28.07.26; Level 3+; Subjunctive [77] dependent uses [8] concessive clauses (2) quamquam; quamvīs [ii] practice

Complete the quotations with the verbs listed below each exercise.

Remember: quamquam + the indicative; quamvīs + subjunctive.

Note also the different ways in which both quamvīs and quamquam can be translated to convey the concessive idea.

[1]

[i] Although you may be without your mind, without your senses, …

Quamvīs enim sine mente, sine sēnsū __________ … (Cicero)

[ii] He will speak against me in such a way, however ingenious he may be …

Ita contrā mē ille dicet, quamvīs __________ ingeniōsus (Cicero)

[iii] Although I love that woman …

Quamquam ego istanc __________ (Plautus)

[iv] Therefore, those who listen to him, however incapable of speaking they themselves are …

Itaque eum quī audiunt, quamvīs ipsī īnfantēs __________, … (Cicero)

[v] Though I’m an impotent old man …

Quamquam cantherius __________, … (Plautus)

[vi] Although all virtues are equal and alike …

Quamquam __________ omnēs virtūtēs aequālēs et parēs (Cicero)

[vii] Although I may be made of wood, …

Quamvīs __________ ligneus, … (Priapea)

[viii] Although I have nothing to do [ = there is no business for me] with that fellow …

Quamquam cum istōc mihi negōtī nihil __________ (Plautus)

[ix] Although you are angry with me …

Quamquam tū īrāta __________ mihi (Plautus)

[x] And by Hercules, although I love [ = we love] our Gnaeus* … (Cicero); *Pompey

Et mehercule, quamvīs __________ Gnaeum nostrum, … (Cicero)

amēmus; amō; es; est; sim; sint; sīs; sit; sum; sunt

[2]

[i] This place here at our house, although you may arrive suddenly, is always available.

Locus hīc apud nōs, quamvīs subitō __________, semper liber est (Plautus)

[ii] He is by no means rich to me, although he possesses many things.

Nēquāquam mihi dīves est, quamvīs multa __________ (Rutilius)

[iii] Although the matter does not please me …

Quamvīs rēs mihi nōn __________, … (Cicero)

[iv] Although the bright girl may call back a thousand times to the traveling one …

Quamvīs candida mīliēs puella euntem __________ (Catullus)

[v] Although you understand nothing, nevertheless nothing can be enjoyable for you

Quamvīs nihil __________, tamen nihil tibi potest esse iūcundum (Cicero)

[vi] Although / however much those domestic enemies do not want this …

Quamvīs hoc istī hostēs domesticī __________, … (Cicero)

[vii] Amiable as he may have been in keeping with his friends …

Quamvīs cōmis in amīcīs tuendīs __________, … (Cicero)

[viii] Although we gave / have given strict instructions to the envoys …

Quamvīs sevēra lēgātīs mandāta __________, … (Cicero)

dederīmus; fuerit; nōlint; placeat; possideat; revocet; sapiās; veniās

[3]

[i] Although that will be unpleasant for me for three days

Quamquam istud mihi __________ molestum trīduom (Plautus)

[ii] I’ll now go into this harlot’s house nomatter if she is in a rage with me

Nunc ībō intrō ad hanc meretrīcem quamquam __________ mihi (Plautus)

[iii] Although, unwillingly, I will do without you.

Quamquam invīta tē __________ (Plautus)

[iv] Now I’ve got to be a good woman unwillingly, even if I don’t want to be.

Nunc mihi bonae necessumst [necessum est] esse ingrātiīs quamquam esse __________ (Plautus)

[v] Although my master had ordered me to stay here, it’s settled: I’d rather look for trouble with profit.

Quamquam hic manēre mē erus sēsē __________; certum est, malam rem potius quaeram cum lucrō (Plautus)

[vi] Being a slave has not been very troublesome, though:

Quamquam nōn multum __________ molesta servitus (Plautus)

[vii] This man did his duty, when he confessed the truth to you, although / much as I wanted to hide my nobility carefully.

Fēcit officium hic suom, cum tibi est cōnfessus vērum, quamquam __________ sēdulō meam nōbilitātem occultāre (Plautus)

[viii] Even though you are devoted Vulcan, do you want us to burn our house down, all for your dinner or your pay? 

