03.10.26: Level 3+ (review); impersonal verbs [8] introducing clauses with ut + subjunctive; cōnstat + accusative-infinitive

[1] A number of impersonal verbs introduce a clause that expresses the actual or possible result. For most of these verbs, the translations are very similar and may vary in context.

accidit: it happens; it occurs

contingit: it happens; it comes to pass

efficitur: it is brought about; it results

ēvenit: it happens; it turns out

fierī potest: it is possible

fit: it happens; it comes about; the result is

sequitur: it follows; the result is

relinquitur: it remains; it is left (to conclude)

The result clause is constructed with ut + subjunctive:

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2026/02/220526-level-3-subjunctive-40-dependent.html

Eādem nocte accidit ut esset lūna plēna (Caesar)

• On that same night it happened that the moon was full.

Ita enim contingit ut aestāte pariat (Varro)

• For thus it happens that she gives birth in the summer.

Ex quō efficitur, ut, quod sit honestum, id sit solum bonum (Cicero)

• From which it is brought about that what is honorable is the only good.

Mī ēvēnit, ut ovāns praeda onustus incēderem (Plautus)

• It happened to me that I was marching along in jubilation, laden with booty.

Neque fierī potest ut doleat is, quī audit, ut ōderit, ut invideat, ut pertimēscat aliquid, ut ad flētum misericordiamque dēdūcātur (Cicero)

Note Cicero’s repetitive use of ut which, in translation, would sound clumsy:

• Nor is it possible that the listener [literally: he who listens] should feel pain, (that he should) hate, or envy, or fear anything, or be moved to tears and pity.

Fit ut pretiō novus vincat (Cicero)

• The result is that, through bribery, a new man is victorious.

Relinquitur ut, sī vincimur in Hispāniā, quiēscāmus (Cicero)

• It remains that, if we are defeated in Spain, we should be at rest (i.e. cease).

Sequitur ut dē frūmentō ēmptō vōs, iūdicēs, doceam (Cicero)

• It follows that I should inform you, judges, about the grain that was purchased.

[2] cōnstat: it is agreed; it is certain

In translation this impersonal verb introduces a clause i.e. “It is agreed that…”.

Unlike accidit ut, evenit ut, and the other expressions in [1] above which use ut + subjunctive, cōnstat works differently since it uses an accusative-infinitive construction in the same way as other indirect statements.

https://adckl.blogspot.com/search/label/indirect%20statement

(1) Pompēium [accusative] nōbīs amīcissimum cōnstat (2) esse [infinitive] (Cicero)

• It is certain ¦ [that] (1) Pompey (2) is very friendly towards us [ = me].

Cōnstat enim (1) aditūs [accusative] īnsulae (2) esse [infinitive] mūrātōs (Cicero)

• For it is proved ¦ [that] (1) the approaches to the island (2) are surrounded by walls.

Rhodōque Alexandrēam (1) C. Cassium [accusative] (2) prōfectum esse [infinitive] cōnstat (Cicero)

• It is certain ¦ [that] (1) C. Cassius (2) has left Rhodes for Alexandria.

(2) Horātiōs Cūriātiōsque [accusative]  (1) fuisse [infinitive] satis cōnstat (Livy)

• It is well enough agreed ¦ [that] (1) it was (2) the Horatii and Curiatii.

03.10.26: Level 3+ (review); impersonal verbs [7] placet; displicet; iuvat; dēlectat; vidētur

placet: it pleases

displicet: it displeases

iuvat: it pleases; it delights

dēlectat: it pleases; it delights

vidētur: it seems

Like interest and rēfert discussed in the previous post, a number of other verbs are not inherently impersonal but can be used in impersonal constructions.

