Explōrātiō Decima (X) Adventure Ten

Latinitas’ appearance always changed slightly from one visit to the next: sometimes she looked older, sometimes younger, sometimes she was shorter than me, and sometimes, like today, she was my height. With her hair wrapped up in a dark headscarf, she told me she was going to assume the identity of a Carthaginian woman named Hanna, a cook who would be getting the day off while Latinitas took over her opera, her jobs. As soon as we blinked into antiquity, we were standing on what looked like a breakwater composed of massive blocks of white stone, surrounded by the sea. Latinitas placed a pot over a cooking fire to bring the water and barley inside to a boil.

Once the fire was going, Latinitas introduced me to the place we had traveled to. On one side the waves were pounding; hungry seagulls eyed us, sizing up their opportunities for a stolen breakfast. On the other side ran a long, narrow harbor, a portus with about a dozen ships, and what looked like a second harbor mouth at the far end. Beyond that entrance, she explained, was a cōthōn, a circular inner harbor. We were visiting Carthage, a port city that had at one time been the capital of Rome’s greatest enemy.

“Nearly 100 years have passed since the end of the third Punic War, when the Romans sacked this city. As you can see, many of the buildings are still abandoned.” It did seem underpopulated, and it reminded me of one of those small American cities whose streets are lined with nothing but abandoned factories and liquor stores.

I looked at the cooking pot again. The aqua was boiling now, but the barley was still hard. You would be surprised how long it took for it to soften; I did not envy ancient cooks. We sat down to study the language and by the time the meal was ready we had completed almost all of our lesson.

Vocabulary

The Negative Prefix in–

“Before you copy down your new vocabulary, tell me: what’s the opposite of an amīcus?”

An inimīcus, I answered.

“Good. Sometimes when you add in- to a word in Latin it gives it the opposite meaning. A syllable added to the start of word like this is called a prefix. The Latin prefix in– can function like English ‘in-’ or ‘un-’: insensitive, uncertain. So, inimīcus means, really, an ‘unfriend’ or a ‘not-friend’. You’ll notice a few examples of the negative prefix in– in the vocabulary.”

First Declension Nouns

Latin Noun	Noun Gender	English Meaning
amīcitia, amīciti-ae	f.	friendship
inimīcitia, inimīciti-ae	f.	hostility
lingua, lingu-ae	f.	tongue; language

Fourth Declension Noun

Latin Noun	Noun Gender	English Meaning
vultus, vult-ūs	m.	(facial) expression

US-A-UM Adjectives (First and Second Declension Adjectives)

Latin Adjective	English Meaning
commodus, commod-a, commodum	convenient; suitable
incommodus, incommod-a, incommodum	inconvenient; unsuitable
cūnctus, cūnct-a, cūnctum	all; entire
falsus, fals-a, falsum	false; deceptive
ferus, fer-a, ferum	wild
vērus, vēr-a, vērum	true; real

Conjunctions

Latin Conjunction	English Meaning
magis quam	more than
ubi	when; where

Adverb

Latin Adverb	English meaning
nōnne	not? “This is nōn plus –ne. The speaker expects a ‘yes’ answer: Nōnne bonus sum? ‘Am I not good?’, ‘Aren’t I good?’

Preposition

Latin Preposition + Case	English Meaning
prō + ablative	instead of; on behalf of; in front of

Exercises 1-6

1. Amīcus vērus spem falsam nōn dat.

2. Id bellum multa incommoda nōbīs dabit.

3. Senātus cūnctus vultum ferum et linguam cōnsulis timet.

4. Prō nōbīs multa pater cōgitābat.

5. Nōn sunt commoda vītae, ubi urbs est sine lēge.

6. Inimīcitiam magis quam amīcitiam cum Rōmānīs habēmus.

Sallust

Once I wrote these words down and recited and practiced 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.

Perfect Verb Tense

“Fine, no swimming for us today; instead you are going to learn another verb tense. You already know three verb tenses: the present, the imperfect, and the future. Now you will study the perfect tense. There are three things to learn about the perfect tense: a new set of personal endings, a new verb stem, and the meaning of the tense – two meanings, in fact.”

Meanings of the Perfect Tense

“Let’s start with the meanings of the perfect tense. The verb form amāvī, for example, is the first-person singular perfect tense form of the verb amō, amāre. This form can be translated ‘I loved’ or ‘I have loved’. Either way, it indicates an action that took place in the past. The perfect tense differs from the imperfect tense: the imperfect describes an ongoing or repeated action in the past, whereas the perfect tense describes a completed action in the past. The term perfectum means ‘completed’, while imperfectum means ‘uncompleted’. Hence the names.”

