Benjamin L. D'Ooge

“ Even yet it is more nearly than any other tongue the universal language of the learned. The life of to-day is much nearer the life of ancient Rome than the lapse of centuries would lead one to suppose. You and I are Romans still in many ways, and if Cæsar and Cicero should appear among us, we should not find them, except for dress and language, much unlike men of to-day.
Latin and English. Do you know that more than half of the words in the English dictionary are Latin, and that you are speaking more or less Latin every day? ”

“ We have learned that what we want done or not done is expressed in Latin by a subjunctive clause of purpose. In this class belong also clauses after verbs of fearing, for we fear either that something will happen or that it will not, and we either want it to happen or we do not. If we want a thing to happen and fear that it will not, the purpose clause is introduced by ut. If we do not want it to happen and fear that it will, nē is used. Owing to a difference between the English and Latin idiom we translate ut after a verb of fearing by that not, and nē by that or lest. ”

“ Latin, like English, has three genders. Names of males are usually masculine and of females feminine, but names of things have grammatical gender and may be either masculine, feminine, or neuter. Thus we have in Latin the three words, lapis, a stone; rūpēs, a cliff; and saxum, a rock. Lapis is masculine, rūpēs feminine, and saxum neuter. The gender can usually be determined by the ending of the word, and must always be learned, for without knowing the gender it is impossible to write correct Latin. ”

“ The chief difficulty in translating arises from the fact that instead of a single adjective, adverb, or noun, we often have a phrase or a clause taking the place of one of these; for Latin, like English, has adjective, adverbial, and substantive clauses and phrases. For example, in the sentence The idle boy does not study, the word idle is an adjective. In The boy wasting his time does not study, the words wasting his time form an adjective phrase modifying boy. ”

“ Transitive verbs take a direct object in the accusative; but sometimes they have an indirect object or dative as well. The whole question, then, as to whether or not a verb takes the dative, depends upon its capacity for governing an indirect object. A number of verbs, some transitive and some intransitive, which in their simple form would not take an indirect object, when compounded with certain prepositions, have a meaning which calls for an indirect object. Observe the following sentences:
In each sentence there is a dative, and in each a verb combined with a preposition. ”

“ How are words divided into syllables? What is the ultima? the penult? the antepenult? When is a syllable short? When is a syllable long? What is the law of Latin accent? Define the subject of a sentence; the predicate; the object; the copula. What is inflection? declension? conjugation? What is the ending of the verb in the third person singular, and what in the plural? What does the form of a noun show? Name the Latin cases. What case is used for the subject? the direct object? the possessor? What relation is expressed by the dative case? Give the rule for the indirect object. ”

“ The quality denoted by an adjective may exist in either a higher or a lower degree, and this is expressed by a form of inflection called comparison. The mere presence of the quality is expressed by the positive degree, its presence in a higher or lower degree by the comparative, and in the highest or lowest of all by the superlative. In English the usual way of comparing an adjective is by using the suffix -er for the comparative and -est for the superlative; as, positive high, comparative higher, superlative highest. Less frequently we use the adverbs more and most ”

“ Ablative Absolute. The ablative of a noun or pronoun with a present or perfect participle in agreement is used to express attendant circumstance.
Note 1. The verb sum has no present participle. In consequence we often find two nouns or a noun and an adjective in the ablative absolute with no participle expressed; as, tē duce, you (being) leader, with you as leader; patre īnfirmō, my father (being) weak.
Note 2. Be very careful not to put in the ablative absolute a noun and participle that form the subject or object of a sentence. ”

“ Declension of Nouns. We learned above (§§ 19, 20) the difference between the subject and object, and that in English they may be distinguished by the order of the words. Sometimes, however, the order is such that we are left in doubt. For example, the sentence The lady her daughter loves might mean either that the lady loves her daughter, or that the daughter loves the lady.
1. If the sentence were in Latin, no doubt could arise, because the subject and the object are distinguished, not by the order of the words, but by the endings of the words themselves. ”

“ The principal parts of the Latin verb are the first person singular of the present indicative, the present infinitive, the first person singular of the perfect indicative, and the perfect passive participle. ”

“ We can, however, throw emphasis on different words by speaking them with more force. Try the effect of reading the sentence by putting special force on my, daughter, dinner, farmers.
In Latin, where the office of the word in the sentence is shown by its ending (cf. § 32. 1) , and not by its position, the order of words is more free, and position is used to secure the same effect that in English is secured by emphasis of voice. To a limited extent we can alter the order of words in English, too, for the same purpose. Compare the sentences
1. ”

“ The possessives agree with the name of the thing possessed in gender, number, and case. Compare the English and Latin in
Observe that suum agrees with puerum, and is unaffected by the gender of Sextus or Julia.
b. When your, yours, refers to one person, use tuus; when to more than one, vester; as,
c. Suus is a reflexive possessive, that is, it usually stands in the predicate and regularly refers back to the subject. Thus, Vir suōs servōs vocat means The man calls his (own) slaves. Here his (suōs) refers to man (vir) , and could not refer to any one else. ”

“ The Gauls having been conquered by Cæsar is nominative absolute in English, which requires the ablative absolute in Latin, and we translate,
Gallīs ā Caesare victīs exercitus domum revertit
Note 3. The fact that only deponent verbs have a perfect active participle (cf. § 375. a) often compels a change of voice when translating from one language to the other. For example, we can translate Cæsar having encouraged the legions just as it stands, because hortor is a deponent verb. ”

