Benjamin Leonard D'Ooge

“ It was soon the established custom for young Romans to go to Athens and to other centers of Greek learning to finish their training, and the knowledge of the Greek language among the educated classes became universal. At the same time many cultured Greeks — poets, artists, orators, and philosophers — flocked to Rome, opened schools, and taught their arts. Indeed, the preëminence of Greek culture became so great that Rome almost lost her ambition to be original, and her writers vied with each other in their efforts to reproduce in Latin what was choicest in Greek literature. ”

“ When declining an adjective follow the same method as with nouns.
When a verb is to be conjugated either in full or in part, always have its meaning, its principal parts, and its stems given first. It is far better for pupils to learn the verb by stems than by moods. Knowing the stems, tense signs, mood signs, and personal endings, and what stem to use for whatever form, the pupil is soon able to recognize any form at sight and to give instantly any form of any verb of which he knows the principal parts. He should be made to understand that until he can do this he does not know the verbs. ”

“ 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. ”

“ EXERCISES
I.
Gallī locīs superiōribus occupātīs itinere exercitum prohibēre cōnantur. Omnēs oppidānī ex oppidō ēgressī salūtem fugā petere incēpērunt. Caesar docet sē mīlitum vītam suā salūte habēre multō cāriōrem. Cum celerius omnium opīniōne pervēnisset, hostēs ad eum obsidēs mīsērunt Vīcus in valle positus montibus altissimīs undique continētur. Plūrimum inter Gallōs haec gēns et virtūte et hominum numerō valēbat. Secundā vigiliā nūllō certō ōrdine neque imperiō ē castrīs ēgressī sunt. Duābus legiōnibus Genāvae relictīs, proximō diē cum reliquīs domum profectus est. ”

“ They excelled in art, literature, music, science, and philosophy. Of all these pursuits the Romans were ignorant until contact with Greece revealed to them the value of education and filled them with the thirst for knowledge. And so it came about that while Rome conquered Greece by force of arms, Greece conquered Rome by force of her intellectual superiority and became her schoolmaster. ”

“ The three great distinctions of time are present, past, and future. All tenses referring to present or future time are called primary tenses, and those referring to past time are called secondary tenses. Now it is a very common law of language that in a complex sentence the tense in the dependent clause should be of the same kind as the tense in the principal clause. In the sentence He says that he is coming, the principal verb, says, is present, that is, is in a primary tense; and is coming, in the dependent clause, is naturally also primary. ”

“ Examine the complex sentence
The Romans killed the men who were taken
Here are two clauses:
a. The main clause, The Romans killed the men b. The subordinate clause, who were taken The word who is a pronoun, for it takes the place of the noun men. It also connects the subordinate clause who were taken with the noun men. Hence the clause is an adjective clause. A pronoun that connects an adjective clause with a substantive is called a relative pronoun, and the substantive for which the relative pronoun stands is called its antecedent. ”

“ The Spread of Latin. For some centuries after Rome was founded, the Romans were a feeble and insignificant people, their territory was limited to Latium, and their existence constantly threatened by warlike neighbors. But after the third century before Christ, Rome's power grew rapidly. She conquered all Italy, then reached out for the lands across the sea and beyond the Alps, and finally ruled over the whole ancient world. ”

“ Whose friends do you favor? We favor our friends. Who will resist our weapons? Sextus will resist your weapons. Who will persuade him? They will persuade him. Why were you injuring my horse? I was not injuring your horse. Whom does a good slave obey? A good slave obeys his master. ”

“ We observe
That the gerund is a noun and the gerundive an adjective. That the gerund, being a noun, may stand alone or with an object. That the gerundive, being an adjective, is used only in agreement with a noun. 406. Rule. Gerund and Gerundive.
The Gerund is a verbal noun and is used only in the genitive, dative, accusative, and ablative singular. The constructions of these cases are in general the same as those of other nouns. 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. ”

“ EXERCISES
I.
Mīlitēs quōs vīdimus dīxērunt imperium bellī esse Caesaris imperātōris. Helvētiī statuērunt quam [1] maximum numerum equōrum et carrōrum cōgere. Tōtīus Galliae Helvētiī plūrimum valuērunt. Multās hōrās ācriter pugnātum est neque quisquam poterat vidēre hostem fugientem. Virī summae virtūtis hostīs decem mīlia passuum īnsecūtī sunt. Caesar populō Rōmānō persuāsit ut sē cōnsulem creāret. Victōria exercitūs erat semper imperātōrī grātissima. Trīduum iter fēcērunt et Genāvam, in oppidum [2] hostium, pervēnērunt. Caesar audīvit Germānōs bellum Gallīs intulisse. ”

“ Many intransitive verbs take an indirect object and are therefore used with the dative (cf. § 153) . 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, defends 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. ”

“ The pupils will then, first of all, have to write the equivalent Latin.
The rapid recitation of paradigms by successive pupils is helpful; for example, one giving the nominative, another the genitive, and so on. Daily practice with the blank declension and conjugation schemes to be explained later (see pp. 12, 27) is strongly recommended. It all comes to this, — that drill on forms cannot be overdone. Especially after the class has been over all the regular declensions and conjugations this drill should be constant and merciless. And the work is not done until every pupil knows every form. ”