“So, every perfect tense form has two different possible translations. The first is the simple past. Every English verb has a simple past form:”

English Simple Past Examples

I loved; you saw; he moved; we gave; you all were; they asked

“The other translation is the present perfect. In English, we add ‘have’ or ‘has’ before the past participle (a form that is sometimes identical with the simple past):”

English Present Perfect Examples

I have loved; you have seen; he has moved; we have given; you all have been; they have asked

So how do I know which translation to use?

“It depends on the context. The simple past tense is likelier in a passage that describes the past with a mix of imperfect and perfect verb forms; the present perfect is likelier in a passage that describes the present with a mix of present and perfect verb forms. For now, practice translating the perfect tense both ways.”

Perfect Tense Personal Endings

“Let’s study the perfect tense personal endings. Good news: these endings work for all of the verb conjugations, and even for irregular verbs. All of them have the characteristic letter –i–, except the third-person plural, which is either –ēre or –ērunt:”

Perfect Tense Personal Endings

	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st	-ī	-imus	I verbed/have verbed	we verbed/have verbed
2nd	-istī	-istis	you verbed/have verbed	you all verbed/have verbed
3rd	-it	-ēre / -ērunt	he/she/it verbed/has verbed	they verbed/have verbed

Perfect Verb Stem: Third Principal Part of the Verb

“Finally, let’s talk about the new verb stem that you need to learn. All of the tenses you have already learned – the present, imperfect, and future – form what is called the present system: they all use the present stem of the verb. The perfect tense belongs to the perfect system, which uses the perfect stem of the verb (later on you will learn other tenses that use the perfect stem).

“The perfect stem is the third principal part of the verb, minus the -ī personal ending. Update your vocabulary entries by adding the third principal part to each verb (and save a little room for the fourth and final principal part, which you’ll learn another time):”

Vocabulary

First Conjugation (A-Verbs)

First and Second Principal Parts	Third Principal Part
amō, amāre	amāv-ī
cōgitō, cōgitāre	cōgitāv-ī
mūtō, mūtāre	mūtāv-ī
parō, parāre	parāv-ī
rogō, rogāre	rogāv-ī
servō, servāre	servāv-ī
spērō, spērāre	spērāv-ī
vocō, vocāre	vocāv-ī
dō, dare	ded–ī

Second Conjugation (E-Verbs)

First and Second Principal Parts	Third Principal Part
dēbeō, debēre	dēbu-ī
doceō, docēre	docu-ī
habeō, habēre	habu-ī
iaceō, iacēre	iacu-ī
timeō, timēre	timu-ī
valeō, valēre	valu-ī
moveō, movēre	mōv-ī
videō, vidēre	vīd-ī
iubeō, iubēre	iuss-ī
maneō, manēre	mans-ī

“Finally, the irregular verb sum:”

Irregular Verb

First and Second Principal Parts	Third Principal Part
sum, esse	fu-ī

Perfect Tense Conjugation Example

“Let me give you an example of a verb conjugated in the perfect tense; we’ll use amō, amāre, amāvī. The perfect stem is amāv– (the 3rd principal part minus the personal ending –ī):

Conjugation of amō, amāre, amāvī (‘to love’), in the Perfect Tense

	Perfect Tense Forms		English Translations
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st	amāv-ī	amāv-imus	I loved/have loved	we loved/have loved
2nd	amāv-istī	amāv-istis	you loved/have loved	you all loved/have loved
3rd	amāv-it	amāv-ēre/-ērunt	he/she/it loved/has loved	they loved/have loved

Drill

“Conjugate the following verbs in the perfect tense: identify the perfect stem, then add the six perfect tense personal endings. Finally, translate the forms both of the ways that you were shown above.”

dō, dare, dedī

	Perfect Tense Forms		English Translations
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st
2nd
3rd

videō, vidēre, vīdī

	Perfect Tense Forms		English Translations
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st
2nd
3rd

sum, esse, fuī

	Perfect Tense Forms		English Translations
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st
2nd
3rd

The Perfect Infinitive

“There is one more perfect form for you to learn today, the perfect infinitive. The perfect infinitive is the perfect stem plus the ending –isse. For example, the perfective infinitive of amō, amāre, amāvī is amāv-isse. The translation of the perfect infinitive is ‘to have verbed’. For example, amāvisse is ‘to have loved’.

Defective Verbs

“A few verbs in Latin do not have present, imperfect, or future tense forms (the present system), but start instead with the perfect tense. One such verb is coepī, coep-isse, ‘to have begun’. Its principal parts are the first-person singular perfect form and the perfect infinitive. When a verb is missing some of the usual forms it is called a defective verb.”

