16.04.26: Level 3+; Subjunctive [21] independent uses [4] potential [ii]

KEY POINTS: Potential Subjunctive

• expresses a possible or conceivable action or judgment, not a statement of fact
• often corresponds in english to might, could, would, should, or may, typically expressing opinion or hypothetical assessment

Tense usage

[i] Present subjunctive

expresses present or future potential: what might be thought, said, or done now or at some future moment.

[ii] Perfect subjunctive

• expresses potential in much the same way as the present
• often little practical distinction between present and perfect subjunctive in potential uses

[iii] imperfect subjunctive

• expresses hypothetical or unreal circumstances, often referring to an imagined situation rather than simple uncertainty about a past fact
• commonly translated with would or could, and may describe an imagined past experience, not an actual event

16.04.26: Level 3+; Subjunctive [20] independent uses [4] potential [i]

The potential subjunctive is an independent use of the subjunctive that expresses a possible or conceivable action. It often corresponds in English to might, could, would, should, or may, typically in the sense of opinion or hypothetical action rather than statement of fact.

[1] Present Subjunctive: present / future (often general) potential

The present subjunctive expresses what might be thought or done, often in a general or timeless sense, not necessarily tied to a specific future moment.

Contrast with the indicative (statement of fact):

Quis hoc putat? │ Who thinks this?

Subjunctive:

Quis hoc putet? │ Who would think this?

Aliquis dīcat (Terence) │ Someone may say.

Nōn ausim id facere │ I would not dare to do this.

Fortūnam citius reperiās quam retineās. (Publius Syrus) │ You may sooner find fortune than (you may) keep it.

Crēdās nōn dē puerō scrīptum sed ā puerō (Pliny) │ You would think that it was written not about a boy but by a boy.

Note the use of forsitan, which can be a “marker” of a potential subjunctive.

Forsitan hoc etiam gaudeat ipsa cinis (Calvus) │ Perhaps the very ash may rejoice in this.

Forsitan quaerātis… (Cicero) │ Perhaps you may ask …

Forsitan occurrat illud │ That may perhaps happen.

Biting example from Cicero:

“Domum,” inquit, “ēmistī.” “Putēs,” inquam, “dīcere: Iūdicēs ēmistī.”
“You’ve bought a house,” he said. “One might think,” I said, “you meant to say: You bought the judges.”

[2] Perfect subjunctive: tentative Assertion / Modest Judgment

The perfect subjunctive can express the same idea as the present, often conveying tentative, cautious, or modest assertion rather than a factual statement.

Dīxerim pauca │ I could say a few things

Crēdiderim │ I should believe.

Id fēcerīs │ You could do this.

Aliquis dīxerit │ Somebody might say.

In this context it often expresses a rather tentative idea:

Dixerim hoc satis esse │ I would say that’s enough.

Dē istō hactenus dīxerim (Cicero) │ Literally: Thus far I may say about this =  I need only say this much.

Not every sentence fits the “rules”: in the next example, the perfect subjunctive conveys a tentative statement about a past action rather than the usual present or future potential:

Forsitan temerē fēcerim (Cicero) │ Perhaps I may have acted rashly.

[3] Imperfect Subjunctive: hypothetical / unreal circumstances

The prisoners in Kander and Ebb’s “Chicago” – justifying the murders of their partners – sing (in bold) a further example of a potential subjunctive!

If you had been there

If you had seen it

I bet you, you would have done the same.

(Cell Block Tango)

Take away the “if’s”:

“You would have done the same.” Even on its own, that sentence refers to unreal circumstances.

Pliny expresses the same idea with the imperfect subjunctive:

Audīrēs ululātūs fēminārum, infantum quirītātūs, clāmōrēs virōrum (Pliny) │ You would have heard the wailing of women, the shrieks of children, the shouting of men.

Here, Pliny is describing what someone would have experienced if they had been present during the Vesuvius eruption.

The imperfect subjunctive (audīrēs) expresses the past hypothetical / unreal circumstances, just like the English example.

The imperfect subjunctive expresses what might have happened in the past, under unreal or hypothetical circumstances. The action did not actually occur; it is purely imagined.

Present subjunctive: Crēdās eum hominem bonum esse │ You might believe that he is a good man.

Imperfect subjunctive: Crēderēs eum hominem bonum esse │ You might have believed that he was a good man.

Other examples:

Crēderēs victōs (Livy) │ You would have thought them defeated.

Reōs dīcerēs (Livy) │  You would have said they were culprits.

Vidērēs susurrōs (Horace)│ You might have seen them whispering.

