8. Map of the Seven Hills of Rome and other important features. A ‘hill’ in Latin is called a collis, while a ‘mountain’ is called a mons. What are the Latin words for ‘field’, ‘island’, and ‘wall’?

Explōrātiō Quarta (IV) Adventure Four

Where and When Are We Today?

Noun Declensions (Families)

Vocabulary

Grammatical Gender

English Meanings

Noun Stem and Declension

Noun Cases

Nominative Case

Nominative Singular Forms

Second Declension Nouns Ending Nominative Singular in –r

Genitive Case

Genitive Singular Forms

How to Identify the Declension of a Noun

The Genitive-Stem Rule

Accusative Case

Accusative Singular Forms

Drill

Translating Sentences

How to Translate from Latin to English

How to Translate from Latin to English without an Expressed Subject

How to Translate from English to Latin

How to Translate from English to Latin with a Genitive Word

Exercises 1-20

Drill

Tiberius & Gaius Gracchus and Cornelia Africana

Cornelia Africana’s Letter to Gaius Gracchus

Reading: Cornelia Africana Addresses Gaius Gracchus

Where and When Are We Today?

Mons Aventīnus, Rōma

Mēnsis Maius

Q. Caeciliō Metellō Balearicō T. Quinctiō Flāminiō cōnsulibus

Aventine Hill, Rome

May, 123 BCE

When we arrived in Rome this time, the sun was just beginning to creep over the eastern horizon. We stood in the middle of a commercial neighborhood, surrounded by storehouses, horses, and carts. Our destination was a large townhouse at the top of the hill, a hill Latinitas said was called the Aventine. We entered the house by the back entrance to avoid attracting attention, but we stopped to witness a little drama play out in the rafters over the kitchen, where a swallow was huddled with her fledglings. One young bird sailed out of the nest, attempting to fly, but fell to the ground; immediately a passing stray dog snatched it up and carried it away, pleased with its surprise breakfast. As this pitiful scene unfolded, the mother bird chirped loudly to her young, as if to warn them, ‘Don’t follow him! Don’t follow him!’ Latinitas simply held her hands to her head and muttered Quid ego… a, nōn possum, What I… ah, I can’t even… We had to move on.

The atrium of the house was occupied by a large crowd directing its attention at a man standing on a platform in a toga. His toga was bright white, covered in chalk dust. “He is whitened, candidus,” Latinitas explained, “because it is customary for candidates to wear a chalk-white toga; Gaius, who you see here, is up for election, and today is election day.” His slave assistants were handing out small gifts to the visitors – a coin, a loaf of bread, a piece of fruit – who shouted Avē, Gaī before departing. A few waited around for the chance to get in a word with him; some handed Gaius petitions written on small pieces of paper, wooden tablets, even pieces of pottery. We sat down out of sight in a corner as I watched the crowd intently; Latinitas jiggled my notebook to get my attention.

Noun Declensions (Families)

“Until this crowd thins out, we should focus on studying. We have given some love to verbs, but we’ve neglected their partners, nouns, the names or labels for objects, people, and places. Every Latin noun belongs to a declension. A declension is the family the noun belongs to – the pattern its forms follow – like the conjugations of verbs. There are five declensions. We will discuss four today and save the third declension for tomorrow. Here are the dictionary forms of several Latin nouns, grouped by declension. Two of these, fīlia and fīlius, you’ve already encountered. Copy all of these into the vocabulary section of your notebook:”

Vocabulary

First Declension

Latin Noun	Noun Gender	English Meaning
dea, de-ae	feminine	goddess
familia, famili-ae	f.	family
fēmina, fēmin-ae	f.	woman
fīlia, fīli-ae	f.	daughter
patria, patri-ae	f.	country
via, vi-ae	f.	road; journey
vīta, vīt-ae	f.	life

Second Declension

Latin Noun	Noun Gender	English Meaning
amīcus, amīc-ī	masculine	friend
inimīcus, inimīc-ī	m.	enemy, “A personal enemy – an ‘unfriend’.”
deus, de-ī (Nominative Plural is dī)	m.	god
fīlius, fīli-ī	m.	son
populus, popul-ī	m.	people
puer, puer-ī	m.	boy
vir, vir-ī	m.	man

Fourth Declension

Latin Noun	Noun Gender	English Meaning(s)
manus, man-ūs	f.	hand
senātus, senāt-ūs	m.	Senate