Vocabulary

Defective Verb

Latin Verb	English Meaning
coepī, coep-isse	to have begun

First Conjugation Verb (A-Verb)

Latin Verb	English Meaning
laudō, laud-āre, laudāvī	to praise

Second Conjugation Verbs (E-Verbs)

Latin Verb	English Meaning
exerceō, exerc-ēre, exercuī	to train (someone); practice (something)
misceō, misc-ēre, miscuī	to mix; confuse; confound

Exercises 7-19

7. Nōnne tēcum fuī?

8. Mē servāvistī, quisquis es.

9. Quem timuistis, cōnsulēs?

10. Prō rē pūblicā dux mīlitēs exercēbat.

11. Amor falsa docuit; deus malus fuit.

12. Quis falsa atque incommoda laudābit?

13. Artem bellī Rōmānī exercuērunt

14. Vōbīs imperium sine fīne dedī.

15. Coepī mēcum sīc cōgitāre. “Latin says ‘think with myself’ where English says ‘think to myself’.”

16. Nōnne tē vultūs virōrum bonōrum mōvēre?

17. Deceptive Fortune began to confuse all things.

18. At night, when father saw the light of the fires, he called my mother.

19. Through false letters we ordered him to give to us part of the soldiers.

The Irregular Verb eō, īre, īvī* / iī*

“It looks like we have a few more minutes before this is ready,” she said, stirring the pot. “Let’s talk about one more important Latin verb: eō, īre, īvī / iī, ‘to go’. Its forms are slightly irregular. In particular, the stem is the letter ī–, that’s it. In the present tense, in the forms eō and eunt, the stem becomes e–, and in the third-person singular it is short i–. The imperfect and future forms are ī– followed by the endings you already know (-bam, bās, etc. and –bō, bis, etc.):”

Vocabulary

Latin Verb	English Meaning
eō, īre, īvī / iī	to go

Present Tense Forms of eō, īre, īvī* / iī*

	Present Tense Forms		English Translation
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st	eō	īmus	I go	we go
2nd	īs	ītis	you go	you all go
3rd	it	eunt	he/she/it goes	they go

Imperfect Tense Forms of eō, īre, īvī* / iī*

	Imperfect Tense Forms		English Translation
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st	ībam	ībāmus	I was going	we were going
2nd	ībās	ībātis	you were going	you all were going
3rd	ībat	ībant	he/she/it was going	they were going

Future Tense Forms of eō, īre, īvī* / iī*

	Future Tense Forms		English Translation
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st	ībō	ībimus	I will go	we will go
2nd	ībis	ībitis	you will go	you all will go
3rd	ībit	ībunt	he/she/it will go	they will go

Perfect Tense Forms of eō, īre, īvī* / iī*

“The verb eō has two perfect stems, either īv– or i–, followed by the perfect endings you just learned:”

	Perfect Tense Forms		English Translation
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st	īv-ī / i-ī	īv-imus / i-imus	I went	we went
2nd	īv-istī / i-istī	īv-istis / i-istis	you went	you all went
3rd	īv-it / i-it	īv-ēre / i-ēre, īv-ērunt / i-ērunt	he/she/it went	they went

Infinitives and Imperative Forms of eō, īre, īvī / iī

“These are its infinitive and imperative forms:”

Present Infinitive	English Translation	Perfect Infinitive	English Translation
īre	to go	īsse	to have gone

Singular Imperative	English Translation	Plural Imperative	English Translation
ī	Go!	īte	Go, (you all)!

Compound Verbs from eō, īre, īvī / iī

“This verb also has many compounds. A compound verb consists of a prefix added to a base verb. For some compounds you can figure out the meaning because the prefix is a preposition you know. For example, ad-eō means ‘I go to’ and ex-eō means ‘I go out’. Other times the meaning of a compound may be hard to guess – you just have to learn it like any other verb.”

Vocabulary

Latin Verb	English Meaning
ad-eō, ad-īre, ad-iī	to go to
ex-eō, ex-īre, ex-iī	to go out
inter-eō, inter-īre, inter-iī	to die; vanish; be destroyed
red-eō, red-īre, red-iī	to return

“Sometimes the prefix of a compound verb appears again as a preposition in the sentence. When that happens, leave out one of them when you translate into English: Ad senātum adeō ‘I go to the senate’.”