Cēnam coquerēs │ You could have cooked the dinner.

[4] Important Note: as you learn more tenses and uses of the subjunctive, you will see that a single subjunctive form can have different interpretations depending on context.

Example: Vīvāmus Rōmae

[i] Hortatory: Let’s live in Rome

[ii] Potential: We could live in Rome

Context determines whether the speaker is urging action (hortatory) or expressing potential.

Similarly:

Maneās in villā meā

[i] Jussive: You may / should stay in my house; Stay in my house: giving a command or strong suggestion. The speaker wants this to happen.

[ii] Potential: You could stay in my house: expressing possibility or hypothetical action. The speaker is considering or stating what could happen, without urging it.

Id fēcerīs

[i] Jussive: You may / should do this.

[ii] Potential: You could do this.

However, at this stage, it is best not to go into too much detail or interpret subtle nuances based on context. It is enough to be aware that such nuances exist.

15.04.26: Describing objects [14]; gemstones (ii)

The Ancient Romans knew and prized a wide variety of gemstones, both native to their empire and imported through vast trade networks stretching from, for example, India, Arabia and Egypt.

In Book XXXVII of The Natural History (Nātūrālis Historia), Pliny the Elder describes more than 200 varieties of gemstone although not always accurately. Here we will only look at a few nouns and adjectives that we might want to use to describe our own possessions and, with that aim in mind, I have given ‘standardised’ meanings of some of these (all of which are verified); early references to certain precious stones may have been more general, referring to the colour of certain types rather than an indication of the specific gemstone with which their names are now associated.

gemma, -ae [1/f]: gem; jewel

• gemmātus, -a, -um: adorned with precious stones / jewels

… quod vulgō Sabīnī aureās armillās magnī ponderis bracchiō laevō gemmātōsque magnā speciē ānulōs habuerint (Livy) │ … because most of the Sabines wore heavy golden bracelets on their left arms and magnificent jewelled rings, …

adamās, -antis [3/m]: diamond; its first meaning, however, is the hardest iron or steel

amethystus, -ī [2/m]: amethyst

• amethystinus, -a, -um: of the colour amethyst

Amethystināsque mulierum vocat vestēs (Martial) │ and calls amethyst-coloured robes the dress of women

bēryllus (bērillus), -ī [2/m]: beryl; greenish-blue gemstone; aquamarine

carbunculus, -ī [2/m]: reddish precious stone, possibly ruby or garnet (the image shows a garnet ring); (Mediaeval) rubīnus, -ī [2/m]: ruby

crystalum, -ī [2/n]: crystal

corallium, -ī [2/n]: coral; it usually refers to the reddish-orange variety

ēlectrum, -ī [2/n]; succinum, -ī / sūcinum, -ī  [2/n]; glaesum, -ī [2/n]: amber*

sapphīrus, -ī [2/m]: sapphire; image: part of the collection of the Earl of Arundel from 1637 to 1762, and sold at auction in 2019 by the Royal jewelers Wartski for almost £500,000, the sapphire ring puportedly belonged to the Roman Emperor Caligula, depicting his wife Caesonia.

• sapphīrinus, -a, -um

et vīdērunt Deum Isrāhēl sub pedibus eius quasi opus lapidis sapphīrinī (Vulgate) │ They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was like a (paved) work of sapphire stone, …

margarīta, -ae [1/f]: pearl

Et duodecim portae duodecim margarītae sunt per singulās et singulae portae erant ex singulīs margarītīs: et platēa cīvitātis aurum mundum, tamquam vitrum perlūcidum (Vulgate) │  And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, each one of a single pearl, and the individual gates were made of a single pearl / individual pearls: and the great street of the city was pure gold, just like transparent glass

onyx, onychis [3 m/f]: onyx

• onychinus, -a, -um

et aurum terrae illīus optimum est ibique invenītur … lapis onychinus (Vulgate)│ and the gold of that land is good, and the onyx stone … is found there

opalus, -ī [2/m]: opal

smaragdus, -ī [2/m] (also zmaragdus): emerald

• smaragdīnus (zmar-), -a, -um

Celsus describing a type of medical plaster:

At, quia perviride est, zmaragdinum appellātur │ But, because it is bright green, it (a plaster) is called emerald-like

topazos / topazus, -ī [2/m]; topazius, -ī [2/m]: topaz; also:

• chrȳsolithos, -ī [2/m]; chrȳsolithus, -ī [2 m/f]  

* The English term ‘amber’ itself is a very good example of displacement i.e. where original Old English words are replaced – sometimes they are ‘reassigned’ to new or variant meanings, or sometimes they simply cease to exist. OE had several words that could refer to amber: smelting, eolhsand, glǣr, sāp. In this case, they are not replaced by a Latin word, but by Middle French a(u)mbre which has its origins in Arabic and Persian.