Quamquam Volcānō __________, cēnaene causā aut tuae mercēdis grātiā nōs nostrās aedīs postulās combūrere? (Plautus)

carēbō; erit; fuit; iusserat; nōlō; studēs; suscēnset; voluī

____________________

[1]

[i] sīs

[ii] sit

[iii] amō

[iv] sint

[v] sum

[vi] sunt

[vii] sim

[viii] est

[ix] es

[x] amēmus

[2]

[i] veniās

[ii] possideat

[iii] placeat

[iv] revocet

[v] sapiās

[vi] nōlint

[vii] fuerit

[viii] dederīmus

[3]

[i] erit

[ii] suscēnset

[iii] carēbō

[iv] nōlō

[v] iusserat

[vi] fuit

[vii] voluī

[viii] studēs

28.07.26; Level 3+; Subjunctive [76] dependent uses [8] concessive clauses (1) quamquam; quamvīs [i]

In addition to cum with the subjunctive, Latin has a range of other conjunctions that can introduce concessive clauses. Some of these conjunctions are followed by [1] the indicative of the verb, and some by [2] the subjunctive:

[1] with the indicative

quamquam: although; and yet

Examples

In the quotations below, note also that tamen (nevertheless; still) is frequently used to reinforce the concessive idea. Translators may not specifically render tamen, since it adds nothing to the meaning beyond emphasis, but it is included here.

Quamquam iam tē ipsum exspectō [present indicative], tamen istī puerō, … dā ponderōsam aliquam epistulam (Cicero)

• Although I am now waiting for you yourself, nevertheless give this man of mine a weighty letter.

Quae quamquam exigua sunt [present indicative], tamen, quoniam placet, exspectēmus (Cicero)

• And although these things are trivial, nevertheless, since it pleases you, we will wait.

Quamquam mihi ista omnia iam addicta vastitātī videntur [present indicative; passive] (Cicero)  

• Although all these now seem doomed to destruction.

Quamquam nēmō putābat [imperfect indicative] propter Clōdiānum negōtium mē illī amīcum esse dēbēre, tamen tantus fuit amor … (Cicero) 

• Although no one thought that, because of the Clodian affair, I ought to be friendly to him, nevertheless my affection was so great …

Multās ūnō tempore accēpī epistulās tuās; quae mihi, quamquam recentiōra audiēbam [imperfect indicative] ex iīs, quī ad mē veniēbant, tamen erant iūcunda (Cicero) 

• I’ve received many of your letters at the same time, and although I’ve been hearing more recent news from those who’ve been coming to me, still they were delightful.

Quamquam vidēbātur sē nōn graviter habēre [imperfect indicative; passive], tamen sum sollicitus (Cicero)

• Although it seemed that he was not seriously ill, nevertheless / still I am anxious.

Eō igitur mittēs ...quamquam ipse iam iamque aderō [future indicative] (Cicero)

• You will send (it / the letter) there, although I myself shall be there almost directly.

Quamquam ad mē scrīpsit [perfect indicative] iam Rhodō Posīdōnius … (Cicero)

• Although Posidonius has already written to me from Rhodes …

Maximē autem mē angit ratiō reliquōrum meōrum. Quae quamquam explicāta sunt [perfect indicative; passive], tamen, … conturbor… (Cicero)

• But the arranging of my balances worries me the most, and although they have been put straight, I am still anxious …

Quamquam ille pāstor Īdaeus Menelāum sōlum contempserat [pluperfect indicative] … (Cicero)

• Although that shepherd of Ida had slighted Menelaus alone …

Fuit apud mē Lamia … epistulamque ad mē attulit missam sibi ā Caesare. Quae quamquam ante data erat [pluperfect indicative; passive] quam illae Diocharīna … tamen plane declarabat …  

• (Cicero) Lamia was with me … and he brought me a letter sent to him from Caesar; and although it had been sent earlier than those of Diochares, it still plainly asserted …

[2] with the subjunctive

The word quamvīs has two different uses, and so you need to distinguish them. First, make a comparison between [i] and [ii] below:

[i] quīvīs, quaevīs, quidvīs (quodvīs) is an indefinite adjective or pronoun meaning ‘whoever; whatever; whichever’ or ‘any you please’ and was discussed here:

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/09/081225-level-3-indefinites-18-vis-libet.html

dīcere hīc quidvīs licet (Plautus)

• Now one can talk freely [ = say whatever one wants]

ō Cupīdō, quantus es. nam tū quemvīs cōnfīdentem facile tuīs factīs facis (Plautus)

• O Cupid, how great you are! For with your actions you easily embolden whomever you want

Note this last example; quamvīs is the accusative singular of the indefinite adjective conveying indifference of choice:

Sī bovem aut aliam quamvīs quadrupedem serpēns momorderit … (Cato)

• If a snake has bitten an ox or any other four-footed animal.