“ Pupils should be able to give instantly the English for the Latin or the Latin for the English of the words in a vocabulary, and to recite rules accurately and without hesitation.
8. Learning the Forms. To learn the forms thoroughly incessant drill is necessary, both orally and by the use of the blackboard. The inflectional system must be mastered the first year, and requires far more practice than any textbook can provide.
When a noun is to be declined either orally or at the board, train pupils always to give the meaning, the gender, and the base before giving the declension. ”

“ Selections for reading are unusually abundant and are introduced from the earliest possible moment. These increase in number and length as the book progresses, and, for the most part, are made an integral part of the lessons instead of being massed at the end of the book. This arrangement insures a more constant and thorough drill in forms and vocabulary, promotes reading power, and affords a breathing spell between succeeding subjects. The material is drawn from historical and mythological sources, and the vocabulary employed includes but few words not already learned. ”

“ The parts you have had before are given for review, and the perfect participle is the only new form for you to learn. Sometimes one or more of the principal parts are lacking, which means that the verb has no forms based on that stem. A few verbs lack the perfect passive participle but have the future active participle in -ūrus, which appears in the principal parts instead. ”

“ Besides being used as demonstrative pronouns and adjectives the Latin demonstratives are regularly used for the personal pronoun he, she, it. As a personal pronoun, then, is would have the following meanings:
116. Comparison between suus and is. We learned above (§ 98. c) that suus is a reflexive possessive. When his, her (poss.) , its, their, do not refer to the subject of the sentence, we express his, her, its by eius, the genitive singular of is, ea, id ; and their by the genitive plural, using eōrum to refer to a masculine or neuter antecedent noun and eārum to refer to a feminine one. ”

“ Slavery is no better (better by nothing) than death. The best citizens are not loved by the worst. The active enemy immediately withdrew into the nearest forest, for they were terrified by Cæsar’s recent victories. ”

“ EXERCISES
I.
Fer, ferent, ut ferant, ferunt. Ferte, ut ferrent, tulisse, tulerant. Tulimus, ferēns, lātus esse, ferre. Cum nāvigia insulae adpropinquārent, barbarī terrōre commōtī pedem referre cōnātī sunt. Gallī molestē ferēbant Rōmānōs agrōs vastāre. Caesar sociīs imperāvit nē fīnitimis suīs bellum īnferrent. Explorātōrēs, qui Caesarī occurrērunt, dīxērunt exercitum hostium vulneribus dēfessum sēsē in alium locum contulisse. Hostes sciēbant Rōmānōs frūmentō egēre et hanc rem Caesarī summum perīculum adlātūram esse. ”

“ The present subjunctive of the irregular verb sum is inflected as follows:
The Indicative and Subjunctive Compared.
The two most important of the finite moods are the indicative and the subjunctive. The indicative deals with facts either real or assumed. If, then, we wish to assert something as a fact or to inquire after a fact, we use the indicative. On the other hand, if we wish to express a desire or wish, a purpose, a possibility, an expectation, or some such notion, we must use the subjunctive. ”

“ 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. But if we wish to say Cæsar having conquered the Gauls, we have to change the voice of the participle to the passive because vincō is not deponent, and say, the Gauls having been conquered by Cæsar (see translation above) . ”

“ It is a good plan to write near the top of the blackboard before the recitation a number of nouns, adjectives, and verbs, one for each member of the class, choosing such words as occur in the lesson of the day. Send the pupils to the board and let each write the meaning of the word falling to him, give its inflection, and construct a sentence which shall contain the word in question. This exercise may be varied by the teacher writing beforehand English instead of Latin words. ”

“ Meanings of the Perfect. The perfect tense has two distinct meanings. The first of these is equivalent to the English present perfect, or perfect with have, and denotes that the action of the verb is complete at the time of speaking; as, I have finished my work. As this denotes completed action at a definite time, it is called the perfect definite.
The perfect is also used to denote an action that happened sometime in the past; as, I finished my work. As no definite time is specified, this is called the perfect indefinite. ”

“ HERCULES LEONEM SUPERAT
Eurystheus, quī perterrēbātur vī et corpore ingentī Herculis et eum occīdī [16] studēbat, ita respondit: "Audī, Herculēs! Multa mira [17] nārrantur dē leōne saevissimō quī hōc tempore in valle Nemaeā omnia vāstat. Iubeō tē, virōrum omnium fortissimum, illō mōnstrō hominēs līberāre." Haec verba Herculī maximē placuērunt. "Properābō," inquit, "et pārēbō imperiō [18] tuō." Tum in silvās in quibus leō habitabat statim iter fēcit. Mox feram vidit et plūris impetūs fēcit; frūstrā tamen, quod neque sagittīs neque ūllō aliō tēlō mōnstrum vulnerāre potuit. ”

“ Stems that add -s to the base in the nominative singular are either masculine or feminine and are declined as follows:
1. The base or stem is found by dropping -is in the genitive singular. 2. Most nouns of two syllables, like prīnceps (prīncip-) , mīles (mīlit-) , iūdex (iūdic-) , have i in the base, but e in the nominative. a. lapis is an exception to this rule. 3. Observe the consonant changes of the base or stem in the nominative:
a. A final -t or -d is dropped before -s; thus mīles for mīlets, lapis for lapids, virtūs for virtūts. ”