14.04.26: Level 2; Vincent (Latin Reader); LX; The End of the Roman Occupation

Translate:

Rōmānī duōs mūrōs aut vālla aedificāvērunt – vallum Antōnīnī ā Clōta ad Bodotriam atque vallum Hadriānī inter Lugovallium et Pontem Aelium. Sed, quod Rōmānī vāllum Antōnīnī dēfendere nōn poterant, cōpiae maiōrēs erant in vāllō Hadriānī. Ubi Clōdius Albīnus suās cōpiās ex Britanniā trānsportāvit, hostēs impetūs multōs contrā vallum Antōnīnī fēcērunt, atque duōs mūrōs et aedificia multa et oppida dēlēvērunt. Inde Sevērus, imperātor Rōmānus, vāllum Hadriānī iterum aedificāvit atque castra in multīs locīs fēcit. Sed posteā lēgātī Rōmānī cōpiās ex Britanniā dūcēbant*; tandem legiōnēs omnēs ad continentem revertērunt.

*Note: the imperfect tense is used here to indicate that an action started

People

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septimius_Severus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clodius_Albinus

Places

Lugovallium (Luguvalium): an ancient Roman city in northern Britain located within present-day Carlisle; northenmost city of the Roman empire

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luguvalium

Pōns Aelius: fort and Roman settlement at the original eastern end of Hadrian's Wall close to the centre of present-day Newcastle upon Tyne.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pons_Aelius

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonine_Wall

Map of the Antonine Wall

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadrian%27s_Wall

By Hadrians_Wall_map.png: Created by NormanEinstein, September 20, 2005derivative work: Talifero (talk) - Hadrians_Wall_map.png, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15121382

____________________

The Romans built two walls or ramparts—the Antonine Wall from the Clota to the Bodotria, and Hadrian’s Wall between Lugovallium and the Pons Aelius. But because the Romans were not able to defend the Antonine Wall, larger forces were on Hadrian’s Wall. When Clodius Albinus transferred his forces from Britain, the enemy made many attacks against the Antonine Wall and destroyed the two walls, many buildings, and towns. Then Severus, the Roman emperor, rebuilt Hadrian’s Wall and constructed camps in many places. But afterwards the Roman governors began leading the troops out of Britain; finally all the legions returned to the continent.

13.04.26: Level 1 (review); introduction to numbers and nominative plurals [ii]; video #2

Video #2: Numbers 1–3 and 1st declension feminine nouns

[1] 1^st declension nouns in -a: mostly feminine; there are some exceptions, discussed later

vacca │ cow / a cow / the cow

via │ street / a street / the street

puella │ girl / a girl / the girl

[2] ūna is used with feminine nouns

ūna vacca │ one cow

ūna via

ūna puella

[3] duae is used with feminine nouns

duae vaccae │ two cows

duae viae

duae puellae

[4] trēs is used with feminine nouns (i.e. the same as the masculine nouns)

trēs vaccae │ three cows

trēs viae

trēs puellae

[5] The plural of 1st declension nouns is in -ae

-a > -ae

vacca > vaccae │ cow > cows

via > viae │ street > streets

puella > puellae │ girl > girls

[6] Practice Sentences

Quot vaccae / viae / puellae sunt in pictūrā?

In pictūrā est ūna vacca.

In pictūrā sunt duae puellae.

In pictūrā sunt trēs puellae.

12.04.26: Level 3+; Subjunctive [19] independent uses [3] deliberative [v] Latin tutorial

KEY POINTS: deliberative subjunctive

• from dēlīberō, -āre [1]: weigh carefully, consider, debate
• Used in direct questions to express mental weighing or hesitation about what action should be (or should have been) taken.
• Present subjunctive: deliberation occurring now (current or future consideration)
• Imperfect subjunctive: deliberation that occurred then (consideration in the past)
• The perfect subjunctive is not used for deliberation, because dēlīberāre describes a mental process that happens before an action, not after it.

12.04.26: Level 3+; Subjunctive [18] independent uses [3] deliberative [iv] with the imperfect subjunctive; practice

Example: Quid scrīberēmus? │ What were we (supposed) to write? / What should we have written?

