia arma opprimēbant mīlitēs; hostēs ex āridō pugnābant. Sed Caesar, ubi difficultātem cognōvit, nāvēs longās ad latus apertum hostium mīsit: inde Rōmānī fundīs, sagittīs, tormentīs pugnābant, sed Britannōs nōn fugāvērunt.

funda, -ae [1/f]: hand-sling; funditor, funditōris [3/m]: slinger; person who fights using a sling

latus, lateris [3/n]: side

[1] “Magna erat difficultās propter causās multās…”

In note form, give in English the four difficulties that the Romans faced when attempting to land in Britain.

[2] What did Caesar do to get around these problems?

[3] What did the Romans use to fight the Britons?

[4] How successful were the Romans in the battle?

Ablative of means / instrument

Rōmānī fundīs, sagittīs, tormentīs pugnābant. │ The Romans fought with slingshots, (with) arrows [and] (with) siege machines.

In the previous post, it was mentioned that each ablative use has its own name. This is a good example of why this is done.

[i] Ablative of accompaniment: Caesar cum legiōnibus suīs nāvigāvit. │ Caesar sailed with his legions.

[ii] Ablative of means / instrument: Rōmānī … sagittīs … pugnābant. │ The Romans fought with [by means of] arrows.

Both English translations use the preposition ‘with’ whereas Latin only uses it with [i] above i.e. the ablative alone without a preposition expresses, here, the objects that were used to fight.

____________________

But the Romans, when they had arrived at a level location, were not able to land their troops. The difficulty was great for many reasons: the locations were unknown to the Romans; The Romans feared water; large and heavy weapons weighed down the soldiers; they fought the enemies from dry land. But Caesar, when he recgonised the difficulty, sent long ships to the open side of the enemy: from there the Romans fought with slings, arrows, and seige machines, but they did not put the Britons to flight.

____________________

Image of a funditor (a sling-shot thrower) from Trajan’s column

https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0062:entry=funda-harpers

https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:entry=funda-cn