Exercises 20-25

20. Ad cōnsulem eunt.

21. Ab urbe abīte, amīcī!

22. Quem adībis, Lesbia? Tua fāma interiit.

23. Cum mors ad nōs adit, anima ex membrīs exit et interīmus.

24. Go to death, Catiline!

25. We went out of the town, when he went toward it.

Sallust and Roman History

After adding some vinegar, oil, dates, mint, and salt to the porridge, Latinitas served it to the men, who were drying themselves in the sun after their swim. The oldest and clearly the most important member of their group was Sallust. He was a bald man who – unlike most Roman men at this time – sported a large curly beard that was half white. Sallust was the Roman governor, or propraetor, of this province, which was called Āfrica. A prōvincia, she explained, is basically a conquered nation ruled by the Romans.

Sallust was entertaining a Greek visitor from Sicily named Diodorus. The way they spoke made an interesting contrast. Sallust was very slow and deliberate, pausing after almost every word, so that I had little trouble hearing his Latin words, though their meaning often escaped me. Diodorus spoke much more rapidly and was completely unintelligible. Another reason I couldn’t follow him, Latinitas explained, was that he was switching back and forth between Greek and Latin. Sallust mostly stuck to Latin, but Diodorus kept slipping from Latin into his native Greek. I had to rely on Latinitas to interpret for me; she had learned Greek when she was a young girl from her cousin Hellenismos. Her translation of their conversation went like this.

“As you know,” Sallust said, “after Julius Caesar defeated the aristocratic Romans who followed Pompey in battle at Thapsus – a town not far from here, towards the midday sun – he put me in charge of this, the province Africa, because of my services for him during the war. He commanded me to defend the border against the nomads who come from the desert to harass the Punic farmers; to manage the grain trade, so the plebs in Roman will have sufficient food; and, finally, to receive veterans from Caesar’s great army and settle them in colonies in this territory.”

“Ah, I have seen their ships sailing into this harbor!” Diodorus exclaimed. “Some days a few, some days twenty or forty, coming from Italy and Hispania and elsewhere. I have also seen the men leave the ships with their wives and children and belongings, and go to the camps outside Carthage’s walls. Merchants come to sell them plows and seed and the other sort of things that new farmers require. I did not know where they were going, but now I understand. They will be led out to the abandoned fields of the Carthaginians, to cultivate them and build new houses there.”

“Part of the Punic land is abandoned,” Sallust replied, “but it is not without owners. The owners watch with sad faces as our surveyor comes to their fields with his rod and measuring chain. As is the antient custom, the surveyor first lays out two roads at a right angle, then in each quarter he defines with his measures one hundred squares of equal size; each square is the allotment for one family; those of higher rank receive more. If a Punic man is dwelling in that square, he must either become a tenant of the Roman farmer or move to the city. Some also join the nomads.”

“A man who loses everything will try anything, even the sword, to recover his property,” Diodorus responded. “There is no justice for these men; when they call upon the gods, they will be heard. It seems to me this policy lacks foresight.”

“I will tell you the truth, Diodorus. Roman soldiers now, after they have finished serving with their generals in wars, descend on the City. There they gamble, drink, and fritter their wealth away. With all their money lost, they sell their talents for a price, committing murders or arson; they rape, plunder, and steal, just as if their own city, Rome, was some barbarian kingdom. But if they go to the countryside and possess land, the same soldiers can become farmers; then the troubles cease. Caesar knows that the Punic men have lost their land and are indignant. He plans to restore Carthage, to make it flourish again. Those pressed by poverty can put their hands to that massive task.”

Diodorus’ eyes grew wide. “Caesar wants to rebuild a city that almost toppled the might of Rome in three huge wars? This seems madness to me. Even if the people of this city will be farmers loyal to Rome, a generation from today they may not be. Is it not possible that, just as a tree that bears good fruit in its native soil tends to bear bad fruit when transplanted to a foreign land, so these Italian colonists, nourished by the nature of this place, will begin to change their way of life, until eventually they will become hostile to the Roman people?”

Sallust thought for a moment, and replied. “It is possible, what you say; but the opposite may also occur. It may happen that, in time to come, a new Carthage will rise and, by instigating a contest for virtue, will cause the character of the Roman people to move in a better direction. The ancient rivalry of Rome and Carthage once created a competition that favored good character traits; traits that vanished from the Romans after Carthage was destroyed. Before then, the ways of the Romans were much nobler, in my view, because…:”

Sallust, Bellum Catilīnae Excerpt

And here Latinitas began to feed me words, so that I could understand directly what Sallust was saying about the Romans of old. Try to identify the Latin words that correspond to the English words in bold:

Iūrgia, discordiās, simultātēs cum hostibus exercēbant, cīvēs cum cīvibus dē virtūte certābant. In suppliciīs deōrum magnificī, domī parcī, in amīcōs fidēlēs erant. Duābus hīs artibus – audāciā in bellō, et ubi pāx ēvēnerat, aequitāte – sēque remque pūblicam cūrābant.