1. Quid dīcerem?
2. Quid illī facerent?
3. Quō festīnārem?
4. Quem praeficeret Catullus?
5. Cui crēderēmus?
6. Quō illa fugeret?
7. Quid facerent rēgīnae?
8. Fugerēmusne?
9. Quem illī vītārent?
10. Quid facerēmus?

____________________

1. What was I to say? / What should I have said?
2. What were they (supposed) to do? / What should they have done?
3. To where was I (supposed) to hurry? / Where should I have hurried to?
4. Whom should Catullus have put in charge? / Whom was Catullus (supposed) to put in charge?
5. Whom were we (supposed) to trust? / Whom should we have trusted?
6. Where should she have fled to? / To where was she (supposed) to flee?
7. What were the queens (supposed) to do? / What should the queens have done?
8. Were we to flee? / Should we have fled?
9. Whom should they have avoided? / Whom were they (supposed) to avoid?
10. What were we (supposed) to do? / What should we have done?

12.04.26: Level 3+; Subjunctive [17] independent uses [3] deliberative [iii] with the imperfect subjunctive

So far, we have only seen examples of the deliberative subjunctive usage with the present subjunctive. Here, we can see how the imperfect subjunctive is used:

Compare:

[i] Present subjunctive:

Quid dīcam? │ What am I (supposed) to say? / What should I say?

[ii] Imperfect subjunctive:

Quid dīcerem? (Cicero) │ What was I to say? / What should I have said?

An ego nōn venīrem? (Cicero) │ Should I not have come?

Quid facerem? │ What was I to do? / What should I have done?

Quid facerēmus? │ What were we to do? / What should we have done?

i.e. the imperfect subjunctive is used for past deliberation, often with a sense of frustration, helplessness, or hindsight.

Although such questions are often translated into English using “should have,” the perfect subjunctive is not used for deliberation in Latin, since deliberation takes place before an action is carried out, not after it.

Therefore, Latin chooses:

Present subjunctive: deliberation now

Imperfect subjunctive: deliberation then

11.04.26: Describing objects [13]; gemstones (i); Comenius XII (1658); stones

Stones │ lapidēs

Sand and gravel is stone broken into bits. │ arēna, & sabulum, est lapis comminūtus.

A great stone is a piece of a rock (or crag) │ saxum est pars petræ (cautis).

A whetstone, a flint, a marble &c are ordinary stones. │ cōs, silex, marmor &c. sunt obscūrī lapidēs.

A load-stone (lodestone) draweth iron to it. │ magnēs adtrahit ferrum.

Jewels are clear stones, as │ gemmæ sunt pellūcidī lapillī, ut

The diamond white │ adamās candidus,

The ruby red  │ rubīnus rubeus,

The sapphire blue │ sapphīrus cæruleus,

The emerald green │ smaragdus viridis,

The jacinth yellow, &c. │ hyacynthus lūteus, &c.

And they glister being cut into corners. │ et micant angulātī.

Pearls and unions* grow in shell-fish. │ margarītæ & ūniōnēs crēscunt in conchīs.

Corals, in a sea-shrub. │ corallia in marīnā arbusculā.

Amber is gathered from the sea. │ succinum colligitur ē marī.

Glass is like chrystal. │ vitrum simile est c(h)rystallō.

*union (archaic): a large, high-quality pearl

Vocabulary [1]

(h)arēna, -ae [1/f]: sand; used to refer to any sandy place including, for example, the location of combat in the amphitheatre > Engl. deriv. arena

sabulum, -ī [2/n]; sabulō, -ōnis [3/m]: coarse sand, gravel

cautēs, -is [3/f]: rough / pointed rock or cliff, crag

cōs, cōtis [3/f]: any hard stone, but specifically to a whetstone or grindstone

magnēs, magnētis [3/m]: (obsolete) lodestone, referring to the mineral magnetite; magnet

obscūrus, -a, -um: the usual meaning is ‘dark’ (Engl. deriv. obscure), but has a wider sense of ‘indistinct’ or ‘unknown’ i.e. there is nothing remarkable about the stones described

pellūcidus, -a, -um (or perlūcidus): transparent

Notes:

[i] a nice example of the use of -ātus, -a, -um

angulō, -āre, -āvī, -ātus [1]: to make angular

et micant angulātī │ and, having been cut into corners, they glister; nice to see the now archaic ‘glister’, made famous in the Shakespearean quotation: ‘all that glisters is not gold’

micō, -āre, -āvī [1]: gleam, glitter, twinkle; in Ancient Rome that’s what the stars do ….

sīdera micantia / stēllae micantēs: twinkling stars

[ii] The use of the dative case with the adjective similis, -e: Glass is like / similar to c(h)rystal. │ vitrum simile est c(h)rystallō.