[1] placet: it pleases

Videāmus, sī placet. │ Let us see if (literally) it pleases [or, depending on context, if you like]

[i] As with other impersonal constructions, the person affected may be implied by context rather than directly stated:

Pergāmus igitur, quō placet (Cicero) │ Therefore, let us go to wherever it pleases [ = wherever we want]

[ii] The person affected is in the dative case:

placet ¦ mihi [dative]│ Literally: it is pleasing ¦ to me; English would most often rework the construction to make the person affected the subject of the sentence: I like it.

French still retains this construction in, for example, s’il vous plaît [literally: if it pleases you]

placuit ¦ eī (Cicero) │ it pleased ¦ him [was pleasing ¦ to him]

sī ¦ dīs ¦ placet │ if it pleases ¦ the gods [is pleasing ¦ to the gods]

senātuī ¦ placet │ it pleases ¦ the Senate [is pleasing ¦ to the Senate] = the Senate decrees

Placet hoc tibi? (Cicero) │ Does this please you? / Do you approve of this?

[iii] The verb does not always function impersonally: it may take an expressed subject, or an infinitive phrase functioning as the grammatical subject.

In arce Athēnīs statiō mea nunc placet (Cicero)

• I like my residence now on the Acropolis at Athens [literally: my residence is pleasing …]

Nōn placet M. Antōniō cōnsulātus meus. At placuit P. Servīliō, … (Cicero)

Literally: My consulship is not pleasing to Marcus Antonius. But it was pleasing to Publius Servilius, …

• Marcus Antonius disapproves of my consulship; but it was approved of by Publius Servilius …

Lūdōs Antī spectāre nōn placet (Cicero)

• I do not wish to see the games at Antium [literally: it does not please (me) to see…]

i.e. Seeing the games does not please (me): the infinitive phrase acts as the subject of placet.

[2] The opposite of placet is displicet: it displeases; again, the person affected is in the dative case.

Note this first example where the verb is not always used in the 3^rd person:

Displiceō mihi nec sine summō scrībō dolōre (Cicero)

• I am displeased with myself nor am I writing without the utmost pain.

Mihi vērō, iūdicēs, nōn displicet (Cicero)

• But, judges, it does not displease me.

Varrōnī quidem displicet cōnsilium puerī (Cicero)

• Varro, for his part, dislikes the boy’s plan.

Placet Stōicīs omnia peccāta esse paria; at hoc Antiochō vehementissimē displicet (Cicero)

• It pleases the Stoics [ = the Stoics hold] that all sins are equal, but this strongly displeases Antiochus.

Quodne vōbīs placeat, displiceat mihi? (Plautus)

• Should that which pleases you, be displeasing to me? [ = Must I dislike what you like?]

Quoniam tibi nōn omnīnō displicet dēfīnīre (Cicero)

• Since it does not altogether displease you to define [ = As you do not entirely disapprove of definition]

[3]

iuvō, -āre [1]: [i] help, benefit, support; [ii] delight, please

dēlectō, -āre [1]: delight, charm, please

The verbs regularly take the accusative of the person or thing affected, whether used personally or impersonally.

(1) personal use

Audentīs Fortūna iuvat (Vergil)

• Fortune favours the brave.

Venātiō dūrīque piscēs et ex domesticīs animālibus assa carō maximē iuvant. (Celsus)

• Venison and hard fish and roasted meat of domestic animals are especially advantageous.

Nōn lapis hanc gemmaeque iuvant (Tibullus)

• Neither precious stone nor jewels delight her.

(2) impersonal use

Quod iuvat, id semper faciant (Sallust)

• Let them always do what pleases (them)

Quid autem mē iuvat? (Cicero)

• But how does it help me?

Neque umquam quicquam mē iuvat quod edō domī (Plautus)

• And nothing that I eat at home ever pleases me.

Et tē et mē iuvat fābulās Plautī spectāre.

• It pleases both you and me to watch the plays of Plautus [= Both you and I like to watch]

Ut iuvat castella contrā undās spūmiferās aedificāre!

• How pleasant it is to build little forts against the foaming waves!