“ How do the perfect subjunctive and the future perfect indicative active differ in form? How is the pluperfect subjunctive active formed? Inflect the subjunctive active and passive of cūrō, dēleō, vincō, rapiō, mūniō. Inflect the subjunctive tenses of sum; of possum. What are the tenses of the participles in the active? What in the passive? Give the active and passive participles of amō, moneō, regō, capiō, audiō. Decline regēns. What participles do deponent verbs have? What is the difference in meaning between the perfect participle of a deponent verb and of one not deponent? ”

“ How can we tell whether an adjective in -er is declined like līber or like pulcher? Why must we say nauta bonus and not nauta bona? Name the Latin possessive pronouns. How are they declined? With what does the possessive pronoun agree? When do we use tuus and when vester? Why is suus called a reflexive possessive? What is the non-reflexive possessive of the third person? When are possessives omitted? What four uses of the ablative case are covered by the relations expressed in English by with? Give an illustration in Latin of the ablative of manner; of the ablative of cause ”

“ There are no rules for gender in the third declension that do not present numerous exceptions.1 The following rules, however, are of great service, and should be thoroughly mastered:
1. Masculine are nouns in -or, -ōs, -er, -ĕs (gen. -itis) .
a. arbor, tree, is feminine; and iter, march, is neuter.
2. Feminine are nouns in -ō, -is, -x, and in -s preceded by a consonant or by any long vowel but ō.
a. Masculine are collis (hill) , lapis, mēnsis (month) , ōrdō, pēs, and nouns in -nis and -guis—as ignis, sanguis (blood) —and the four monosyllables
3. ”

“ In a Latin sentence the most emphatic place is the first; next in importance is the last; the weakest point is the middle. Generally the subject is the most important word, and is placed first; usually the verb is the next in importance, and is placed last. The other words of the sentence stand between these two in the order of their importance. ”

“ The Gerundive is a verbal adjective and must be used instead of gerund + object excepting in the genitive and in the ablative without a preposition. Even in these instances the gerundive construction is more usual.
407. Rule. Gerund or Gerundive of Purpose. The accusative of the gerund or gerundive with ad, or the genitive with causā3 (= for the sake of) , is used to express purpose.
3. causā always follows the genitive. Note. These sentences might, of course, be written with the subjunctive of purpose,—vēnērunt ut audīrent; vēnērunt ut urbem vidērent. ”

“ When we report a statement instead of giving it directly, we have an indirect statement. (Cf. § 414.) So, if we report a question instead of asking it directly, we have an indirect question.
a. An indirect question depends, usually as object, upon a verb of asking (as petō, postulō, quaerō, rogō) or upon some verb or expression of saying or mental action. (Cf. § 420.)
431. Compare the following direct and indirect questions:
a. The verb in a direct question is in the indicative mood, but the mood is subjunctive in an indirect question. ”

“ You can tell by its ending to which noun an adjective belongs. The ending of parva shows that it belongs to puella, and the ending of bonam that it belongs to deam. Words that belong together are said to agree, and the belonging-together is called agreement. Observe that the adjective and its noun agree in number and case.
55. Examine the sentences
In the first sentence the adjective parva is separated from its noun by the verb and stands in the predicate. ”

“ An adjective placed before its noun is more emphatic than when it follows. When great emphasis is desired, the adjective is separated from its noun by other words.
4. Interrogative words usually stand first, the same as in English.
5. The copula (as est, sunt) is of so little importance that it frequently does not stand last, but may be placed wherever it sounds well. ”

“ The personal pronouns he, she, it, etc., which are necessary in the inflection of the English verb, are not needed in the Latin, because the personal endings take their place. Of course, if the verb’s subject is expressed we do not translate the personal ending by a pronoun; thus nauta pugnat is translated the sailor fights, not the sailor he fights.
2. The u in nūntiō is long by exception. (Cf. § 12. 2.) 31. EXERCISES
I. 1. The daughter loves, the daughters love. 2. The sailor is carrying, the sailors carry. 3. The farmer does labor, the farmers labor. ”

“ Write side by side the declension of domina, dominus, and pīlum. A comparison of the forms will lead to the following rules, which are of great importance because they apply to all five declensions:
a. The vocative, with a single exception (see § 73. b) , is like the nominative. That is, the vocative singular is like the nominative singular, and the vocative plural is like the nominative plural.
b. The nominative, accusative, and vocative of neuter nouns are alike, and in the plural end in -a.
c. The accusative singular of masculines and feminines ends in -m and the accusative plural in -s. ”

“ In English we may say, for example, a man of courage, using the descriptive phrase without an adjective modifier. In Latin, however, an adjective modifier must always be used, as above.
a. Latin makes a distinction between the use of the two cases in that numerical descriptions of measure are in the genitive and descriptions of physical characteristics are in the ablative. ”

“ Compare the following parallel uses of the gerund and gerundive:
a. We observe
(1) That the gerund is a noun and the gerundive an adjective.
(2) That the gerund, being a noun, may stand alone or with an object.
(3) That the gerundive, being an adjective, is used only in agreement with a noun.
406. Rule. Gerund and Gerundive. 1. The Gerund is a verbal noun and is used only in the genitive, dative, accusative, and ablative singular. ”