They were working out their quarrels, disagreements, rivalries with the enemy; citizens were competing with citizens about virtue. In the worship of the gods they were generous; stingy at home; faithful toward their friends. By these two arts – by boldness in war, and when peace came to pass, by fairness – they were caring for themselves and the republic.

Sed ubi labōre atque iūstitiā rēs pūblica crēvit, ubi rēgēs magnī bellō domitī, nātiōnēs ferae et populī ingentēs vī subāctī, Carthāgō, aemula imperī Rōmānī, ab stirpe interiit, et cūncta maria terraeque patēbant, saevīre Fortūna ac miscēre omnia coepit.

But when the republic increased through struggle and justice, when great kings were tamed in war, wild nations and huge peoples subdued by force, Carthage, rival of the Roman empire, vanished down to the root, and all the seas and lands were open, Fortune began to turn savage and to confuse all things.

Namque avāritia fidem, probitātem cēterāsque artīs bonās subvortit; prō hīs superbiam, crūdēlitātem, deōs neglegere, omnia vēnālia habēre ēdocuit.

For greed subverted trust, honesty, and other good skills; instead of these, it taught pride, cruelty, neglect (of) the gods, and to hold all things for sale.

Ambitiō multōs mortālīs falsōs fierī subēgit, aliud clausum in pectore, aliud in linguā prōmptum habēre, amīcitiās inimīcitiāsque nōn ex rē, sed ex commodō aestumāre, magisque voltum quam ingenium bonum habēre.

Ambition forced many mortals to become deceptive, to have one (thing) closed in the chest, another (thing) ready on the tongue, to value friendships and dislikes not based on fact, but based on convenience, to hold the facial expression more (important) than good nature.

“Who can deny that these changes took place after the destruction of this city? And so it may be that a new Carthage will restore the Roman character. Caesar is a man of great foresight; it seems to me he understands this.”

As he was finishing, a small boat pulled up to the breakwater. A messenger hopped out before it was even tied up and came running toward us, making only a brief salute before addressing Sallust, who gestured for him to speak.

“Atrox nuntius, praetor: Caesar occīsus est! Ā patribus cōnscrīptīs, Brūtō et Cassiō dūcentibus! Marcus Antōnius et senātus dē imperiō iam certant. Dangerous news, praetor: Caesar has been killed! By fathers of the roll-call (senators), with Brutus and Cassius taking the lead! Marc Antony and the senate are now competing over imperial authority.”

After the messenger fully described the situation, I could see Sallust’s gaze grow distant; he wandered away to his tent to consult with his officers, while Diodorus pressed the messenger for more details of the murder.

“A week ago, Caesar was assassinated during a meeting of the Senate,” Latinitas explained. “The meeting was held in that same chilly hall where we were studying just recently. He was killed, irony of ironies, while sitting under the statue of Pompey.”

She took the dishes down to the water’s edge to rinse them out. “For a few months Rome was governed a man who, however inhumane when waging war, was willing to forget past wrongs and saw a path forward. Now he is gone; no one knows who will replace Caesar.”

“As for Sallust,” she said, nodding to the tent where his slave attendant was helping him put his uniform on, “the next boat from Rome will contain an order for his recall. His enemies in the Senate intend to prosecute him on a made-up charge of embezzlement. In his retirement he will put down his thoughts on the causes of Rome’s decline in three histories – the Bellum Catilīnae, the Bellum Iugurthae, and the Historiae – the first two of which you can still read, if you want to learn more.”

She handed me some leftover dates. When I finished them, I was back in my bedroom. Out in the street I could hear a police car blaring through traffic. There are emergencies in the place where I live too, and just as important to the persons at the center of them, even if they don’t make the history books.

22. The Death of Julius Caesar, by Vincenzo Camuccini, 1805. Caesar occīsus est, Caesar was killed, at the foot of a statue of his rival, Pompey the Great, show here in the background. Pompey’s statue holds a sphere which represents what the Romans called the orbis terrārum, ‘the circle of the lands’, i.e. the globe of the earth.

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Dream of Latin Copyright © 2020 by Phil Thibodeau; Sebastian Adrian Anderson; and Emily Fairey is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

10 Explōrātiō Decima (X) Adventure Ten

English Simple Past Examples

English Present Perfect Examples

Perfect Tense Personal Endings

Conjugation of amō, amāre, amāvī (‘to love’), in the Perfect Tense

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