Nec tibi mōbilitās minor est, sī forte volantem aut gemināre pilam iuvat aut revocāre cadentem (Laus Pisonis: author unknown)

• Nor is your nimbleness any less, if by chance it is your pleasure to return the flying ball⁠ or (to) recover it when falling to the ground.

dēlectō, -āre [1]: delight, charm, please

Ōtium tē dēlectat (Cicero)

• Leisure delights you.

Mē vērō nihil dēlectat aliud nisi cōnsilium et litterae tuae (Cicero)

• But nothing else indeed pleases me except your advice and your letters.

mēque … hoc ipsum nihil agere et plānē cessāre dēlectat (Cicero)

• And this very thing — to do nothing and to be completely idle — delights me.

Catullus 103:

aūt sōdēs mĭhĭ rēddĕ dĕcēm sēstērtĭă Sīlō│ If you don’t mind, Silo, either give me back the ten sesterces

deīnde ēstō quāmuīs saēvŭs ĕt īndŏmĭtŭs │ Then be as wild and unrestrained as you like

aūt sī tē nūmmī dēlēctānt dēsĭnĕ quaēsō │ Or, if money [literally; coins] delights you, please stop

lēno ēsse ātque īdēm saēvŭs ĕt īndŏmĭtŭs. │ being a pimp and at the same time wild and unrestrained.

(Catullus 103)

mē pedibus dēlectat claudere verba (Horace)

• It delights me to enclose words in feet [i.e. metrical feet / poetic metre].

[4] vidētur

[i] the passive form of videō, -ēre [2] see, like any other passive verb, can have a singular or plural subject and be used in any tense; its passive meaning is “is / are seen” but it frequently translates as “seem(s)”

(1) In these first examples, the passive verb has a distinct subject although note that, in translation, an impersonal construction using “it seems”  can sometimes convey the same idea.

Dī immortālēs, iterum gnātus videor (Plautus)

• Great Heavens! I seem to have been born again. [It seems that I have been born again.]

Scelestus ¦ tibi [dative] ¦ vidētur Chrysalus? (Plautus)

• Does Chrysalus seem a criminal ¦ to you? [ = Do you think Chrysalus is a criminal?]

Ut videntur dērīdere nōs (Plautus)

• How they seem to be mocking us.

omnēs videntur ¦ scīre (Plautus)

• All seem / everybody seems ¦ to know [It seems that everybody knows.]

Ita mihi videntur omnia, mare terra caelum, cōnsequī.

Literally: Thus all things / everything, sea, land, and sky, seem / seems to me to be pursuing (me)

• So it seems to me that everything, sea, land and sky, is pursuing me.

Ac mihi vidētur mātrem valdē, ut dēbet, amāre tēque mīrificē (Cicero)

• But to me he seems to love [it seems to me that he loves] his mother greatly, as he should, and is extremely fond of you.

Cui vidēberis bella? (Catullus)

• To whom will you seem pretty?

Tertiā vigiliā, quā minimē arduus ad nostrās mūnītiōnēs ascēnsus vidēbātur, omnibus cōpiīs repente ex oppidō ēruptiōnem fēcērunt (Caesar)

• In the third watch, on the side where the ascent to our fieldworks seemed least steep, they made a sudden sally from the town in full force.

(2) vidētur can stand alone as an impersonal verb or be followed by an infinitive construction or refer to a previous statement:

Vix vidētur fierī posse (Plautus)

Literally: it scarcely seems to be able to happen

• It scarcely seems possible.

Hinc enim mihi dextra vōx aurīs, ut vidētur, verberat (Plautus)

• Yes, a voice from the right here, as it seems, strikes my ear.

Depending on context, there can be an implication that something seems right or fitting:

intereā, sī vidētur, concēdite istūc (Plautus)

• Meanwhile, if it seems right (to you), step aside over there

Hāc rē mihi placet, sī tibi vidētur, tē ad eum scrībere (Cicero)

• Under the circumstances I see no objection [literally: it is pleasing to me], if you think fit, to your writing to him …

Sum profectō et hīc et illīc. hoc cuivīs mīrārī licet, / neque tibi istuc mīrum magis vidētur quam mihi (Plautus)

• I am indeed both here and there. This may surprise anyone, nor does that seem any more surprising to you than to me.

