20.05.27: Level 3 / 3+; GCSE 2021 [iii]; Section B; Passage 3; + supplementary questions

Translate Passage 3 into English

Later Paetus is condemned to death and once again Arria puts her husband’s needs before her own.

Names

Scribonianus, Scriboniani (m): Scribonianus (the governor of Dalmatia)

Claudius, Claudii (m): Claudius (the Roman emperor)

Paetus, Paeti (m): Paetus

Arria, Arriae (f): Arria

Words

rebellio, rebellionis (f): revolt, rebellion

finio, finire, finivi, finitus: I finish, end

dubito, dubitare, dubitavi: I hesitate

doleo, dolere, dolui: I hurt

dolor, doloris (m): pain

Supplementary

Passage 3 is the last question of the GCSE language paper. It is clearly testing knowledge of many grammatical concepts that will become increasingly important as the student moves up to the UK AS and A2 examinations; in this group, I classify those as Level 4. The following questions did not form part of the examination.

paucos post annos Scribonianus, homo audax, rebellionem contra Claudium imperatorem fecit. sperabat enim se ipsum, Claudio victo, imperatorem futurum esse. rebellione tamen quinque diebus oppressa, Scribonianus statim interfectus est.

interea Paetus, qui Scriboniano auxilium dederat, a militibus Claudii Romam tractus est. ibi Claudius ei imperavit ut vitam gladio finiret. sed Paetus tam perterritus erat ut id facere nollet. tum Arria, cum intellegeret cur maritus dubitaret, gladium rapuit. ‘noli timere!’ ei dixit, corpus suum gladio simul vulnerans. ‘ecce! hoc vulnus, quod mihi dedi, non dolet.’ ita locuta Paeto gladium reddidit. nam Arria Paetum adeo amabat ut ipsa dolorem pati vellet.

Successful translation of Passage 3 in the examination itself would show recognition of the grammatical features contained within it. Therefore, the questions below are simply testing your familiarity with grammatical terms and your ability to make brief comment about them.

[1] Identify the grammatical features in bold; (1) give the grammatical term and (2) give one other relevant piece of information about each one, for example:

noli timere: (1) negative imperative; (2) 2^nd person singular [or: followed by an infinitive]

The second pieces of information given in the answers are suggestions; there are other valid statements that can be made about each form.

[i] Claudio victo

[ii] Scribonianus statim interfectus est

[iii] qui Scriboniano auxilium dederat

[iv] corpus suum gladio simul vulnerans

[v] hoc vulnus, quod mihi dedi

[vi] ita locuta

[2] What types of subjunctive are being used?

[i] Claudius ei imperavit ut vitam gladio finiret.

[ii] tam perterritus erat ut id facere nollet; adeo amabat ut ipsa dolorem pati vellet

[iii] tum Arria, cum intellegeret …

[iv] … cur maritus dubitaret

[3] Explain the use of the ablative case:

[i] rebellione tamen quinque diebus oppressa

[ii] a militibus Claudii Romam tractus est

[4]

[i] sperabat enim se ipsum … imperatorem futurum esse.

[a] What type of structure is being used here?

[b] Why is se used?

[c] What part of speech is futurum esse?

____________________

Supplementary

[1]

[i] (1) ablative absolute; (2) noun + perfect passive participle in the ablative case [or: literally: with X having been Y-ed]

[ii] (1) perfect passive; (2) 3^rd person singular [or: perfect passive participle + present tense of esse; or: from interficio, -ere (3-io)]

[iii] (1) pluperfect (active, indicative); (2) 3^rd person singular [or: perfect stem + imperfect of esse]

[iv] (1) present active participle; (2) nominative singular [or: = (who / which / while) …. ing; or: from vulnerāns, -antis]

[v] (1) relative pronoun; (2) neuter accusative singular [or: agrees with antecedent in gender and number; or: from qui, quae, quod]

[vi] (1) perfect participle of a deponent verb; (2) passive form but active meaning, i.e. having spoken [or: from loquor, -i, locutus sum]

[2]

[i] indirect command

[ii] result

[iii] cum-clause; circumstantial

[iv] indirect question

[3]

[i] time within which

[ii] agent

[4]

[a] indirect statement

[b] refers back to the subject i.e. he was hoping that he (himself) ….

[c] future active infinitive

17.10.26: Level 1; Follow-up on the previous post [2]: words and their ‘stories’; tightrope walkers, crucial questions and Reggae Music

Referring to:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/latinforstarters/posts/1101999429077991

Words have ‘stories’ and sometimes long journeys; knowing the story can help you to remember the word, even if it is more like a question in Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

We’ll look again at the three nouns Magister Andrews uses in his video:

(1) fūnis, -is [3/m]: rope; cord; line

Engl: funambulist < Lat: fūnambulus, -ī [2/m]: tightrope walker < fūnis (rope) + ambulāre (to walk)

(2) collum, -ī [2/n]: neck

Engl: collar < Lat: collāre, -is [3/n]: collar; neckband < collum (neck)

(3) The one, however, that involves greater ‘exploration’ is:

[i] crux, crucis [3/f]: any wooden instrument of punishment or execution, particularly (but not exclusively) a cross

agunt eum praecipitem poenae cīvium Rōmānōrum, quōs partim secūrī percussit, partim in vinculīs necāvit, partim … in crucem sustulit. (Cicero)

The punishments of Roman citizens are driving him mad [literally: headlong; ‘over the edge’], some of whom he has delivered to the executioner [literally: struck with an axe], others he has put to death in prison [literally: (while) in chains], others he has crucified … [literally: raised up onto a cross].