Vocabulary [2]: gemstones

This is simply a reference list; as mentioned above, these (and others) will be discussed more in the next post:

gemma, -ae [1/f]: jewel; precious stone

adamās, -antis [3/m]: diamond

corallium, -ī [2/n]: coral, usually referring to the reddish-orange variety

crystalum, -ī [2/n]: crystal

margarīta, -ae [1/f]: pearl

rubīnus, -ī [2/m]: (Mediaeval) ruby

sapphīrus, -ī [2/m]: sapphire

smaragdus, -ī [2/m] (also zmaragdus): emerald

succinum, -ī / sūcinum, -ī  [2/n]; glaesum, -ī [2/n]: amber

Note:

hyacinthus, -ī [2m]: jacinth; the stone can be of different colours, one of which is blue, and the Romans referred to hyacinthus as a blue gem (hence the flower hyacinth), which is distinct from sapphīrus, the latter specifically denoting a sapphire

Some dictionaries suggest that hyacinthus may have referred to a sapphire, but let’s not complicate matters and keep the two separate.

11.04.26: Level 2; Vincent (Latin Reader); LIX; The Battle of Mount Graupius

Translate:

Agricola etiam mīlitēs suōs convocāvit. "Ō mīlitēs’, inquit, 'septem annōs bellum contrā hostēs gessistis: Britanniam castrīs et armīs victōria et glōria ūna in pugnā erunt nōbīs.’ Inde mīlitēs Rōmānī impetum facere incipiēbant. Agricola pedēs ante mīlitēs cōnstitit. Rōmānī hostēs magna cum caede superāvērunt atque nox erat fīnis pugnae. Inde Agricola, dum classis Rōmāna circum Britanniam nāvigat, legiōnēs suās in hīberna dūxit. Posteā, ubi prōvinciam trādidit, in Ītaliam revertit.

Battle of Mons Graupius:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mons_Graupius

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/encyclopaedia_romana/britannia/monsgraupius/monsgraupius.html

____________________

Agricola also summoned his soldiers. “O soldiers,” he said, “for seven years you have waged war against the enemy; Britain will be won for us with camps and arms—victory and glory will be ours together in this one battle.” Then the Roman soldiers began to make their attack. Agricola took his stand on foot in front of the soldiers.* The Romans overcame the enemy with great slaughter, and night was the end of the fighting. Then Agricola, while the Roman fleet was sailing around Britain, led his legions into winter quarters. Afterwards, when he handed over the province, he returned to Italy.

*The original text:

dīmissō equō pedēs ante vēxilla cōnstitit │ his horse having been sent away, he took his stand on foot before the colours

10.04.26: Level 1 (review); introduction to numbers and nominative plurals [i]; video #1

These short videos introduce two closely related ideas in Latin grammar:

[i] How the numbers ūnus, duo, and trēs work

[ii] How nouns form the nominative plural

Together, these topics lay essential foundations for understanding agreement, number, and noun endings in Latin.

Video #1: Numbers 1–3 and 2^nd declension masculine nouns

[1] In Latin, the numbers ūnus (one), duo (two), and trēs (three) change their form depending on the gender of the noun they describe. This means that numbers agree with nouns in gender, just like adjectives do.

[2] Classical Latin has no definite or indefinite article. There is no word for the or a / an. Although ūnus later developed into words such as French un and une, in Classical Latin it means only the numeral “one”, not an article.

[3] Most 2^nd declension nouns ending in -us or -(e)r are masculine (a few exceptions will be discussed later).

Examples:

equus │ horse

gladius │ sword

puer │ boy

vir │ man

liber │ book

Equus can be translated as “horse”, “a horse”, or “the horse”, depending on context. This works in a similar way to Russian, where dom means house / a house / the house, but odin dom means “one house”.

[4] ūnus is used with masculine nouns:

ūnus equus │ one horse

ūnus gladius │ one sword

ūnus puer │ one boy

ūnus vir │ one man

ūnus liber │ one book

[5] duo is used with masculine plural nouns:

duo equī │ two horses

duo gladiī │ two swords

duo puerī │ two boys

duo virī │ two men

duo librī │ two books

[6] trēs is used with masculine plural nouns:

trēs equī │ three horses

trēs gladiī │ three swords

trēs puerī │ three boys

trēs virī │ three men

trēs librī │ three books

[7] 2^nd declension masculine nouns form the nominative plural with -ī.