Tū, sī tibi placuerit liber, cūrābis, ut et Athēnīs sit et in cēterīs oppidīs Graeciae ; vidētur enim posse aliquid nostrīs rēbus lūcis adferre (Cicero)

• If you like the book, you will see to that it is at Athens and in other Greek towns have it in stock; for I think it can add some lustre to my achievements.

02.10.26: Level 3 / 3+ (Review); Hillard & Botting [66] Labours of Hercules (4)

[A]

Nympha quaedam Diānae, quod illīus auxiliō ē magnō perīculō servāta erat, cervum, quī aurea cornua pedēsque aeneōs habēbat, dedicāverat. Hunc Herculēs vīvum Mycēnās portāre iussus per tōtum annum frūstrā petēbat: tandem sagittā vulnerātum in umerīs portantī repente occurrit Diāna quae magnā est īrā permōta quod animal ipsī sacrum ille vulnerāverat. Herculēs tamen deae īram permulsit praedamque Mycēnās avexit.

[B]

Erant prope lacum Stymphālum mīrae quaedam avēs quae alās et rostra aenea habēbant carnemque hūmānam vorābant. Hās quoque expellere iussus prīmum sistrō, quod eī Minerva dederat, terruit, tum per aera volantēs sagittīs occīdit. Quā tamen dē rē nōn eadem ab omnibus nārrantur: nam, ut aliī trādiderunt, avēs ad īnsulam quandam pepulit, ubi posteā ab Argonautīs inventae sunt.

[1] To which of the creature(s) in [A] or [B] do the following refer?

ate human flesh _____

bronze feet _____

bronze wings and beaks _____

dedicated to Diana _____

different accounts of the same story _____

frightened by a rattle _____

golden horns _____

injured by an arrow _____

killed by arrows _____

near Lake Stymphalus _____

sacred _____

stag _____

[2]

tandem (1) sagittā (2) vulnerātum in umerīs (3) portantī repente occurrit Diāna (4) quae magnā est (5) īrā permōta (6) quod animal (7) ipsī sacrum ille (8) vulnerāverat.

To which word do each of the following refer?

ablative of cause _____

ablative of instrument _____

conjunction _____

emphatic pronoun _____

perfect passive participle _____

pluperfect tense _____

present active participle _____

relative pronoun _____

[3] Translate: Quā tamen dē rē nōn eadem ab omnibus nārrantur: nam, ut aliī trādiderunt, avēs ad īnsulam quandam pepulit, ubi posteā ab Argonautīs inventae sunt. (8)

Vocabulary

expellō, expellere, expulī, expulsus [3]: drive out, expel 

moveō, movēre, mōvī, mōtus [2]: move, stir 

pellō, pellere, pepulī, pulsus [3]: drive 

sistrum, sistrī [2/n]: rattle

____________________

[1]

[A]

dedicated to Diana

golden horns

bronze feet

injured by an arrow

sacred

stag

[B]

ate human flesh

bronze wings and beaks

different accounts of the same story

frightened by a rattle

killed by arrows

near Lake Stymphalus

[2]

ablative of cause (5)

ablative of instrument (1)

conjunction (6)

emphatic pronoun (7)

perfect passive participle (2)

pluperfect tense (8)

present active participle (3)

relative pronoun (4)

[3] However, the same things are not told (1) by everyone (1) about this matter (1); for, as some have recounted (1), he drove the birds away (1) to a certain island (1), where they were later found (1) by the Argonauts (1).

