41. A fresco painting from Pompeii, circa 50 CE. Narcissus iuvenis imāginem in fonte mīrātur; the youth Narcissus admires his reflection in a spring.

Explōrātiō Ūndēvīcēnsima (XIX) Adventure Nineteen

Where and When Are We Today?

Ovid

Vocabulary

Exercises 1-6

The Demonstrative Pronoun and Adjective ille, illa, illud

Vocabulary

Case Forms of the Demonstrative ille, illa, illud

Drill

Exercises 7-11

The Adjective alter, altera, alterum

Vocabulary

Case Forms of the Adjective alter, altera, alterum

Exercises 12-14

The Adjective īdem, eadem, idem

Vocabulary

Case Forms of the Adjective īdem, eadem, idem

Exercises 15-17

Reflexive Pronouns

First and Second Person Reflexive Pronouns

The Third Person Reflexive Pronoun suī, sibi, sē

Vocabulary

Exercises 18-23

The Intensive Adjective ipse, ipsa, ipsum

Vocabulary

Case Forms of the Intensive Adjective ipse, ipsa, ipsum

Exercises 24-25

Exercises 26-28

Ovid’s Metamorphoses

Ovid, Metamorphoses: The Myth of Narcissus

Where and When Are We Today?

Tomis, Thrācia

Mēnsis Aprīlis

Germānicō Iūliō Caesare C. Fonteiō Capitōne cōnsulibus

Tomis, Thrace

April, 12 CE

I could smell the salt-spray ex marī, and feel it misting my neck as we strolled up to the city from the harbor, where boats were bobbing nervously under the onslaught of a strong, cold spring ventus, or wind. It was clear we were not in Rome anymore, or Italy for that matter, to judge by the local attire: too many people in the city were wearing furs – fur hats, fur outer garments – for that to be the case; pants and ponytails were also in fashion. Quite a few residents, including some women, had bows and arrows slung over their shoulders. There were more horses on the streets, somewhat taller than the horses in Rome. Sailors and workers spoke a language that was full of z and sh sounds and did not sound much like Latin. In the marketplace we saw hints of long-distance trade, like merchants sitting silently next to giant baskets full of amber, silver nuggets, chips of sky-blue lapis lazuli, and dozens of other precious stones. The amber dealers, who were light-skinned and blonde, seemed like they came from the north; those who dealt in silver and lapis had clothing that made me think of a documentary I once watched about the Silk Road in central Asia. Latinitas noticed me shivering and bought me a snack from a street vendor. The warm, round flatbread she handed me was incredibly tasty, as were the tiny roasted fish. But the wine was… an acquired taste, a mix of vinegar and brine. When she wasn’t looking, I dumped it out and rinsed the taste out of my mouth with water from a rain barrel.

We sat down and made a picnic on a street corner next to a small statue of a god who was riding a horse. Latinitas drew my attention to the city walls, and to an isolated figure standing on the parapet, gazing off into the distance. A middle-age man with black curls turning grey, he was the only person I had seen so far dressed in a Roman toga.

Ovid

“Ille est Ovidius, that is Ovid; Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō. We are visiting him today, not in eastern Italy, where he grew up, or Rome, where he was a famous celebrity, but here” – she gestured all around us – “in Tomis. We are on the northwest shore of the Black Sea, Pontus, a thousand miles from Rome. Ovid has been exiled here and in a few years he will here reach the end of his life.”

“What was he famous for?”

“For being a talented poet who wrote about two timeless subjects: love and mythology. The Metamorphōsēs is an epic poem that tells all the famous stories from Greek and Roman mythology. Each story ends with its characters transforming into some other form, which is what ‘metamorphosis’ means in Greek. He also composed a long elegiac poem called the Ars Amātōria, the so-called ‘Art of Love’. It’s in three parts; the first is a manual for seduction, and the second is a lecture on how to keep a relationship alive. Both are written for men; the third part offers similar advice for women. It was because the Ars seems to promote adultery that the emperor Augustus sent him into exile here.”

He was exiled for writing poetry?

“That was the official reason given for his banishment, the carmen, or poem, that he wrote. The real reason was an error, a mistake Ovid made: Augustus caught Ovid and his daughter Julia together in bed trying not to make too much noise.”

I guessed that explained why he ruined Ovid’s life. Does he still write poetry?