[a] Nouns ending in -us

-us > -ī

equus > equī (horse > horses)

[b] Nouns ending in -(e)r

-(e)r > -ī

puer > puerī (boy > boys)

vir > virī (man > men)

[c] Some nouns ending in -er lose the -e- before adding -ī (this pattern will be discussed in more detail later.)

liber > librī (book > books)

[8] Practice Sentences

Quot? │ how many?

Quot is indeclinable i.e. it does not change regardless of the gender or case of the noun

Quot equī / puerī / virī sunt in pictūrā? │ How many horses / boys / men are in the picture?

In pictūrā est ūnus equus. │ In the picture (there) is one horse.

In pictūrā sunt duo puerī. │ In the picture (there) are two boys.

In pictūrā sunt trēs virī. │ In the picture (there) are three men.

10.04.26: Level 1 (review); presentation; Where are you? Where is (s)he?

This short video brings together the ablative case of first and second declension nouns and looks again at the verb esse (to be)

[1]

Ubi │ where?

Ubi sum? │ Where am I?

Ubi es? │ Where are you (singular)?

Ubi est? │ Where is (s)he / it?

Ubi est cattus? │ Where’s the cat?

sum: I am

es: you (singular) are

est: (s)he it

[2] The nouns used belong to two declensions:

[i] First Declension: -a

culīna: kitchen

Gallia: Gaul

schola: school

via: street / road

vīlla: villa; country residence (large and expensive)

[ii] Second declension:

masculine -us

hortus: garden

lūdus: school (can be equated – very broadly – to an elementary school)

neuter: -um

templum: temple

You are also introduced to some parts of a large Roman house or villa:

ātrium: the ‘reception’ room, where the master of the house would meet his ‘clients’ i.e. those looking for some assistance, or influence, or advice … or money

cubiculum: bedroom

trīclīnium: as the name suggests, it was a dining room comprising three sides with cushions on which diners reclined; it’s unlikely this was used on a daily basis, but certainly for entertaining guests

peristȳlium: an internal garden with columns

[3] When the preposition ‘in’ is used with these nouns, the nouns go into the ablative case. There are only two changes to note:

[i] First Declension

culīna > In culīnā sum │ I am in the kitchen

[ii] 2^nd declension: both nouns in -us and -um act in the same way (which is why they are grouped together in the same declension)

hortus > in hortō sum │ I am in the garden

templum > in templō sum │ I am in the temple

10.04.26: Level 3+; Subjunctive [16] independent uses [3] deliberative [ii] practice

Example: Quem cōnsulat Tiberius? │ Whom should Tiberius consult? / Who is Tiberius (supposed) to consult?

1. Quō ambulem?
2. Quid scrībam?
3. Quid faciat Neptūnus?
4. Quō illa fugiat?
5. Quid dīcat eques?
6. Quem audiāmus?
7. Temptēmusne?
8. Fugiāmusne?
9. Quem illī iuvent?
10. Quō nāvigent mercātōrēs?

____________________

1. Where should I / am I (supposed) to walk?
2. What should I / am I (supposed) to write?
3. What is Neptune (supposed) to do? / What should …?
4. Where is she (supposed) to flee to?
5. What should the knight / is the knight (supposed) to say?
6. Whom should we / are we (supposed) to listen to?
7. Should we / are we (supposed) to try?
8. Should we / are we (supposed) to flee?
9. Whom should they / are they (supposed) to help?
10. Where should the merchants / are the merchants (supposed) to sail to?

10.04.26: Level 3+; Subjunctive [15] independent uses [3] deliberative [i]

From deliberō, -āre [1]: consider carefully; deliberate.
When we say, “What am I (supposed) to do?” or “What should / ought I to do?”, we are deliberating — that is, we express doubt or uncertainty about the correct course of action. The speaker may be addressing him- or herself, genuinely asking for guidance, or framing a rhetorical question (e.g. “What am I supposed to do?”). In Latin this kind of deliberation is expressed by the subjunctive.

Indicative: Quid facimus? │ What are we doing?

Subjunctive: Quid faciāmus? │ What are we to do / should we do?

Quid dīcam? │ What am I to say?

Quid faciam? │ What am I to do?

Huic cēdāmus! hūius condiciōnēs audiāmus! (Cicero)│ Are we to bow to him! Are we to listen to his terms!

Quid agam, iūdicēs? Quō mē vertam? (Cicero) │ What am I to do, judges? Where am I to turn to?

Etiamne eam salūtem? (Plautus) │ Am I to greet her?