Fifth Declension

Latin Noun	Noun Gender	English Meaning(s)
rēs, r-eī	f.	thing; fact; matter; property
rēs pūblica, r-eī pūblic-ae	f.	republic; commonwealth
fīdēs, fīd-eī	f.	trust; trustworthiness
spēs, sp-eī	f.	hope

Grammatical Gender

“The dictionary form tells you several things about a noun. One is its grammatical gender; every Latin noun has a gender: masculine, feminine, or neuter. Perceived gender roles determine the grammatical gender of some nouns: fēmina, ‘woman’, is feminine, and vir, ‘man’, is masculine. Yet patria, ‘country’, is feminine, even though it essentially means ‘fatherland’. So, a noun’s gender is not predictable, and it needs to be memorized.”

English Meanings

“The dictionary form also tells you a noun’s meaning. When we translate into English, we try to convey the meaning with a suitable English noun, but keep in mind that the shades of meaning of a Latin word may not be perfectly conveyed by a single English word. And translations are not set in stone, since English itself evolves. I have given you one or two possible translations, to get you started, but a good dictionary will show you others, teaching you the nuances of each word.”

Noun Stem and Declension

“The first part of the dictionary entry (the two forms, like dea, de-ae) shows you the declension to which the noun belongs and the noun’s stem, allowing you to know all of its different case forms.

Noun Cases

“The case of a noun tells you what grammatical function the noun plays in a sentence. The five essential cases are nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, and ablative. Today we will study three of these, the nominative, genitive, and accusative.”

Nominative Case

“The nominative case is used when a word is the subject or predicate of a sentence. The predicate comes after the verb ‘is’ in English, or any other verb that indicates a state of being. The underlined words would be in the nominative case in Latin:”

English Examples Corresponding to the Nominative Case

The country (subject) is a republic (predicate).

I (subj.) am your friend (pred.).

“The subject pronouns I taught you earlier (ego, tū, is, ea, etc.) are all in the nominative case.”

Nominative Singular Forms

“When you look up a noun in the dictionary, you will see its nominative singular form first. Each of these four declensions (noun families) has a characteristic nominative singular ending:”

Nominative Singular Endings

Declension	Ending	Stem + Ending	Translation
1st declension:	-a	vi-a	road (subject or predicate)
2nd declension:	-us	amīc-us	friend (subj. or pred.)
4th declension:	-us	man-us	hand (subj. or pred.)
5th declension:	-ēs	r-ēs	thing (subj. or pred.)

Second Declension Nouns Ending Nominative Singular in –r

“Some 2nd declension nouns, like vir and puer, end in the letter –r in the nominative singular; they do not add –us in the nominative singular like amīcus.”

Genitive Case

“The genitive case signifies a relationship between two nouns, such as possession. In English translation, a Genitive word is often preceded by an added ‘of’. The underlined words would be in the Genitive in Latin; note that the ‘of’ is not conveyed in Latin by a separate word:”

English Examples Corresponding to the Genitive Case

The friend of the man is late.

The mind of the enemy is cunning.

Genitive Singular Forms

“When you look up a noun in the dictionary, the second form given is the genitive singular. Each declension (including the 3rd, which we’ll learn later) has a characteristic genitive singular ending:”

Genitive Singular Endings

Declension	Ending	Stem + Ending	Translation
1st declension:	-ae	vi-ae	of road
2nd declension:	-ī	amīc-ī	of friend
4th declension:	-ūs	man-ūs	of hand
5th declension:	-eī	r-eī	of thing

How to Identify the Declension of a Noun

“The genitive singular form is important because it tells you what declension the noun belongs to – no other case form does that. This is why the genitive singular form is given in the dictionary entry; most dictionaries will not specify what declension a noun is, because you are expected to figure it out from the genitive singular ending So:”

Identifying Noun Declension from the Genitive Singular Ending

If the genitive singular ends with…	… then the noun’s declension is:
-ae	1st declension
-ī	2nd declension
-ūs	4th declension
-eī	5th declension

The Genitive-Stem Rule

“Another important thing to learn is the genitive-stem rule. To obtain the stem of a noun, remove the genitive singular ending from the genitive singular form; everything that remains is the stem of the noun. You cannot reliably determine the stem based on the nominative singular form; look to the genitive singular form.”

Accusative Case

“The accusative case is used when a word is the object of a verb. The object pronouns you learned (mē, tē, eum, eam, etc.) are all in the accusative case. In English, the object usually follows the verb. The underlined nouns would be in the accusative case in Latin:”

English Examples Corresponding to the Accusative Case

The woman calls the man (object of ‘calls’).