“More than ever. Every month he completes litterae aliae in verse about the state of his despair, which he sends to Rome in the hope that Augustus will have a change of heart. Ovid also has friends making his case there. But Augustus won’t listen to them; nor will the next emperor, Augustus’ stepson Tiberius. Tiberius was married to Julia, you see.”

“Ille est Ovidius,” she repeated, then reviewed the pronoun hic: “Hic est pānis, this is bread, hī sunt piscēs, these are fishes, et… ubi est tuum vīnum?” I shrugged my shoulders. “Apparently you’ve turned the wine I bought you into water. Haec est aqua. Now add these words to your vocabulary.”

Vocabulary

A-Verbs (First Conjugation)

Latin Verb	English Meaning
errō, err-āre, errāv-ī	to wander; make a mistake
iuvō, iuv-āre, iūv-ī	to help “This verb often governs an infinitive, e.g.,bonafacereiuvat‘it helps to do good things’.”
spectō, spect-āre, spectāv-ī	to watch

Deponent A-Verb (First Conjugation)

Latin Verb	English Meaning
mīror, mīr-ārī, mīrātus sum	to admire; wonder at

I-Verb (Third Conjugation)

Latin Verb	English Meaning
dūcō, dūc-ere, dūx-ī	to lead; consider

First Declension Noun

Latin Noun	Noun Gender	English Meaning
umbra, umbr-ae	f.	shadow; shade; ghost

Third Declension Nouns

Latin Noun	Noun Gender	English Meaning
error, errōr-is	m.	mistake
imāgō, imāgin-is	f.	image

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

Latin Adjective	English Meaning
caecus, caec-a, caecum	blind
medius, medi-a, medium	middle, the middle of “The adjective medius often comes before a noun that it agrees with; when it does, translate it as ‘the middle of’: ex mediā urbe, ‘out of the middle of the city’.”

The Demonstrative Pronoun and Adjective ille, illa, illud

“Today we are going to study five new adjectives and pronouns. The first of these is ille, illa, illud. This is a demonstrative word meaning ‘that’ or ‘those’. It contrasts with hic, haec, hoc, which, as you know, means ‘this’ or ‘these’. The demonstrative hic, haec, hoc points to something closer, while ille, illa, illud points to something further away.”

Vocabulary

Demonstrative Pronoun and Adjective

Latin Demonstrative	English Meaning
ille, illa, illud	that; those

“This demonstrative is formed like alius, alia, aliud, with -ud for the neuter singular nominative and accusative, and the irregular genitive (-īus) and dative singular (-ī) forms:”

Case Forms of the Demonstrative ille, illa, illud

Case	M.	F.	N.	M.	F.	N.
	Singular			Plural
Nom.	ille	illa	illud	illī	illae	illa
Gen.	illīus	illīus	illīus	illōrum	illārum	illōrum
Dat.	illī	illī	illī	illīs	illīs	illīs
Acc.	illum	illam	illud	illōs	illās	illa
Abl.	illō	illā	illō	illīs	illīs	illīs

“When there is no expressed noun in agreement, once again you must supply a suitable noun in English:”

Demonstrative Adjective and Pronoun Uses, Illustrated

Demonstrative Adjective	ille mōs	that custom
Demonstrative Pronoun	ille	that (man)

“By the way, the words that mean ‘the’ in the Romance languages, like el and la and los and las in Spanish, come from ille, illa, illud, but they have a different meaning.”

Drill

“Put these noun and demonstrative adjective pairs in the specified case form:”

Latin Noun with Gender	Form of ille, illa, illud	Latin Noun / Adjective Combination in correct case, gender and number
umbra, umbr-ae, f.	+ ille, illa, illud: accusative plural form
error, errōr-s, m.	nominative plural
imāgō, imāgin-is, f.	accusative singular
somnium, somni-ī, n.	accusative singular
nūmen, nūmen-is, n.	dative plural

 

The Adjective alter, altera, alterum

“Now, tell me, what does the adjective alius, ali-a, aliud mean?”

Other; another; one, the other; some, others; or different.

“Good. Latin has another adjective that means something similar, but it is used only when there is a pair: two eyes, two brothers, two consuls, two opposites.”

Vocabulary

Latin Adjective	English Meaning
alter, alter-a, alterum	other (of two); another; one (of two) “When this word occurs once it means ‘other’ or ‘another’. When it occurs twice it means ‘one... the other’.”

