80 Antecedent.”
“Now let me ask you a question about English: when do you say ‘which’ rather than ‘who’ in a relative clause?”
You say ‘which’ for a thing.
“That’s right; you say ‘which’ when the Antecedent is a thing. A plan is a thing, so we say a plan ‘which we made’. Now I have another question for you: in English, when do you say ‘who’, ‘whom’, or ‘whose’?”
When it’s a person.
“That’s right. Here are the rules that tell you which form to use in English:”
- ‘Who’ is for the Subject of the verb in the relative clause. So, the subject of ‘was leading’ in ‘who was leading us’ is ‘who’.
- ‘Whom’ is for the Object of the verb, or of a preposition. So, ‘whom you were noticing’, ‘about whom you were thinking’.
- ‘Whose’ is the Possessive of a noun in the relative clause: ‘whose name you do not know’.”
“Relative clauses in Latin are a lot like relative clauses in English, except there are more relative pronoun forms (all the usual case forms). Here are the Masculine Singular forms in the five cases. These are used when the antecedent is masculine and singular:”
Relative Pronouns, Masculine Singular (A)
FormTranslationCase
quīwhoNom.
cuiuswhoseGen.
cuito whomDat.
quemwhomAcc.
quōf.w.i.b. whomAbl.
“Using these words, you could render the sentence about Seneca like this:
The boy on the road who was leading us, whom you were noticing, about whom you were thinking, to whom you were yielding, whose name you do not know, is Seneca.
The boy in the roadPuer in viā
who was leading us,quī nōs dūcēbat,
whom you were noticing,quem cernēbās, about whom you were thinking,dē quō cōgitābās, to whom you were yielding,cui cēdēbās,
whose name you don’t knowcuius nōmen nescīs,
is Senecaest Seneca.”
“The Feminine Singular relative pronouns are used when the Antecedent is feminine. Notice that three forms differ from the masculine, and that they all have the characteristic letter a. The English translations are the same.”
Relative Pronouns, Feminine Singular (B)
quaewhoNom.
cuiuswhoseGen.
cuito whomDat.
quamwhomAcc.
quāf.w.i.b. whom Abl.
“Suppose Seneca had a sister, Annaea. How would you translate this?”
“GIVE THE CASE, GENDER, NUMBER, AND ANTECEDENT OF EVERY RELATIVE PRONOUN YOU ENCOUNTER TODAY.”
The girl on the road who was leading us, whom you were noticing, about whom you were thinking, to whom you were yielding, whose name you do not know, is Annaea. (1)
“Good. Now let’s suppose the antecedent was the road, not Seneca, and the sentence read: Puer in viā quae nōs ferēbat, quam cernēbas, dē quā cōgitābās, est Seneca. (2)
“How would you translate that?”
“Good. Notice how in Latin A RELATIVE PRONOUN MAY BE MASCULINE OR FEMININE, BUT IF THE ANTECEDENT IS A THING, LIKE HERE, YOU MUST
TRANSLATE IT AS ‘WHICH’. By the way, it is also ok to use ‘that’ to translate Latin Relative Pronouns in the Nominative and the Accusative. Study the examples, then try translating these antecedent-pronoun pairs:”
Examples:
virgo quamthe maiden whom cōnsul cuithe consul to whom urbs quaethe city which
vir quem; māter cuius; amor cui; dux quī; cīvitās in quā (3)
“Now here are the Neuter Singular relative pronouns, for when the antecedent is neuter and singular. As is usual with neuters, the nominative and accusative forms are the same:”
Relative Pronouns, Neuter Singular (C)
quodwhichNom.
cuiusof whichGen.
cuito whichDat.
quodwhichAcc.
quōf.w.i.b. which Abl. “Now translate this sentence”
The plan which you heard, which is good, about which you asked, is mine. (4)
“Good. Now let’s move to Plural Relative Pronouns. The nominative, genitive, and accusative forms have US-A-UM (1st and 2nd Declension) endings, while the dative and ablative have 3rd Declension endings. The neuter nominative and accusative, however, end in –ae. All the uses and translations are the same as above – but the antecedent will be a plural noun or pronoun:”
Relative Pronouns, Plural (D)
MasculineTranslation
quīwhoNom.
quōrumwhoseGen. quibusto/for whomDat.
quōswhomAcc.
quibusf.w.i.b. whom Abl.