Quid hōc homine faciās? Quod supplicium dīgnum libīdinī eius inveniās? │ What are you to do with this man? What fit penalty can you devise [lit: are you to find] for his wantonness?

The negative deliberative is constructed with nōn:

Hunc ego nōn dīligam? (Cicero) │ Should I not cherish this man?

09.04.26: Describing objects [12]; glass; ivory

[i] vitrum, -ī [2/n]: glass

vitrum perlūcidum: transparent glass

ē vitrō: made of glass

vitreus, -a, -um: of glass

vasa vitrea: glass vessels

vitrea, -ōrum [2/n/pl]: glassware

Pliny the Elder’s description of an excessively desgned theatre – note his comment on glass:

īma pars scaenae ē marmore fuit, media ē vitrō, inaudītō etiam posteā genere luxuriae, summa ē tabulīs inaurātīs; columnae, ut dīximus, īmae duodequadragenum pedum. signa aerea inter columnās, ut indicāvimus, fuērunt I̅I̅I̅* numerō

the lowest part of the stage was made of marble, the middle of glass, a type of luxury unheard of even afterwards (ever since that time), and the highest of gilded (wood) tablets; the lowest columns, as we have stated (mentioned above), were 38 feet (in height). The bronze statues between the columns, as we have mentioned, were three thousand in number.

*horizontal line above the number = x 1000: I̅I̅I̅ = 3,000

medullam eius concīsam in fidēliam vitream vel novam fictilem coicitō (Columella) │ throw the chopped-up marrow into a glass vessel or a new earthen one

An vidēlicet audīrem sententiās, id est vitrea frācta et somniōrum interpretāmenta? (Petronius) │ Was I to go on listening to his views, all broken bottles (vessels) and interpretation of dreams?

[ii] ebur, eboris [3/n]: ivory

signum ex ebore factum: a figure made of ivory

eburn(e)us, -a, -um: (made of) ivory

eburātus, -a, -um: adorned / inlaid with ivory

Habuit gemmāta vehicula et aurāta contemptīs argentātīs et eburātīs et aerātīs │ He had vehicles jeweled and gilded, with no regard for those plated with silver, inlaid with ivory, or decorated with bronze

gemma, -ae [1/f]: jewel; gem

gemmātus, -a, -um: adorned with jewels / precious stones

Plautus:

argentī aurīque advēxit nimium … │ He has brought a great amount of silver and gold …

lānam purpuramque multam … │ wool and purple in plenty …

lectōs eburātōs, aurātōs│ couches, adorned with ivory and gold.

Minōribus simulācrīs signīsque innumera prope artificum multitūdō nōbilitāta est, ante omnēs tamen Phīdiās Athēniēnsis Iove Olympiō factō ex ebore quidem et aurō, sed et ex aere signa fēcit (Pliny the Elder) │ An almost countless multitude of artists became famous for their smaller images and statues; yet above them all stood Phidias of Athens, who made the Olympian Jupiter, fashioned indeed of ivory and gold, but who also made statues of bronze

Images of ivory: I loathe it – as any other right-minded person does – but we’re not talking about us, we’re talking about the Romans, and they used ivory. The ivory figure is Roman although the date is uncertain.

09.04.26: Level 2; Vincent (Latin Reader); LVIII; The Speech by Calgacus

Translate:

Calgacus, imperātor praeclārus hostium, cōpiās suās convocāvit. Hiē diēs inquit, ‘dabit lībertātem omnibus Britannīs: proelium et arma sunt tūtissima et fortibus et ignāvīs. Nisi Rōmānōs ex īnsulā expulerimus, fēminae et līberī erunt servī (1): nōs etiam erimus servī: Rōmānī sunt raptōrēs orbis. Necāre et vastāre imperium appellant (2), atque, ubi sōlitūdinem faciunt, pācem appellant. Boudicca regina castra incendit, oppida expugnāvit, hostēs paene expulit. Nōs Rōmānōs expellere facile poterimus.’

Notes:

(1) Nisi Rōmānōs ex īnsulā expulerimus, fēminae et līberī erunt servī; use of the future tense in the first clause which is present tense in English i.e. the Latin conveys the inherent idea that both events take place in the future:

Nisi …  expulerimus, fēminae et līberī erunt … │ Unless we (will) drive the Romans out of the island, our women and children will be …; nisi: unless / if … not

(2) Necāre et vastāre imperium appellant; Latin uses infinitives (necāre; vastāre), but these are best translated either as verbal nouns (killing; devastating) or as nouns (slaughter; devastation)

Calgacus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calgacus

In the days long, long before “fact checking”, it was not uncommon for Roman historians to invent speeches designed to be appropriate to the situation rather than what, if anything, was actually said. Tacitus would not have been aware of any pre-battle speech made by the enemy commander. In the original text, Tacitus signals this convention by introducing the speech indirectly rather than claiming eyewitness accuracy.