“The endings are like those for miser, miser-a, miserum, except all genders of the genitive and dative singular have the irregular endings -īus and -ī, respectively. The genitive singular form, alterīus, is used as the genitive singular of alius, ali-a, aliud.”

Case Forms of the Adjective alter, altera, alterum

Case	M.	F.	N.	M.	F.	N.
	Singular			Plural
Nom.	alter	altera	alterum	alterī	alterae	altera
Gen.	alterīus	alterīus	alterīus	alterōrum	alterārum	alterōrum
Dat.	alterī	alterī	alterī	alterīs	alterīs	alterīs
Acc.	alterum	alteram	alterum	alterōs	alterās	altera
Abl.	alterō	alterā	alterō	alterīs	alterīs	alterīs

Use of the Adjective alter, altera, alterum, Illustrated

Alter cōnsul iūra dīcit, alter bellum gerit.

One consul gives judgments; the other wages war.

The Adjective īdem, eadem, idem

“The Latin adjective that means ‘same’ is related to the English word ‘identical’:”

Vocabulary

Latin Adjective	English Meaning
īdem, eadem, idem	the same

“The first part of each form is based on the pronoun and adjective is, ea, id, which you have already learned. Remember these? ‘He, she, it’ and so on?”

Review of Forms: The Pronoun and Adjective is, ea, id

Case	M.	F.	N.	M.	F.	N.
	Singular			Plural
Nom.	is	ea	id	eī	eae	ea
Gen.	eius	eius	eius	eōrum	eārum	eōrum
Dat.	eī	eī	eī	eīs	eīs	eīs
Acc.	eum	eam	id	eōs	eās	ea
Abl.	eō	eā	eō	eīs	eīs	eīs

Yep.

“To make īdem, eadem, idem, you add the syllable -dem to each of those forms. But, before -dem, the form is becomes ī-; the form id shortens to i-, and the -m in eum, eam, eōrum, and eārum becomes an -n-:”

Case Forms of the Adjective īdem, eadem, idem

Case	M.	F.	N.	M.	F.	N.
	Singular			Plural
Nom.	īdem	eadem	idem	eīdem	eaedem	eadem
Gen.	eiusdem	eiusdem	eiusdem	eōrundem	eārundem	eōrundem
Dat.	eīdem	eīdem	eīdem	eīsdem	eīsdem	eīsdem
Acc.	eundem	eandem	idem	eōsdem	eāsdem	eadem
Abl.	eōdem	eādem	eōdem	eīsdem	eīsdem	eīsdem

“For this adjective, the case ‘ending’ is inside the word, before the -dem syllable. Vidēsne?”

“When this adjective appears without a noun in agreement, it is a substantive, and you supply ‘man’, ‘woman’, ‘thing’, or a suitable noun based on context in the usual way.”

Uses of the Adjective īdem, eadem, idem, Illustrated

eadem dea	the same goddess
in eōdem locō	in the same place
Eōsdem sciō.	I know the same men.

We came to Rome at the same time, and helped the same (men).

Eōdem tempore Rōmam vēnimus, et eōsdem iūvimus.

 

Reflexive Pronouns

As I worked on these sentences, Latinitas walked over to a vendor in the marketplace and, after a bit of haggling, paid for a small metal object, which she came back and handed to me. It was a hand-mirror, speculum, made of metal – bronze, I think – with a female figure carved on the handle and a mythological scene of two lovers engraved on the back. It was not as bright as a modern glass mirror, but I could see myself clearly in it.

“Vidēsne tē in speculō? Do you see yourself in the mirror?”

Yeah.

“Say: Videō mē, and translate it.”

Videō mē, I see me. That felt a little like baby-talk, so I corrected myself, saying, I see myself in the mirror.

“Good. When the subject of a sentence acts upon itself, then in English you use the pronouns yourself, myself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves. These are called reflexive pronouns. Many verbs can be used reflexively, but a few are often used with a reflexive, like ‘bathing’ or ‘caring for’: I bathe myself, I care for myself, and so on.”

First and Second Person Reflexive Pronouns

“In Latin, unlike in English, the first- and second-person reflexive pronouns are the same forms as the non-reflexive first- and second-person pronouns:”

First and Second Person Reflexive and Non-Reflexive Pronouns, Illustrated

Mē videō.	I see myself. (reflexive)
Mē videt.	He/she sees me. (non-reflexive)
Vōs servāvistis.	You all saved yourselves. (reflexive)
Nōbīs parcit.	He/she spares us (non-reflexive)

The Third Person Reflexive Pronoun suī, sibi, sē

“For the third person, however, there is a special reflexive pronoun, suī, sibi, sē. Those forms are the genitive, dative, and accusative or ablative; they do not differentiate gender or number. There is no nominative form.”