Feminine
quaewhoNom.
quārumwhoseGen. quibusto/for whomDat.
quāswhomAcc.
quibusf.w.i.b. whom Abl.
Neuter
quaewhichNom. quōrumof whichGen. quibusto/for whichDat.
quaewhichAcc.
quibusf.w.i.b. which Abl.
Aquae quās vidētis dulcēs esse videntur. (5) “Romans call fresh water ‘sweet’.” Mīlitēs quī bellum longum gerēbant haec timet. (6)
Mala sunt cōnsilia quae homō mūtāre nōn potest. (7)
“The neuter plural quae and the feminine nominative quae are identical, which can sometimes be confusing. If there is no feminine singular antecedent, the word quae is usually neuter plural.”
bella quae; amīcitiam quae; furōris quem; ōs quod (8)
“One challenge of Latin is that an antecedent may come after the relative clause. In English translation, you should always place the antecedent before the relative clause. It also helps to identify and keep separate the relative clause and the main clause. Study this example and then try it yourself:”
- Quī bellum longum gessērunt mīlitēs timēmus.
- Quī (masc. nom. sing. OR pl.) bellum longum (acc. s.) gessērunt (3rd pl. perf. act.) mīlitēs (masc. nom. OR acc. pl.) timēmus (1st pl. pres. act.). Rel. clause: Quī … gessērunt; main clause: mīlitēs timēmus.
- We fear the soldiers who waged the long war.
Malum est quod homō mūtāre nōn potest cōnsilium. (9)
Quī nōs accipit puer vocātur Seneca. (10)
Right then a huge flock of pigeons roosting on the roof of the temple suddenly took off, interrupting one poor orator in mid-speech. Seneca got up and walked away, leaving behind his writing tablet. Latinitas picked it up; she said I had to learn these vocabulary words before we could look at it:
3rd Conjugation (I-Verb)
perdō, perd-ere, perdid-īto ruin, lose
2nd Declension Neuter Nouns
beneficium, benefici-īn.favor, benefit officium, offici-īn.duty perīculum, perīcul-īn.danger
3rd Declension Noun
sapiēns, sapient-ism.wise man
Relative Pronoun
quī, quae, quodwho, which
Adverb
quamhow (with an adjective)
“Now let’s see what sentences Seneca chose to copy out of Syrus’ mime” His handwriting was tiny and neat. The sentences were:
Sapiēns nihil facit, quod nōn dēbet. (11) “Remember facit can mean ‘does’.” Quam miserum officium est, quod successum nōn habet! (12)
Heu dolor quam miser est quī in tormentō vōcem nōn habet! (13) “Tormentum, -ī, n. is an
‘instrument of torture,’ or simply ‘torture’
Perīcula timidus etiam quae nōn sunt videt. (14) “Timidus means ‘a timid man’.” Beneficium accipere lībertātem est vendere. (15) “Vendere means ‘to sell’.”
“Sometimes the antecedent of a relative pronoun is not expressed in Latin. When that happens, you must supply a pronoun or a suitable noun in English translation like ‘he’ or ‘she’ or ‘the things’, so that you translation begins ‘he who’, ‘she who’, ‘the thing which’, ‘they who’, etc.:”
- Beneficia plūra recipit quī scit reddere.
- Beneficia plūra (nom. OR acc. pl.) recipit (3rd sing. pres. act) quī (masc. nom. sing. or pl.) scit (3rd sing. pres. act.) reddere (inf.). Rel. clause: quī scit reddere; main clause: Beneficia plūra recipit. quī: no expressed antecedent, so supply ‘he’ (the subject of recipit).
- He receives more favors who knows how to give (them) back.
(He) who knows how to hate also knows how to love. (16)
Quam miser est quī excūsāre sibi sē nōn potest. (17) “sibi (dat.) means ‘to himself’ and sē (acc.)
‘himself’. What might excūsāre mean?”
2. The Verb possum, posse, potuī
What is the verb potest doing here?
“It means ‘is able’. You know it from the phrase sī fierī potest, which means ‘if it is able to happen’ or ‘if it is possible’. This verb is a compound. The first element is pot-, which means ‘able’. The second is the verb est, a form of sum. If you combine pot- with the forms of sum, you have a verb that means ‘to be able’. However, the t in pot- turns to s before a second s. So. the forms of the present tense looks like this:
The verb possum, Present Tense (E)
possumpossumus
potespotestis
potestpossunt
I am ablewe are able
you are ableyou all are able
he she it is ablethey are able “The infinitive is posse, ‘to be able’.”