This quotation is from Cicero’s prosecution of Gaius Verres, the corrupt governor of Sicily. In the Roman world, crucifixion was normally reserved for non-citizens, slaves, and low classes of criminals. Among the litany of accusations against Verres was that he had crucified Roman citizens - meaning he had seriously overstepped the mark and violated their rights.

[ii] However, the word can have a transferred meaning of feeling tormented or tortured:

… sed fierī sentiō et excrucior (Catullus) | … but I feel it happening and I am tortured

[iii] It can refer to any form of ‘trouble’ or ‘misery’ often with ‘mala’ (evil / bad):

Quae tē mala crux agitat? (Plautus) | What tormentor troubles you?

[iv] And if your local political candidate comes knocking at your door …

Ī in malam crucem! | Go to the Devil! / Go and be hanged!

[v] But what about the English derivatives crux and crucial?

They are good examples of how an original meaning changes over time. Let’s go back to Plautus:

Quae tē mala crux agitat? | What tormentor troubles you?

The character is not referring to an instrument of punishment but to some form of difficulty.

In English, crux – taken directly from Latin – can convey a puzzle or difficulty, but its meaning has broadened to the idea of a critical turning point or core issue, often of a problem:

“The crux of the matter is that people just don’t vote.”

“The movie hits its dramatic crux an hour in”

The adjective crucial is from French (there was no original Latin adjective); in French its initial meaning was ‘cross-shaped,’ later adopting the English definition of ‘crucial’ meaning ‘decisive’.

However …

“Delbert Wilkins is the most crucial pirate radio DJ in Brixton.”

A fictional character created by Lenny Henry, Delbert Wilkins uses the term 'crucial' to describe his mixture of, for example, Reggae and Hip-Hop as very good, i.e. the polar opposite of what the Latin crux originally meant.

17.10.26: Level 1; Follow-up on the previous post [1]

Referring to:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/latinforstarters/posts/1101999429077991

Again, Magister Andrews produces a short video which, if you want, you can explore in more depth:

One key concept and two “steps up” i.e. don’t try to do everything at once. Step [1] is absolute basic Latin. Step [2] makes you aware that words in Latin change. Step [3], i.e. it is not a first step, explains briefly what particular changes are.  

Step [1]

[i] Quid est hoc? | What is this?

[ii] Haec est crux. | This is a cross.

Why does it change from hoc to haec?

[i] If you don’t know what it is, then you don’t know what gender it is. Therefore, Latin uses the neuter form to ask the question. German, Spanish and Russian, for example, do the same:

Gmn: Was ist das?

Sp: ¿Qué es eso?

Russ: Chto eto? (Что это?)

[ii] However, Magister Andrews knows what it is – and he knows the gender: crux is feminine, and the feminine form for ‘this’ is haec:

Haec est crux. | This is a cross.

But you can avoid the issue by simply saying: crux est | it’s a cross

The next noun he uses is fūnis (cord / string)

[i] Don’t know what it is?

Quid est hoc?

[ii] Now you do (it’s masculine):

Hic est fūnis. | This is a cord / string.

Fūnis est. | It’s a cord / string.

[iii] The third noun he uses is collum (neck); it is a neuter noun and so hoc is used for both the question and the answer.

Quid est hoc?

Hoc est collum meum. | This is my neck.

Collum meum est. | It’s my neck.

Therefore, three key words:

this: hic (masculine), haec (feminine), hoc (neuter)

Step [2]

If you are new to Latin then you need to be aware from an early stage that words change depending on what they are doing in a sentence. Becoming familiar with these changes takes time and patience, but Magister Andrews gives some examples.

[i] Crux in fūne est. | The cross is on the string.

in collō | on the neck

Lat: in = Engl: in or on

Step [3]

crucem in collō pōnō | I put the cross on the neck (or: on my neck; Latin does not normally use the possessive ‘my’ if it’s obvious who you’re talking about)

2 points to note:

[i] Here, crux is the direct object i.e. the action is being done to the cross: -em indicates this.

[ii] crucem: a large number of Latin nouns change the stem before an ending is added:

crux > cruc¦em

This is not as random as it first appears; there are patterns and English has many derivatives where that change is shown.

crux > cruc¦em > Engl. crucify; crucifixion; excruciating; cruciform (in the shape of a cross); crucial