____________________

A certain nymph had dedicated to Diana a stag with golden horns and bronze hooves because she had been saved from great danger by her help. Hercules, having been ordered to carry it alive to Mycenae, sought it in vain for a whole year; at last, when he had wounded it with an arrow and was carrying it on his shoulders, Diana suddenly met him, having been stirred to great anger because he had wounded an animal sacred to her. However, Hercules calmed the goddess’s anger and carried the prize off to Mycenae.

Near Lake Stymphalus there were certain remarkable birds which had bronze wings and beaks and used to devour human flesh. Having been ordered to drive these away also, he first frightened them with a rattle, which Minerva had given him, then killed them with arrows as they flew through the air. However, not all accounts tell the same story about this: for, as some have handed down, he drove the birds to a certain island, where they were later found by the Argonauts.

01.10.26: topic; architecture [5]; Comenius (1658) LXVII; domus [5]

Part [7]

The place without a roof is called an open gallery.

Locus sine tectō dicitur subdiāle.

In the roof are jettings out and pinnacles. 

In tectō sunt maeniāna et coronidēs.

[i] subdiālis, -e: open-air; also used, as in the text, as a noun referring to a terrace or open gallery

[ii] maeniānum, -ī [2/n]: the translator vaguely refers to “jettings out”, a feature typical of Mediaeval buildings i.e. where the upper stories overhang the ground floor. The term may simply refer to an upper room, but a good example of a maeniānum can be seen at Herculaneum where, unlike at Pompeii, upper stories of some of the buildings survived and the feature acts as a balcony.

Image #1: the way in which Comenius interprets maeniānum (houses in the York shambles)

Image #2: the maeniānum at Herculaneum, functioning as a balcony that projects over the pavement.

The final word of the Comenius text is a very good example of how original Latin words were adapted to convey new meanings.

[iii] corōnis, -idis [3/f] < Anc. Gk.  κορωνός [korōnós]: crooked; curved

 “a curved line or flourish formed with a pen, which writers or transcribers were accustomed to make at the end of a book or chapter” (Lewis & Short)

The term coronis is used in English printing to refer to such a decorative mark. It is often associated with a brief description of the work which is traditionally placed – together with a publisher’s logo - at the end.

Images #3 and #4 show two examples (1) from a Church Slavic text in 1581, and (2) from a publication in 1657, the year before Comenius’ work was first published.

Images #5-7: In the text Comenius uses the word as an architectural term. In the original image it is likely he is referring to finials (architecture), an ornament on the peak of the gable of a roof, that can also be described as a pinnacle. The second image is particularly interesting. From a house in Portugal, we can see a permanent metal flag, which is what is depicted (more clearly) in figure 29 of a later edition.

30.09.26: Level 1 (review); vocabulary [19]: food and drink (4)

Which of the following refer to:

(a) seasonings or spices

(b) other food types used in cooking

acētum

ālium

būtȳrum

cāseus

condīmentum

garum

herba

iūs

liquāmen

mel

menta

nux

ovum

piper

saccharum

sāl

sināpis / sināpi

socolāta

[2] Label the images:

herba, -ae [1/f]

menta, -ae [1/f]

acētum, -ī [2/n]

condīmentum, -ī [2/n]

ālium, -ī [2/n]

garum, -ī [2/n]

sāl, salis [3/m]

liquāmen, -inis [3/n]

piper, -eris [3/n]

sināpis, -is [3/f]; sināpi [n/indecl.]

[3] Label the images:

socolāta, -ae [1/f]

cāseus, -ī [2/m]

būtȳrum, -ī [2/n]

ovum, -ī [2/n]

saccharum, -ī [2/n]

nux, nucis [3/f]

iūs, iūris [3/n]

mel, mellis [3/n]

____________________

[1]

(a) acētum; ālium; condīmentum; garum; herba; liquāmen; menta; piper; sāl; sināpis / sināpi

(b) būtȳrum; cāseus; iūs; mel; nux; ovum; saccharum; socolāta

[2]

[3]

Note:

iūs, iūris [3/n]: gravy; also: soup; broth