The English translation of the original speech is available here:

https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/imperialism/readings/agricola.html

____________________

Calgacus, the distinguished leader of the enemy, summoned his forces. He said, “This day will give freedom to all the Britons. Battle and weapons are the safest for both the brave and the cowardly alike. Unless we drive the Romans out of the island, our women and children will be slaves; we ourselves too will be slaves. The Romans are the robbers of the world. They call slaughter and devastation an empire, and when they make a desert, they call it peace. Queen Boudicca burned camps, captured towns, and almost drove out the enemy. We will be able easily to drive the Romans out.”

08.04.26: Level 1; Comenius (1658); Eurōpa [4]: a different type of map reading

When the UK changed its education system in the late 1980s (when I was just starting), Modern Languages underwent radical reform, and yet it’s common now. It was perfectly possible not only to enhance learning with authentic material, but also to use that as a ‘springboard’ to show a grammatical point. A simple example would be a French lesson for beginners looking at images of real street or shop signs, for example BOULANGERIE, RUE du Lyonnais i.e. the kids don’t always have their heads down in a textbook, but up at a Power Point or a video. However, it can go beyond that: VOUS N’AVEZ PAS la priorité │ You don’t have right of way i.e. an authentic sign teaches a point of grammar.

I would argue, however, that it isn’t as revolutionary as the reformers would make it out to be. After all, what is Comenius doing in 1658 except employing visual recognition of the things around the pupils?

And you can do the same with Latin. We’ll do it with a map not created for learners but for people who used Latin as a common means of communication.

[1] In the previous post there were four headings worth noting:

DĒSCRĪPTIŌ ¦ TARTARIAE │ a description ¦ of Tartary

MODERNA ¦ EUROPAE ¦ DĒSCRĪPTIŌ │ a modern description ¦ of Europe

UKRAINAE ¦ PARS (Ūcrāīnae pars) │ part ¦ of the Ukraine

RĒGNĪ ¦ BOHĒMIAE ¦ NOVA ET EXĀCTA DĒSCRĪPTIŌ │ a new and precise description ¦ of the Kingdom ¦ of Bohemia

Tartaria, Eurōpa, Ūcrāīna and Bohēmia are all first declension nouns. They are no different from any other nouns, they all end in -a, and there are thousands of them.

The titles, however, refer to a description of, or a part of …. When this happens the Latin noun goes into the genitive case, and for 1^st declension nouns it’s straightforward: -a > -ae

[2] In this post, we have an 18^th century map:

TABULA GEŌGRAPHICA: a geographic map

We focus on five regions mentioned …

WALLACHIA

MOLDAVIA

POLONIA

BESSARABIA

PODOLIA

[3] Now look what happens on the map

DESPOTATŪS ¦ WALLACHIAE atque MOLDAVIAE │ the despotates ¦ of Wallachia and (of) Moldavia

The cartographer obviously didn’t have a high opinion of either of them since despotātus refers to a principality under despotic rule, but forget the history, and focus on the grammar:

Wallachia > Wallachiae

Moldavia > Moldaviae

[4] This time, we have the word:

rēgnum, -ī [2/n]: kingdom

It is a second declension noun, and its genitive is different: -ī, and here you see them both working together

PARS ¦ REGNĪ ¦ POLŌNIAE ¦ │ part ¦ of the Kingdom ¦ of Poland

REGNĪ ¦ BULGARIAE ¦ PARS │ part ¦ of the Kingdom ¦ of Bulgaria

In other words, in one phrase, you see the genitive singular of both first and second declension nouns.

[5] But the map has more “secrets” …

Tabula Geōgraphica continēns … │ a geographical map containing …

Whatever it contains is in the accusative case which is used for the direct object i.e. the thing / person being affected by the action:

PRŌVINCIAM [accusative, the direct object of ‘containing’] ¦ BESSARABIAE [genitive] │ the province ¦ of Bessarabia

1^st declension -a > -am

prōvincia > provinciam

Itemque │ likewise (containg …)

PRŌVINCIAM POLŌNICAM [accusative]  ¦ PODOLIAE [genitive] │ the Polish province ¦ of Podolia