This is not the same as quamvīs acting as a conjunction which is indeclinable and means ‘although’; it is followed by a verb in the subjunctive:

[ii] quamvīs + subjunctive

Quamvīs prūdēns ad cōgitandum sīs [present subjunctive], … (Cicero) 

• Although you are careful in your judgement …

Examples

Dē Drūsī hortīs, quamvīs ab iīs abhorreās [present subjunctive], … tamen eō cōnfugiam (Cicero) 

• As for the gardens of Drusus, although you shrink from them … I will nevertheless take refuge there.

… quae quamvīs contemnātur [present subjunctive; passive] ab eīs… (Cicero)

• …and although it is despised by them …

Quamvīs nōn cūrārem [imperfect subjunctive], quid in Hispāniā fieret … (Cicero) 

• Although I did not care what would happen in Spain …

Quamvīs enim tū magna et mihi iūcunda scrīpserīs [perfect subjunctive] dē D. Brūtī adventū … (Cicero)

• For although you have written great and pleasing things to me about the arrival of D. Brutus …

Quamvīs magna ad Postumum ab eō pecūnia pervēnisset [pluperfect subjunctive]  … (Cicero)

• Although a large sum of money had come to Postumus from him.

[3] The ‘default’ translation of quamquam and quamvīs is ‘although’, but the idea may be translated in other ways:

Sed sint quamvīs bonī, nōn sunt meliōrēs quam nōs (Cicero)

• But although they are loyal / However loyal they are, they are not better than us [ = me].

Quamvīs scelerātī illī fuissent (Cicero)

literally: although those men had been / might have been guilty

> However guilty those men might have been

Context and style will determine the most appropriate rendering.

Quamvīs sit magna, tamen eam vincēs (Cicero)

• Although it is / may be great, … / However great it may be … / Let it be as great as you choose (note here the inherent sense of quamvīs) … you will, nevertheless, conquer it.

28.07.26: Level 3+; Comenius (1658) CXLIII; the besieging of a city [2] vocabulary and notes [i]

The short Latin text involves considerable study, but it is useful since it incorporates a wide range of military vocabulary.

We will clarify, when necessary, how Charles Hoole, the translator of Comenius’ work expressed the terms in 1658 – including the use of Neo-Latin –  and compare them with Roman understanding.

This provides a way into exploring extracts from the Roman authors. You will notice in the quotations that descriptions of military action can be densely packed with specialist terms and so, as we progress, we will add important vocabulary.

Vocabulary discussed in this section is marked in bold.

Obsidium Urbis

Urbs passūra obsidiōnem prīmum prōvocātur per tūbicinem et invītātur ad dēditiōnem. Quod sī abnuat facere, oppugnātur ab obsidentibus et occupātur. Vel mūrōs per scālās trānscendendō, aut diruendō arietibus, aut dēmoliendō tormentīs, vel dirumpendō portās exōstrā, vel ēiaculandō globōs tormentāriōs ē mortāriīs (ballistīs) in urbem per ballistāriōs, quī latitant post gerrās, vel subvertendō cūniculīs per fossōrēs. Obsessī dēfendunt sē dē mūrīs ignibus, lapidibus, etc., aut ērumpunt. Urbs vī expugnāta diripitur, exciditur, interdum aequātur solō.

[1] vīs, vīs [3/f]: force; power; violence; (plural) strength

Nōn vī, sed verbō. │ Not by violence, but by the word.

The plural stem of this is vīr- (strength); the presence of the /r/ can be misread as vir, -ī [2/m]: man, but the meanings are completely different

mīlitēs Rōmānī virtūte vīribusque omnēs aliōs superāvērunt │ The Roman soldiers surpassed all others in courage and strength.

vīs is also an example of a defective noun which refers to a noun where not all the case endings are attested in Classical Latin (the genitive and dative singular are lacking in normal usage); the English verb “can” is defective since there is no infinitive “to can”

[2]

porta, -ae [1/f]: gate

scāla, -ae [1/f]: ladder

mūrus, -ī [2/m]: wall

tūbicen, -inis [3/m]: trumpeter

dēditiō, -ōnis [3/f]: surrender, capitulation

ignis, -is [3/m]: fire

lapis, lapidis [3/m]: stone

[2]

[i]

obsidium, -ī [2/n], or obsidiō, -ōnis [3/f]: siege

obses, obsidis [3 m/f]: hostage

Nouns derived from the verb: obsideō, -ēre, obsēdī, obsessus [2]: besiege 

(1) obsidēns, -ntis: present active participle i.e. ‘besieging’ > obsidēns, -entis [3/m]: besieger, i.e. the one who is besieging

(2) obsessus: perfect passive participle i.e. ‘having been besieged’ > obsessī, those who are besieged

____________________

Mnesilochust Alexander, quī erit exitiō reī patriae suae; is Helenam āvēxit, cuiā causā nunc faciō obsidium Īliō (Plautus)

