51 cūnctus, cūnct-a, cūnctumall

falsus, fals-a, falsumfalse, deceptive

Defective Verb

coepī, coep-isseto have begun

2nd Conjugation (E-Verbs)

exerceō, exerc-ēre, exercuīto exercise, practice

misceō, misc-ēre, miscuīto mix, confuse

Conjunctions

magis quammore than

namquefor in fact

ubiwhen, where

Preposition

prō + ablativeinstead of, on behalf of

Falsa sunt cūncta vītae commoda, ubi urbs est sine lēge. (1)

Inimīcitiam magis quam amīcitiam cum Rōmānīs habēmus. (2)

Once I wrote these words down and recited them, Latinitas offered me some salty chunks of cheese dipped in honey for a snack. While I was chewing, six naked but very serious looking middle-aged men climbed down the rocks of the breakwater to go swimming in the harbor. The contrast between their pale torsos and deeply-tanned limbs was very stark, and made them look both funny and a little vulnerable.

“That older, stocky man,” Latinitas said, “is Gaius Sallustius Crispus, or Sallust, the future Roman historian; we will meet him when they’re done swimming. Did you ever read Shakespeare’s King Lear?” the goddess asked me.

I sort of remember it, I replied. The swimmers were stepping carefully and slipping on seaweed as they eased themselves into the salt water.

“This here spectacle is what Lear meant when he called human beings ‘poor, bare, forked animals’. Do you want to join them swimming?”

I gave her a look begging, no, no swimming.