Vocabulary

Latin Pronoun	English Meaning
suī (gen.), sibi (dat.), sē (acc., abl.)	himself; herself; itself; themselves

“Remember: a reflexive pronoun refers back to the subject of the sentence.”

Third Person Reflexive Pronoun, Illustrated

Catullus dē sē cōgitābat.	Catullus was thinking about himself.
Dea sē ad illum locum fert.	The goddess brings herself to that place.
Partem urbis sibi servant.	They preserve part of the city for themselves.

 

The Intensive Adjective ipse, ipsa, ipsum

“English is ambiguous because the words ‘yourself’, ‘myself’, ‘himself’, ‘herself’, ‘itself’, ‘ourselves’, ‘yourselves’, and ‘themselves’ can be used in two different ways. Consider these sentences:”

English Intensifying Adjectives

I did the job myself.

You yourself were there.

I gave the letter to the woman herself.

They told us themselves.

“These are not reflexive pronouns – the subject does not act upon itself. Instead, these adjectives emphasize. You can call them intensive adjectives.”

“Latin has a separate form for the intensive adjective, to distinguish it from the reflexive pronoun. This adjective is ipse, ipsa, ipsum:

Vocabulary

Latin Adjective	English Meaning
ipse, ipsa, ipsum	himself; herself; itself; themselves; the actual; the very

“It has a few irregular endings: -e in the nominative masculine singular, like ille; -īus and -ī in the genitive and dative singular, respectively (like alter and ille). But the other endings are regular US-A-UM ones:”

Case Forms of the Intensive Adjective ipse, ipsa, ipsum

Case	M.	F.	N.	M.	F.	N.
	Singular			Plural
Nom.	ipse	ipsa	ipsum	ipsī	ipsae	ipsa
Gen.	ipsīus	ipsīus	ipsīus	ipsōrum	ipsārum	ipsōrum
Dat.	ipsī	ipsī	ipsī	ipsīs	ipsīs	ipsīs
Acc.	ipsum	ipsam	ipsum	ipsōs	ipsās	ipsa
Abl.	ipsō	ipsā	ipsō	ipsīs	ipsīs	ipsīs

“When this adjective appears without a noun in agreement, it is a substantive, and you must supply another pronoun or noun in English in the appropriate gender and number.”

Intensive Adjective ipse, ipsa, ipsum, Illustrated

ipse dux	the leader himself, the very leader
timor ipse	fear itself, the very fear
urbēs ipsae	the cities themselves, the actual cities
ipse	(he / the man) himself
ipsae	(they / the women) themselves

 

“So, we have learned many pronouns and adjectives. Explain to me what each one means, as a review, and then we will go.”

After I did that, we crossed the street and took a ladder up to the top of the city wall to look around. The landscape was very flat, and she explained the purpose of the walls: sometimes the horse-riding nomads who visited Tomis came to raid instead of trade. These walls gave archers a commanding view of the surrounding territory; but the walls also provided us with a good view of Ovid in the garden of his house below.

Ovid’s Metamorphoses

In his garden, the poet was giving a reading for a small audience: there was a male visitor from Rome, two women, and several families with children. When he performed – and like Vergil, he did not merely read, but acted out his poetry, moving about and gesticulating – he did not face the audience; instead, he addressed a statue of Augustus and his wife Livia, as if performing for them. As we watched he performed a scene from the third book of his Metamorphoses, which contains the story of Narcissus, the beautiful boy who was cursed to fall in love with his own reflection.

Hic puer et studiō vēnandī lassus et aestū

prōcubuit faciemque locī fontemque secūtus…

This boy, weary both from the passion of the hunt and the heat,

lay down, pursuing the appearance of the place and the spring…

 

Dumque sitim sēdāre cupit, sitis altera crēvit,

dumque bibit, vīsae correptus imāgine fōrmae

spem sine corpore amat; corpus putat esse, quod umbra est.

dum while

sitis, sitis, f. thirst

sēdō, sēdāre, sēdāvī to assuage

crescō, crescere, crēvī to grow

bibō, bibere, bibī to drink

vīsus, -a, -um seen; visible

correptus, -a, -um captured

putō, putāre, putāvī to suppose; think

 

Adstupet ipse sibī vultūque inmōtus eōdem

haeret, ut ē Pariō fōrmātum marmore signum;

spectat humī positus geminum, sua lūmina, sīdus,

adstupeō, adstupēre, adstupuī to be stunned at

haereō, haerēre, haesī to hold still; fixate

Parius, -a, -um Parian, from Paros, a Greek island famous for marble

fōrmātus, -a, -um shaped

marmor, marmoris, n. marble

humī on the ground

positus, -a, -um laid

geminus, -a, -um twin, double

“Take geminum and sīdus together.”

