Carolus et Maria
XXI
[1] Ubi est
avunculus? Is abest. Domī in Britanniā manet. Itaque sine amīcīs quattuor
Americānī per Germāniam eunt. Ibī nūllī amīcī eōs salūtant, sed omnēs Germāniam
probant quod populus est benignus et Americānīs nōn est inimīcus. Quamquam agrī
et silvae sunt grāta, et Americānī rūs laudant, oppida, quoque, sunt
pulchra. Per terram Germānōrum flūmen Rhēnus fluit. Sī Carolus undique
circumspectat multōs agrōs prope flūmen videt. Ruīnās aedificiī antīquī videt.
Carolus fābulās dē Germāniā legit.
[2] Ōlim Germānī
erant barbarī quī cum Rōmānīs pugnābant. Trāns flūmen Gallī quī erant
Germānīs inimīcī habitābant. Illī barbarī agrōs Galliae saepe
oppugnābant occupābantque et oppida eōrum dēlēre cupiēbant, nam hostēs
erant. Interdum Gallī ā Rōmānīs auxilium postulābant, nam sōlī cum barbarīs
sine satis magnīs cōpiīs pugnāre nōn audēbant. Posteā Caesar barbarōs
superāvit et multōs in vincula iēcit. Gallī Caesarem iuvērunt. Ubi
Carolus hās rēs dē Caesare et barbarīs legit eum omnēs rēs dē bellō scīre
putat.
[3] In viā oppidī
in quō Carolus nunc manet vir caecus saepe stat. Ōlim erat mīles Germānus. Nunc
nōn est armātus. Celeriter nōn ambulat. Tardus et caecus est. Sine
amīcīs et pecūniā vīta eius nōn est semper grāta. Quamquam pecūniam nōn postulat,
Carolus, tamen, eī pecūniam dat.
[4] “Cūr es
caecus?” rogat puer.
“Nocte ubi mīlitēs
dormiēbant, castra nostra ab hostibus expugnābantur,” respondet
vir. “Paene dēlēta sunt. Sine auxiliō prope ruīnās aedificī manēbāmus.
Sociī perīculum nostrum esse magnum nōn sciēbant. Diū auxilium sociōrum exspectābāmus.”
“Quis tē servāvit?”
rogat Carolus.
“Socius meus quī
aderat mē servāvit,” inquit vir, “et mē ab hostibus mōvit. Nōs
nōn vidēbāmur quod erat nox. Quamquam oculī meī vulnerātī erant, tamen socius
meus mē iuvābat et ab hostibus nōn captī sumus.”
Mīles caecus
socium suum semper laudat.
Vocabulary
barbarus, -ī
[2/m]: foreigner; savage; uncivilised man; also (adjective) barbarus, -a, -um:
foreign, strange, uncivilised, barbaric
vinculum, -ī
[2/n]: chain
rūs, rūris [3/n]: countryside
celer, -is, -e:
quick; celeriter: quickly
inimīcus, -a, -um:
unfriendly; hostile
- populus … Americānīs [dative plural] nōn est inimīcus │ the people … are not hostile towards the Americans
suus, -a, -um: his
/ her / its / their (own) i.e. suus refers back to the subject of
the sentence:
- Mīles caecus socium suum semper laudat. │ The blind soldier always praises his (own) comrade.
expugnō, -āre, -āvī
[1]: take by storm; capture
servō, -āre, -āvī
[1]: save
dēleō, -ēre, -ēvī;
perfect passive participle: dēletus, -a, um (having been) destroyed
- castra nostra ab hostibus expugnābantur … Paene dēlēta sunt. │ Our camp … was taken by storm / captured by the enemy … it was almost destroyed
- castra, -ōrum [2/n/pl]: camp; a plural noun in Latin although, in English, it translates as a singular
moveō, -ēre, mōvī
[2]: move
dormiō, -īre, dormiī
/ dormīvī [4]: sleep
sciō, -īre, sciī
/ scīvī [4]: know
nam: for; because
Notes
[1] Sociī ¦ perīculum
nostrum esse magnum nōn sciēbant. │ Literally: The allies did not know ¦ our
danger to be great i.e. …did not know that our danger was
great; the English construction with ‘that’ is not used in Classical Latin:
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/05/310825-level-1-readings-18-damocles.html
[2] Ubi Carolus
hās rēs dē Caesare … legit eum omnēs rēs dē bellō scīre
putat. │ When Carolus reads these things about
Caesar … he thinks that he knows everything about war.
Who is Carolus
talking about? Is he talking about Caesar or about himself? In English, this is
not clear. In Latin, however, there is a distinction made: eum refers to
somebody else whereas sē refers to oneself.
(1) eum omnēs
rēs dē bellō (2) scīre putat │ Literally: he thinks (1) him (2) to
know everything about war = He (Carolus) thinks that he (somebody
else i.e. Caesar) knows everything about war
Compare:
(1) sē omnēs rēs dē bellō scīre putat │ Literally: he thinks (1) himself (2) to know everything about war = He (Carolus) thinks that he (himself) knows everything about war
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