Comenius uses many terms associated with a city’s means of defence, such terms commonly appearing in Roman descriptions of warfare. Complete the Latin text with the words listed below. Check the vocabulary list for more detailed explanations.
[1]
Of many houses is
made a village (1) | Ex multīs domibus fit __________ (1)
[Not numbered in
the image:
or a town,
│ vel __________,]
or a city
(2). | vel __________ (2).
That and this are
fenced and encircled │ Istud & haec mūniuntur
& cinguntur
with walls (a
wall) (3) | __________ (__________) (3)
a trench
(4) | __________ (4)
bulwarks (5) | __________ (5)
and pallisades
(6). | & __________ (6).
Within the walls
is the void place [see vocabulary notes] (7) | Intrā mūrōs est __________
(7)
outside, the ditch
(8). | extrā, __________ (8).
In the walls are fortresses
(9) | In moenibus sunt __________ (9)
and towers (10)
| & __________ (10)
[Not numbered in
the image:
watch-towers are │ __________ extant]
upon the higher places
(11). | in ēditiōribus __________ (11).
aggeribus; fossa;
locīs; moenibus; mūrō; oppidum; pāgus; pomoerium; propugnācula; specula; turrēs;
urbs; vallīs; vallō
Vocabulary and
notes
agger,
-is [3/m]: earthwork, bulwark, especially defensive ramparts, dykes, dams,
causeways, and piers
https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:entry=agger-cn
domus, -ūs [4/f]:
house
fossa,
-ae [1/f]: ditch; trench; moat
fossam pedum vīgintī dīrēctīs lateribus dūxit (Caesar)
- he dug a trench twenty feet deep, with perpendicular sides
[image: defensive
ditch at the Antonine Wall, Scotland]
locus, -ī [2/m]:
place
moenia, -um [3/n
pl.]: city walls
mūrus, -ī [2/m]:
wall
oppidum, -ī [2/n]:
town
pāgus, -ī [2/m]:
village, district
pōmoerium, -ī
(pomērium, -ī) [2/n]: boundary; limits; the open space left free from
buildings within and without the walls of a town (Lewis and Short); “sacred
space”
aggere et fossīs et mūrō circumdat urbem; ita pōmērium prōfert (Livy)
- He surrounded the City with a rampart, trenches, and a wall, and so extended the “pomerium”.
Livy goes on to
explain the meaning of pomerium, the word originally referring to
Etruscan religious practices: This space, which the gods forbade men to
inhabit or to till, was called “pomerium” by the Romans.
propugnāculum, -ī
[2/n]: fortress, battlement
solidātī mūrī, prōpugnācula addita, auctae turrēs (Tacitus)
- The walls (were) strengthened, battlements were added, and the towers were raised in height
specula, -ae
[1/f]: watchtower; lookout
in hōc iugō collēs sunt excelsī paucī, in quibus singulae turrēs speculaeque singulae perveterēs erant conlocātae, (Bellum Africum)
- On this ridge there are a few lofty hills, on which single towers and single watchtowers of great antiquity had been placed,
turris,
-is [3/f] (acc. -em or -im): tower, especially military either for defence
or mobile (turrēs ambulātōriae) for siege purposes
https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:entry=turris-cn
[image: Mediaeval
siege tower]
urbs, urbis [3/f]:
city
vallum,
-ī [2/n]: [i] wall; rampart; entrenchment [ii] palisade, a wall of wooden
stakes
castra in altitūdinem pedum XII vāllō fossāque duodēvīgintī pedum mūnīrī iubet (Caesar)
- He orders him to fortify a camp with a rampart twelve feet in height, and a trench eighteen feet in breadth.
https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:entry=vallum-cn
Modern English:
wall < OE: weall (wall; earthwork; rampart; dam) < La:
vallum; Modern German: Wall (rampart; parapet; embankment)
[image:
reconstruction of a Roman palisade, Lahntal, Germany]
More information
on Roman fieldworks is at:
02.01.26: Level 2;
Vincent (Latin Reader); XXXVII; a storm [ii] Roman fieldworks
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/10/020126-level-2-vincent-latin-reader_15.html
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