 

et dignōs Bacchō, dignōs et Apolline crīnēs

inpūbēsque genās et eburnea colla decusque

ōris et in niveō mixtum candōre rubōrem,

…and hair worthy of Bacchus, worthy even of Apollo,

and beardless cheeks and ivory neck and the gloriousness

of his face and a red blush mixed in a snowy whiteness...

 

cūnctaque mīrātur, quibus est mīrābilis ipse.

sē cupit inprūdēns et, quī probat, ipse probātur,

dumque petit, petitur, pariterque accendit et ārdet.

mīrābil-is, mīrābile worthy of admiration

imprūdēns, imprūdent-is unwittingly

probō, probāre, probāvī to approve

pariter equally

accendō, accendere, accēnsī to set on fire

ārdeō, ārdēre, ārsī to burn

 

Inrita fallācī quotiēns dedit ōscula fontī,

in mediīs quotiēns vīsum captantia collum

bracchia mersit aquīs nec sē dēprēndit in illīs!

How many times he gave empty kisses to the deceptive spring,

how many times, reaching for the neck he saw, he sank his arms

in the middle of the waters and could not embrace himself in them!

 

Quid videat, nescit; sed quod videt, ūritur illō,

atque oculōs īdem, quī dēcipit, incitat error.

videat he sees (from the verb videō)

ūrō, ūrere, ussī to burn

dēcipiō, dēcipere, dēcēpī to deceive

incitō, incitāre, incitāvī to excite

 

Crēdule, quid frūstrā simulācra fugācia captās?

Naïve boy, why do you grasp in vain at fleeing images?

 

Quod petis, est nusquam; quod amās, āvertere, perdēs!

nusquam nowhere

āvertere you will turn away (2nd singular future deponent)

 

Ista repercussae, quam cernis, imāginis umbra est:

nīl habet ista suī; tēcum vēnitque manetque,

tēcum discēdet, sī tū discēdere possīs!

iste, ista, istum that

repercussus, -a, -um reflected

possīs you were able (from the verb possum)

And so the story went, until Narcissus, who found it impossible to tear himself away, was transformed into a flower.

When Ovid was finished, I was surprised to hear a voice that seemed to emanate from the statue of Augustus. It was actually the voice of an enslaved boy hiding behind it who recited the words Ovid wanted to hear from the emperor:

Euge, euge (very good), Ovidī, quī in Pontō extrēmō vīvis. Tū redīre ad urbem quam amās cupis; bene sciō. Saepe hoc per litterās rogābās, saepe hoc petēbās, saepe quaerēbās viam quae ad nōs dūcere potest. Nunc magnam spem tuam dabō tibi; fīnem exsiliī tuī faciam. Postquam iter longum cōnficiēs (you will finish), tē in urbem accipiam amīcum meum.

But all frustrā, as the Romans say, all in vain; Augustus would never let Ovid come home again. The poet bowed ostentatiously, the small crowd clapped, and the young children, who were being taught Latin by Ovid, jumped up and down. But there was no follow-up to the act, and the noise from a nearby ironworks, of steel being hammered on anvils, shattered the illusion of reconciliation and return.

Once the show was over, we walked back to the harbor. Two of the children whom we had seen in Ovid’s courtyard, a young girl and her brother, were walking ahead of us. They went down to the rocks by the seashore, and as her brother threw stones at seagulls, the girl stared out to sea, practicing the declension of its Latin name that the poet had taught her. I mouthed words as she said them:

Case	Singular	Plural
Nom.	mare	maria
Gen.	maris	marium
Dat.	marī	maribus
Acc.	mare	maria
Abl.	marī	maribus

42. Maris fluctūs ventō volvuntur; the waves of the sea are rolled by the wind. A view of the Black Sea from Constanta, Romania, the site of ancient Tomis.