The parent teaches the boy (obj. of ‘teaches’).

Accusative Singular Forms

“The accusative singular form for nouns consists of the noun stem plus the following endings:”

Accusative Singular Endings

Declension	Ending	Stem + Ending	Translation
1st declension:	-am	vi-am	road (object)
2nd declension:	-um	amīc-um	friend (object)
4th declension:	-um	man-um	hand (object)
5th declension:	-em	r-em	thing (object)

Drill

“Provide the genitive singular and accusative singular forms of the following nouns, which are given in the nominative singular form. To do so, you must: identify the declension to which the noun belongs (see above: How to Identify the Declension of a Noun); identify the stem of the noun based on the genitive-stem rule (see above); add the correct case ending to the stem.”

Nominative Singular	Genitive Singular	Accusative Singular
vīta	vītae	vītam
populus
amīcus
patria
fīlius
senātus
familia
spēs

Translating Sentences

“The sentences in this chapter will become more complex than those we have studied so far. To understand and translate them correctly, you need to follow a routine. With practice, it will become second nature and you will learn shortcuts. But, for now, follow these steps when translating from Latin to English: I. Read, II. Mark up, III. Translate based on your markups.”

How to Translate from Latin to English

I. Read: read the Latin aloud.

II. Mark up: identify the case, number, and gender of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives; the person, number, and tense of verbs. (Use abbreviations like ‘nom.’ for nominative, ‘acc.’ for accusative.)

III. Translate based on your markups: any nominative subject goes before the verb, which is followed by any nominative predicate or accusative object. Add, where English requires it, ‘the’ or ‘a’.

Translating from Latin to English: Example

I. Vīta mē parāre docet.

II. Vīta (nom. sg. fem.) mē (acc. sg.) parāre (infin.) docet (3rd sg. pres.).

III. Life (nom. subj.) teaches (3rd sg. pres.) me (acc. obj.) to prepare (infin.).

How to Translate from Latin to English without an Expressed Subject

“Remember, when there is no nominative subject expressed, you can determine the subject from the verb form.”

Translating from Latin to English without an Expressed Subject: Example

I. Puer sum.

II. Puer (nom. sg. masc.) sum (1st sg. pres.).

III. I am (1st sg. pres.) a boy (nom. pred.).

How to Translate from English to Latin

I. Mark up the English: identify any subject nominative, the person, number, and tense of verbs, and any predicate nominative or object accusative.

II. Identify the Latin vocabulary needed

III. Put the Latin vocabulary into the appropriate forms based on your markups; put the conjugated verb at the end of your sentence or clause.

Translating from English to Latin: Example

I. Life (subj. nom.) is (3rd sing. pres.) a road (pred. nom.).

II. vīta, vītae, f. : sum, esse : via, viae, f.

III. Via (pred. nom.) est (3rd sing. pres.) vīta (subj. nom.).

“Remember: Latin often puts the predicate or most important word first.”

How to Translate from English to Latin with a Genitive Word

“Finally, let’s return to the genitive case. As I said, when you translate a genitive word into English you add ‘of’ before it. So, when you are translating an English sentence that has ‘of’ before a noun, put ‘of noun’ into the genitive.”

Translating from English to Latin with a Genitive Word: Example

I. You all (subj. nom.) will preserve (2nd pl. fut.) the life (obj. acc.) of the country (gen.).

II. vōs : servō, servāre : vīta, vītae, f. : patria, patriae, f.

III. Vōs (subj. nom.) vītam (obj. acc.) patriae (gen.) servābitis (2nd pl. fut.).

“As I’ve said, the verb tends to go at the end of a Latin sentence. You could also omit the subject nominative vōs, since the verb form servābitis tells you that the subject is ‘you all’.”

“Tēne doceō?”

Quid?

“‘Am I teaching you?’ Remember, one way to ask a question in Latin is to put –ne at the end of the first word. Tēne doceō?”

Mē docēs… sī fierī potest. Latīnitās tū es, nōn ego.

“Tū dēlīrās! Bene agis, you are doing well.”

Exercises 1-20

“Today, in your notebook, write out steps II and III for each Latin sentence and steps I-III for each English sentence.”

1. Puer nōn es, et dea nōn sum.

2. He was a friend.

3. Fīlia eum docet.

4. The woman will see the family.

5. Nec puerum nec virum vocātis.

6. They were ordering the son.

7. Ego senātum timēbam.

8. You will prepare the boy.

9. Inimīcus neque mē neque tē vidēbit.

10. She was fearing both the god and the goddess.

11. Spēs populī erat is.

12. The man will be the enemy both of the people and of the senate.

13. Fīlius virī patriam servābit.

14. The hand of the man is strong.

15. Vīta nōs spērāre docet.

16. The twins will order you all to remain.

17. Adulescēns nihil habet nisi spem habet.

18. If the family will ask me to remain, I will teach you.

19. Timēsne viam? Spēs et fīdēs nōs servābunt.

20. The woman was preserving the country, and the country [was preserving] the woman. “Write the verb only once in this sentence.”

Drill

Provide the Genitive Singular and Accusative Singular forms of rēs pūblica, republic. The first word, rēs, is a 5th declension noun, while the second word, pūblica, has 1st declension forms. They act as one word, of the feminine gender, and they are translated as one word in English, ‘republic’, but they are two separate words in Latin and each uses a different set of endings.

Tiberius & Gaius Gracchus and Cornelia Africana

“You’ll have a chance to practice using your new words more in a moment; right now it looks like the crowd has thinned out.”

The crowd was indeed gone; a small band of friends and allies stayed with Gaius to discuss politics. In the back of the house we could hear supplies being moved and the scraping sound of a sword being sharpened on a whetstone.

“This man,” she explained, “Gaius Gracchus, is the brother of the late Tiberius Gracchus. Tiberius was assassinated a decade ago after he held the office of tribune. A Roman tribune is a public advocate who raises issues of concern to the plēbs, the common people, and has veto power over proposed laws. Politicians who claim to look out for the interests of ordinary Romans often run for this office. What made Tiberius different was that he took those interests very seriously.”

“As Rome expanded its empire, it took control of enormous amounts of land in Italy and elsewhere. Powerful interests in Rome ended up owning most of it; meanwhile, tens of thousands of veterans who risked their lives in the wars that gave Rome that land were homeless. In a famous speech Tiberius observed about these veterans that ‘The wild beasts that roam over Italy have their dens, each has a place of repose and refuge. But the men who fight and die for Italy enjoy nothing but the air and light; without house or home they wander about with their wives and children.’ Tiberius proposed to sieze what was supposed to be public land and redistribute it to the veterans. His proposal was very popular, but met with fierce opposition from the Senators, many of whom were wealthy landholders. They organized and plotted against him; Tiberius was assassinated.”

“Today the Romans will be electing tribunes again. In addition to furthering Tiberius’ cause, Gaius wants to get revenge on the powerful people who plotted his brother’s murder. When we first saw him, he was greeting his supporters, his clientēs. He is now discussing plans to ensure there is a good turn out in the Campus Martius when the vote takes place.”

Cornelia Africana’s Letter to Gaius Gracchus

A messenger suddenly came in from the street, panting, bearing a letter – a small collection of wax tablets. Litterae ā mātre tuā, a letter from your mother, he announced. Gaius winced, but nodded for it to be read aloud. To judge from his reaction, he was not ready for what he was about to hear. In the letter, after a short greeting, his mother, Cornelia Africana – a member of a famous and conservative Roman family, the gēns Cornēlia – announced her complete and total opposition to his candidacy:

 

In Latin the last paragraph sounded like this:

Cornelia Africana’s Letter to Gaius Gracchus: Excerpt

Latin

English

Dēnique quae pausa erit? Ecquandō dēsinet familia nostra insānīre? Ecquandō modus eī reī habērī poterit? Ecquandō dēsinēmus et habentēs et praebentēs molestiīs dēsistere? Ecquandō perpudescet miscendā atque perturbandā rē pūblicā? Sed sī omnīnō id fierī nōn potest, ubi ego mortua erō, petitō tribūnātum; per mē facitō quod lubēbit, cum ego nōn sentiam. Ubi mortua erō, parentābis mihi et invocābis deum parentem. In eō tempore nōn pudēbit tē eōrum deōrum precēs expetere, quōs vīvōs atque praesentēs relictōs atque dēsertōs habueris? Nē ille sīrit Iuppiter tē ea persevērāre, nec tibi tantam dēmentiam venīre in animum. Et sī persevērās, vereor nē in omnem vītam tantum labōris culpā tuā recipiās, utī in nūllō tempore tūtē tibi placēre possīs.

“Finally, what end will there be? Will our family, familia nostra, ever stop going insane? Will the limit of this business ever be reached? Will we ever stop being in trouble, giving and receiving it? Will we ever feel shame over our disrupted and disturbed republic? But if this is completely impossible, run for tribune when I am dead. As far as I am concerned, do what you like when I feel nothing. When I am dead, you will worship me as parent and invoke me, your parent, as a god, deum. Will you not feel shame at that time praying to gods whom you abandoned and deserted while they were living and present? I hope Jupiter doesn’t allow you to persist in those things, or let such great madness come into your mind. And if you persist, I fear that, through your own fault, you will receive so much trouble your whole life through, in omnem vītam, that at no point in time will you ever be able to feel satisfied with yourself.

It was, clearly, a brutal rejection of Gaius’ hopes – and of all days for the letter to arrive! As it was being read, some of his friends looked somberly at each other, while others stared at the ground. Gaius himself had gone back into the courtyard and could be heard hacking furiously at a tree with a sword.

Latinitas leaned in and explained things further. “Cornelia’s feelings are clear: how can you do these things to me, to risk your life running for tribune? Serving in that office had already led to Tiberius’ murder. She loves her son, of course: she taught Tiberius and Gaius how to be the brilliant public speakers that they eventually became. But she is angry, like that swallow we saw earlier, angry with a mother’s love. Meanwhile, Gaius is thinking, no, I have a duty to defend our family, to avenge Tiberius, and carry on his populist legacy; how can you do this to me right now? Mother and son both see themselves as victims of the other.”

We slipped out of the house and took a road leading out of town, the Via Ostiensis, heading away from the crowds streaming down to the Campus Martius to vote. One young man, sprinting ahead of everyone else with some urgency, plowed into Latinitas, knocking her into my arms. For a moment I thought she would lash out at him; but instead she apologized, blaming her poor eyesight and calling herself worthless. It puzzled me, but she insisted we carry on and changed the subject. Shortly thereafter we sat down at a shrine to Venus Cytherēa, Venus of Cythera, that some worshippers had decorated with seashells and garlands of spring flowers. She showed me a page with some Latin on it.

Reading: Cornelia Africana Addresses Gaius Gracchus

“Let’s see if you can translate the next passage into English. First read each Latin sentence aloud, then try to put each sentence into English, completing steps II and III in your head:”

Tū es fīlius meus, adulescēns. Tū es familia mea. Tū es vīta mea et spēs. Sī valēs, valeō. Sī patria valet, nōs valēmus. Quid cōgitās? Timēsne inimīcum? Inimīcum nōn timeō. Nihil est inmīcus. Timēsne senātum? Senātum nōn timeō. Bonus est senātus. Senātus patriam servāre cōgitat. Cōgitāsne mūtāre rem pūblicam? Mūtā rem pūblicam, sī fierī potest! Sed servāre vītam tuam dēbēs. Tē nōn rogō. Tē iubeō. Tē vītam tuam servāre iubeō. Servā vītam tuam!

Vocabulary Notes: meus, mea my tuam your

When I was done she nodded and handed me a wax tablet with Cornelia’s original letter on it. She asked me to read it aloud and see if I could identify any of the words.

“You’re a natural,” she said, “I may have to adopt you; tē fīlium Latīnitātis vocābunt, they will call you ‘the son of Latinitas’.”

She stood up. “It’s time to go.”

Wait, I said; where did you get that copy of Cornelia’s letter?

“Cornelia dispatched a messenger with a second copy of the letter, instructing him to go to the Campus and read it aloud where the voters were gathering. You saw him, the man who ran into me. But to let a mother humiliate her son like that, in front of all the voters? I couldn’t allow that.”

And with a flick of her wrist, the tablet vanished from her hand, ending up somewhere deep in the folds of her clothing, and she walked away.

“Semper animadverte, always pay attention!”

We spent the remainder of the day wandering through the crowds at Rome, practicing vocabulary now and then, but mostly sight-seeing and people-watching. We stayed long enough to witness the excitement that followed Gaius’ win. Sadly, though, his victory was short lived; a few years later, I read, he met the same fate as his brother, struck down by an assassin’s knife. His murder, together with his brother’s, marked the beginning of the end, not of the Roman empire, but of the form of government called the Roman Republic.

9. An oil-on-canvas painting, Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi. Presenting her Children and Saying ‘Here are my Riches and Jewels, by Joseph-Benoît Suvée, 1795. The artist used his imagination; the interiors of Roman houses did not look much like this. The Latin word for ‘painting’ is pictūra.