“IN THE IMPERFECT AND FUTURE TENSE, ALL THE FORMS OF POSSUM ARE
LIKE THOSE OF SUM: pot- plus the forms eram, erās, etc. and erō, eris, etc.:”
Imperfect Tense forms(F)
poterampoterāmusI was ablewe were able poterāspoterātisyou were ableyou all were able poteratpoteranthe she it was ablethey were able
Future Tense forms(G)
poterōpoterimusI will be ablewe will be able poterispoteritisyou will be ableyou all will be able poteritpoterunthe she it will be ablethey will be able
The gods are able to change the republic. Dī rem pūblicam mūtāre possunt. Amor etiam deōs movēre potest. (18)
Semper īrātus plus se posse putat quam potest. (19) “īrātus means ‘angry man’; putat ‘thinks’.” We were able, and we will be able, to think. (20)
“Finally, words that belong inside the relative clause sometime appear before the relative pronoun.”
Really?
“Really. Here are some examples, again from Syrus. Read them out loud. The first two words belong inside the relative clause, even though they come before the pronoun:”
- Malum facere quī vult, numquam nōn causam invenit.
- Malum (acc. sing.) facere (inf.) quī (m. nom. sing.) vult, numquam nōn causam (acc. sing.) invenit. Rel. clause: Malum facere quī vult; main clause: numquam nōn causam invenit. quī: no expressed antecedent, so supply ‘he’.
- He who wants to do evil, never does not find a reason.
- Fortuna nimium quem fovet, stultum facit.
- Fortuna (nom. sing.) nimium quem (acc. s. masc.) fovet (3rd sing. pres. act.), stultum (acc. sing. masc. OR neut.) facit (3rd sing. pres. act.). Rel. clause: Fortuna nimium quem fovet; main clause: stultum facit.
IIII. He whom Fortune favors too much, she (Fortune) makes stupid.
Mūtare quod nōn potes, tolerāre dēbēs. (21) “Tolerāre means ‘to tolerate’.”
Bona mors est hominī, vītae quae extinguit mala. (22) “Extinguit means ‘extinguishes’.”
As I finished, the crowd was giving a round of applause for the last speaker, for he had persuaded an imaginary Alexander the Great that he should turn back from his conquests and go home.
And then – with absolutely no warning – the ground began to shake. At first, I thought someone was kicking the stones I was sitting on, but it quickly became obvious that everyone around us was feeling the same thing. A small piece of terracotta molding cracked off the temple and fell to the ground, where it exploded in a cloud of dust. Everyone who was sitting outside was safe, but people in the temple came rushing out to avoid being struck by falling debris. And then, just as quickly as it had started, it stopped; the world was stationary again. People calmed down and looked over their bodies, as if to make sure they were all there. One young man who had what looked like a broken leg was being carried out of the temple, but otherwise there were no injuries, just a bit of damage to the building.
The flock of pigeons circled the temple and settled on the roof again. And then we saw him – Seneca, returning from wherever he had gone, a look of angelic calm on his face. He could not contain himself, and began chatting excitedly with Latinitas, who, you’ll recall, he thought was his tutor Sotion, the philosopher. I caught the beginning of it – Spiritus terram mōvit; est opus fātī et deī, ‘A breath moved the earth; it is the work of fate and the god’ – but then he lost me. sīgnum… aqua… was all I could make out.
“He says that when he saw the pigeons take off, and feral dogs looking alarmed, he knew it was a sign of an earthquake.”
I didn’t see any dogs.
“There were three of them near the altar chewing on bones. Then, once he saw ripples in that puddle, he knew a quake was imminent. He went into the temple because he wanted to see whether the statue of Jupiter would move.”
Did it?
“It shook just like everything else did. ‘Now’, he just said to me, ‘Neptune, the god of earthquakes, cannot shake his brother, can he? It is absurd. This shows that the god does not live in the statue. The true dwelling of the god is not in the statue, or the temple, but tōtō mundō, the entire world.’”
Seneca had returned to his notetaking. Strange kid! He was already a young philosopher, and pretty smart. But then I compared his notebook to mine. In the time we had been sitting there, I had taken ten times as many notes. Little Seneca was smart, but he could work on his speed, I thought.
40. A denarius coin from 78 BCE depicting the aedēs of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline, quae magnās columnās habuit quattuor, which had four large columns (in reality, the temple almost certainly had more).