• Mnesilochus is Alexander, who will be the destruction of his native city; he is the one that carried off Helen, on account of whom I am now laying siege to Ilium (Troy)

Obsidiō inde urbis et mūnītiōnēs; et interdum per occāsiōnem impetus oppidānōrum in Rōmānās statiōnēs proeliaque parva fieri (Livy)

• Then came the blockade of the town and the construction of siegeworks; and sometimes when the occasion allowed an attack by the townsfolk on the Roman outposts and skirmishes [literally: small battles] would take place.

exitium, -ī [2/n]: destruction

mūnītiō, mūnītiōnis [3/f]: [i] defending, fortifying; [ii] defence, fortification

impetus, -ūs [4/m]: attack; impetus + in + acc: an attack on …

statiō, statiōnis [3/f]: (Military) post; outpost; station

proelium, -ī [2/n]: battle

27.07.26: Level 2; Comenius (1658) CXXII; city [2]

Complete the Latin text with the words listed below. Note: in this second part, a couple of words are not included in the exercise itself since they are very rare.

[Not numbered in the image:

The entrance into a city │ __________ in urbeṃ]

is made out of the suburbs (12) | fit ex __________ (12)

through a gate (13) | per __________ (13)

over the bridge (14). | super __________ (14).

The gate hath a portcullis (15) | Porta habet __________ (15)

a drawbridge (16) | __________ (16)

two-leaved doors (17) | __________ (17)

locks and bolts, as also bars (18). | clāustra & repāgula, ut & vectēs (18).

In the suburbs are gardens (19) | In suburbiīs sunt __________  (19)

and garden-houses (20) | & __________  (20)

and also burying-places (21). | ut & __________  (21).

catarāctās; coemētēria; hortī; ingressus; pontem; pontem versātilem; portam; suburbāna; suburbiō; valvās

Vocabulary and notes

clāustrum, -ī [2/n]: lock, bar

coemētērium, -ī [2/n]: cemetery, burial-place

hortus, -ī [2/m]: garden

ingressus, -ūs [4/m]: entrance

pons, pontis [3/m]: bridge

pons versātilis: the adjective refers to something that is moveable or revolving; (here) drawbridge

porta, -ae [1/f]: gate

repāgulum, -ī [2/n]: bar, bolt

suburbānum, -ī [2/n]: suburban house; in the Classical period it refers specifically to a residence outside Rome as opposed to vīlla, -ae [1/f]: country residence; estate

suburbānō facile cāreō (Cicero)

• I can easily do without a suburban residence.

suburbium, -ī [2/n]: suburb(s)

in suburbium … īre nōn sum ausus (Cicero)

• I … did not dare to go into the suburbs

valva, -ae [1/f]: door-leaf; (pl.) valvae: double doors (also in domestic dwellings)

[image: depiction of valvae from a Roman fresco]

catarācta, -ae [1/f]: [i] portcullis [ii] waterfall; floodgate; sluice

vectis, -is [3/m]: bar, lever

Livy describes soldiers opening a gate:

cataractā deiectā clausa erat; eam partim vectibus levant

• it was closed by a portcullis that had been let down; some raise this with levers

sed amplius prōdest, quod invēnit antīquitās, ut ante portam addātur prōpugnāculum, in cuius ingressū pōnitur cataracta, quae ānulīs ferreīs ac fūnibus pendet (Vegetius)

• But what antiquity has devised is of still greater advantage: that a defensive work be added in front of the gate, at whose entrance a portcullis is set, which hangs from iron rings and ropes.

The Modern English derivative cataract is from the first meaning of waterfall, or floodgate e.g. the six cataracts of the Nile, narrow strips of water between Aswan and Khartoum.

• pervenit per montēs ad cataractam ab eōque sē praecipitāns per septentriōnālem pervenit inter Elephantida et Syēnēn Thēbāicōsque in Aegyptum campōs et ibi Nīlus appellātur (Vitruvius)

It reaches the Cataract through the mountains, and rushing down northwards from there, it comes between Elephantine and Syene into the Theban plains of Egypt, where it is called the Nile.

Referring to water management, Pliny the Younger writes:

expedītum tamen erat cataractīs aquae cursum temperāre (Pliny the Younger)

• However, it was easy to regulate the flow of water by means of floodgates.

Now obsolete in English, cataract could refer to a portcullis, a grating lowered into place. From this we have the term used in ophthalmology cataract, a clouding of the lens of the eye.

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Cataracta.html

cataracts of the Nile

26.07.26: Level 1; Comenius (1658) CXXIII; the inward parts of a city [2]

Comenius writes the text and illustrates it from a 17^th century perspective. Below are images, most of which are Roman: