Latin · Unit 11

Capita 11–15

Puer Romanus

Somnium vērum; Trium somniantium fābula facēta; Causae somniōrum; Magister laqueō suō captus; Colloquium cum patre

205 lines

Somnium vērum (Puer Rōmānus 11)

1
'When two friends from Arcadia were travelling together and had come to Megara, one turned aside to an inn, the other to a friend's house.
‘Cumwhen; since; although
duotwo
quīdamquidam: a certain one, a certain, a
Arcadesbox, chest
familiārēsfamiliaris: member of household (family/servant/esp. slave)
itermarch, journey, route
ūnāuna: in the same place, at the same time
facerent,facio: make, do; cause, bring about
etand
MegaramMegarus: my (personal possession)
vēnissent,venio: come, go
alterthe one, the other
adto
caupōnem,caupo: shopkeeper, salesman, huckster
adto
hospitemhospes: host
alterthe one, the other
dēvertit.deverto: divert, turn away/aside/in/off
2
Each of them went to bed after dinner; then the one who was staying with his friend dreamed that the other was begging him to come to his help, because the innkeeper was plotting his death.
3
At first he was terrified by the dream and got up; then, when he had pulled himself together and decided that the vision was to be counted as nothing, he lay down again; then, as he slept, the same man seemed to beg him that, since he had not come to his help while he was alive, he should not let his death go unavenged; he said he had been killed and thrown into a cart by the innkeeper, with dung piled on top of him.
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He asked him to be at the gate in the morning, before the cart left the town.
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Moved by this second dream, he goes in the morning to meet the ox-driver at the gate; he asks him what was in the cart.
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The man fled in terror; the dead body was dug out; the innkeeper, when the matter had come to light, paid the penalty.'
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When this story had been heard my brother said that he had heard the proverb 'Not all who snore are asleep', but that he did not know what it meant; and my father said to him, 'This too I can explain to you by telling another dream,' and at once he tells this dream.
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What did the one beg the other when he seemed to come into the bedroom a second time?
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What did he say had happened to him?
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What did he ask of the other?

Arcades: box, chest
familiārēs: member of household, from familiaris
Megaram: my, from Megarus
hospitiō: hospitality, from hospitium
subvenīret: come to help, assist, from subvenio
nex: death
perterritus: terrify, frighten, from perterreo
somniō: dream
nihilō: nothing, from nihilum
inultam: unpunished, scot-free, from inultus
iniectum: hurl, from inicio
stercus: filth, manure
commōtus: moved, excited
bubulcō: one who drives, from bubulcus
obvius: in the way, easy
ērutus: pluck, overthrow
patefactā: reveal, from patefacio
prōverbium: proverb, saying

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What did the other do in the morning?
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What did he ask the ox-driver?
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What did the ox-driver do?
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What happened to the dead man?
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What happened next?
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When this story had been told, what did my brother say?
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How was my father able to explain the proverb to my brother?

Trium somniantium fābula facēta (Puer Rōmānus 12)

18
Once three companions, two of whom were townsmen and traders and the third a countryman, set out to a certain temple to worship the god; and as they went on their travelling money began to run short.
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Soon they were reduced to such want that hardly any corn was left.
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When those crafty townsmen saw this they talked together in this way.
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'We have too little bread left; but our companion is far too fond of his food, and so we must think of a plan by which we may eat whatever we have without his knowing.'
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So when they had sprinkled the bread with water and worked it with their hands and set it near the fire to bake, they decided to cheat the countryman, and spoke to him in this way: 'Let us all go to sleep at once, and let the bread be the prize of whichever of us has the most wonderful dream.'
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On this bargain they all go to bed.
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But the countryman, suspecting some trick, pulled the half-baked bread out of the fire and ate it all up by himself, and gave himself to sleep again.
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Not very long afterwards one of the traders, as though terrified by some wonderful dream, began to get up, and when the other trader asked why he was so frightened, he answered: 'I have been filled with great terror and the greatest astonishment by a dream.
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For two spirits seemed to come up to me and to carry me off with the greatest joy to Elysium.'
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His companion said to him, 'A wonderful dream indeed you tell; but hear a more wonderful one; for I saw two spirits carrying me off to Tartarus.'

mercātōrēs: trader, merchant, from mercator
urbānī: of the city, from urbanus
rūsticus: country, rural
nūminis: divine will, divinity, from numen
prōgredientibus: move forward, advance, from progredior
viātica: provision for a journey, traveling, from viaticum
dēficere: fail, disappoint, from deficio
inopiam: want, lack, from inopia
farris: husked wheat, from far
Parum: too, not enough
indulget: indulge, from indulgeo
quāpropter: wherefore, why
necesse: necessary, essential
inīre: enter, from ineo
īnsciō: not knowing, ignorant, from inscius
sparsum: scatter, strew, from spargo
tractātum: dealing w, from tractatus
coquerētur: cook, from coquo
allocūtī: speak to
mīrābilissimum: wonderful, marvelous
pāctō: compose, from pango
fraudis: fraud, from fraus
sēmicoctum: half-cooked, from semicoctus
tamquam: so, so much
mīrābilī: wonderful, marvelous, from mirabilis
admīrātiōne: admiration, astonishment, from admiratio
affectus: affection, passion
geniī: guardian spirit, from genius
laetitiā: joy
comportāre: carry, transport, from comporto
Mīrābile: miracle
nīmīrum: without doubt, evidently
percipiēbam: secure, gain
Tartarum: infernal regions, the underworld, from Tartara

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When the countryman heard this he still pretended to be asleep; but the townsmen, so that their trick might turn out well for them, woke him up, and he, looking like a man astonished, cunningly asked, 'Who is calling me?'
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The townsmen answered him, 'We are your companions.'
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When he had heard this he asked, 'How have you come back already?'
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'We have never gone away from here,' they answered; 'why do you call us returned when we have never gone away?'
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The countryman answered them, 'Two spirits seemed to me to be carrying one of you off to Elysium and the other to Tartarus, and I reckoned to myself that neither of you would come back here from the place from which, as the poet says, they say no one comes back; and so I woke up and ate all the bread by myself.'
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When my brother had heard this he said that he now understood what the proverb means: 'Not all who snore are asleep.'
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Why did the companions set out to the temple?
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What happened to them as they went on?
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To how great a want were they reduced?
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What plan did the townsmen make?

dolus: trick, device
callidē: expertly, skillfully
redīvistis: hangnail
abīvimus: depart, go away
reducēs: party in law suit, from redux
reputābam: think over, reflect, from reputo
neutrum: neither, from neuter

38
Why did they put the bread near the fire?
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What did they then propose?
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Why did the countryman pull the half-baked bread out of the fire?
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What did he do next?
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What did one of the traders do?
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What did he say to the other?
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What did the other trader answer?
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When he had heard this, what did the countryman do?
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Why did the townsmen wake him up?
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What did the countryman ask?

prōposuērunt: display, from propono

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What did the townsmen answer?
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What did the countryman ask next?
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What did the townsmen answer?
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What did the countryman then tell them?
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When this story had been heard, what did my brother say?
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What is the story like?
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What is travelling money?
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What is the opposite of the words to run short? want?
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What sort of man is a trader?
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What sort of story is a funny story?

facēta: witty, humorous, from facetus

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What is corn?
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What sort of boy gets a prize?
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What is the difference between Elysium and Tartarus?
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What is a trick?
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From where do the poets say that no one comes back?
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Who is a man returned?

Causae somniōrum (Puer Rōmānus 13)

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The next day, as it happened, we were reading out this sentence from Cicero at school.
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'The things men busy themselves with in life, think about, care for and see, and the things they do and turn over while awake, these come to each man in his sleep.' When I heard this I could not keep myself from interrupting the boy who was reading and asking the master whether he really thought that these were the causes of dreams.
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But that master took no notice of my question and said that everyone ought to be quiet while another is reading, and ordered me to learn this poem by heart:
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All the wishes that are turned over by the waking sense,
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kindly rest gives back to the sleeping breast.
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When the hunter lays his tired limbs on the couch,
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his mind still goes back to the woods and its own lairs.
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Judges dream of lawsuits, charioteers of their cars,
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and the empty turning-post is avoided by horses in the night.
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Me too the love of the Muses, in the silent night,

recitābāmus: read aloud, recite
ūsūrpant: seize upon, usurp, from usurpo
agitantque: stir
interpellārem: interrupt, break in on
interrogātiōne: interrogation, inquiry, from interrogatio
neglēctā: disregard, neglect, from neglego
ēdiscere: learn by heart, from edisco
memoriter: from memory
sēnsū: thought, from sensus
volvuntur: roll, cause to roll, from volvo
vōta: vow, pledge, from votum
diurnō: Book of Hors, from diurnum
pectore: breast, heart, from pectus
sōpītō: cause to sleep, render insensible, from sopio
quies: quiet, calm
torō: swelling, protuberance, from torum
lustra: bog, muddy place, from lustrum
iūdicibus: judge, from judex
lītēs: lawsuit, from lis
aurīgae: charioteer, driver, from auriga
mēta: cone, pyramid
Mūsārum: mouse, from Musa
studium: zeal, eagerness

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is wont to busy with my accustomed arts.
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I now know the poem by heart.
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But whether the master agrees with the poet or not I can in no way find out.
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For whenever he is asked he quotes the words of the poets or of other writers.
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For my part I thought that he did not know.
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So the next day, when this poem had been recited, I asked him again what he himself really thought about dreams.
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But I wish I had not asked!
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Poor me!
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Again he answered nothing, but gave me this second poem to learn by heart.
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And whatever pursuit a man is generally bound to and clings to,

assuētīs: sew or patch on, from assuo
sollicitāre: disturb, worry, from sollicito
cōnsentiat: join, from consentio
aliōrumve: garlic, from allium
utinam: if only, would that
dēvīnctus: attached
adhaeret: adhere, stick, from adhaereo

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or whatever things we have lingered much over before,
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and the mind has been the more busy with that matter,
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in our dreams we seem for the most part to be at the same things:
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pleaders plead cases and draw up laws,
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generals fight and go into battle,
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sailors carry on the war they have joined with the winds.
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Oh, cruel master! how excessive is your admiration for the poets!
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What did we read out from Cicero at school about dreams?
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When I had heard this, what did I do?
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What did the master answer?

obīre: go to meet, from obeo
causidicī: office of an advocate, from causidicus
lēgēs: law, from lex
induperātōrēs: put on, clothe
contractum: enter into, deal with, from contraho
dēgere: spend, from dego
nimia: excessive, too great, from nimius

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What did he give me to do?
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What happens to the hunter as he dreams?
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What to judges?
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And to the charioteer?
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And to the poet?
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Does the master agree with the poet?
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What did Lucius think about his master?

vēnātōrī: hunter's, from venatorius
Cōnsentitne: join

Magister laqueō suō captus (Puer Rōmānus 14)

101
Sometimes, though, the master's great admiration for the poets is of use to us pupils as well.
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What happens to you I do not know, but we Roman boys at least are often sick of learning before the end of the lesson comes.
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Oh, how often we go to school!
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At first light we must get up out of our beds and go to school as if it were the middle of the night.
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How the lamps we carry with us smell!
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How discoloured our books become with the smoke of so many lamps!
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Black soot still clings to my Virgil!
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Once I was sicker than usual of learning (it was midsummer, and the Dog Star was burning in the sky with scorching fires), and so I made this plan, to get the last part of the lesson left out.
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I asked the master, as he came into the school in the morning, whether we always ought to obey the teaching of the poets.
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He said yes; and so I began at once to declaim this poem of Martial's:

prōdest: be useful, be advantageous, from prosum
saepenumerō: repeatedly
sessiōnī: sitting
lucernae: oil lamp, from lucerna
olent: smell of, smell like, from oleo
dēcolōrēs: discolor, alter normal color of, from decoloro
tot: so many
fūlīgō: soot
haeret: stick, adhere, from haereo
solitō: custom, from solitum
torrentibus: torrent, rushing stream, from torrens
sessiōnis: sitting, from sessio
omītterēmus: lay aside
pārēre: obey, from pareo

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Schoolmaster, spare the simple crowd;
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so may the long-haired boys come in throngs to hear you,
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and the company of your elegant table love you,
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and may no reckoning-master, no swift shorthand writer
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be crowned with a larger circle than yours;
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the bright days are hot with the Lion's flame,
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and burning July bakes the parched harvest:
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let the Scythian hide, fringed with its rough thongs,
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with which Marsyas of Celaenae was flogged,
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and the grim canes, the sceptres of the tutors,

parce: sparing, frugal, from parcus
simplicī: single, from simplex
frequentēs: crowded, from frequens
capillātī: long hairs
dēlicātae: luxurious, addicted to pleasure, from delicatus
dīligat: love, hold dear, from diligo
chorus: site for a monument
calculātor: one versed in
notārius: notary
vēlox: swift
circulō: make circular
flammeō: flame colored veil, from flammeum
calent: announce, proclaim, from caleo
tostamque: parch, roast
fervēns: be hot, from ferveo
messem: harvest, crop, from messis
cirrāta: curly-haired, from cirratus
lōrīs: leather strap, thong, from lorum
horridīs: wild, frightful, from horridus
vāpulāvit: be beaten, from vapulo
Marsyas: Mars, Roman god of war
scēptra: scepter, from sceptrum

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rest, and sleep until the Ides of October:
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in summer, if boys keep well, they learn enough.
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When these verses had been declaimed, the master said, 'How quickly time flies!
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Ovid Naso wrote rightly:
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Time itself also glides on with unceasing motion,
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just like a river; for neither the river
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nor the swift hour can stand still; but as wave is driven on by wave,
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and the same wave, as it comes, is pressed on and presses the one before,
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so the times flee alike, and alike follow,
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and are always new, for what was before has been left behind,

dēclāmātīs: declaim, make speeches
Ovidius: egg
Nāso: nose
assiduō: continually, constantly
secus: otherwise
cōnsistere: stop, from consisto
levis: light, thin
unda: wave
impellitur: drive, from impello
urgēturque: press hard, urge, from urgeō
pariter: equally

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and what had not been comes to be, and every moment is made new.'
132
The master recited these verses because he did not want to give us a holiday, but he could not help letting us all go off to play, for fear of falling out with Martial, that most famous poet.
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My schoolfellows thanked me as heartily as they could and congratulated me warmly on having shown myself so clever.
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Indeed they said that I had put out the eyes of the crows.
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What do pleaders seem to do in their dreams?
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What do generals seem to do in their dreams?
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What do sailors seem to do in their dreams?
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When are Roman boys often sick of learning?
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How is the master's admiration for the poets of use to his pupils as well?
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When must a Roman boy get up out of bed?

mōmentaque: moment, importance
cūncta: altogether, in a body, from cunctus
novantur: make new, renovate, from novo
abhorrēret: abhor, shrink back, from abhorreo
grātulātī: congratulate, from gratulor
praestitissem: excel, surpass, from praesto
cōnfīxisse: fasten, construct, from configo

141
What did Roman boys carry with them when they made for school?
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By what are the books made discoloured?
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What did Lucius ask the master as he came into the school in the morning?
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What did Lucius do next?
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What is a turning-post?
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Who is a pleader?
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What is soot?
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What does a reckoning-master do?
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What does a shorthand writer do?
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What are the sceptres of the tutors?

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When does the Dog Star burn?
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Who was Marsyas?
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What happens on the Ides of October?
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What does the proverb 'to put out the eyes of the crows' mean?

Colloquium cum patre (Puer Rōmānus 15)

155
On the same day, since the master had explained nothing to me about dreams, I looked for my father again in the evening, and found him in the tablinum.
156
I saw that he was busy with something or other, but all the same I asked whether he had time for me, and my father, although he was busy, answered me kindly, 'What do you want, my son?' How much kinder a father is than a master! I answered him, 'I should like to hear you speak about dreams again.'
157
'Just now I cannot,' said my father, 'for I am writing a letter to a friend; but, as it happens, my letter is about dreams; so keep quiet, and when I have written it I shall read it to you.'
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So I kept quiet, and while my father was writing I took a book from the shelves and read it.
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A little later he read me this letter:
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Sextus Cornelius Pollio to his friend Suetonius Tranquillus, greeting.
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'You write that you are terrified by a dream and afraid that something may go against you in your case, and you ask me to seek a postponement and to excuse you for a few days, or at least for the next one.
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It is difficult, but I shall try.
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It matters, though, whether you usually dream what will happen or the opposite of it.
164
When I think over my own dream, that dream of yours which you fear seems to me to promise a splendid case.

quoniam: where, to what place
tablīnō: terrace, from tabulinum
nescioquibus: not know
vacāret: be empty, from vaco
negōtiōsus: active, occupied
Conticuī: cease to talk, fall silent, from conticesco
forulīs: gangway in a ship, from foruli
Paulō: a little, somewhat, from paulum
Suētōniō: his men, his friends, from Suetonius
Tranquillō: calm weather, from tranquillum
āctiōne: act, action, from actio
dīlātiōnem: adjournment, from dilatio
pauculōs: not very much, a little, from pauculus
excūsem: excuse, from excuso
experiar: test, put to the test, from experior
Rēfert: fill up, stuff
soleās: sandal, sole fastened w, from solea
ēgregiam: singular, from egregius
portendere: predict, foretell, from portendo

165
I had taken up the case of Junius Pastor, when, as I slept, my wife's mother seemed to fall at my knees and beg me not to plead it.
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And I was going to plead while I was still a very young man, I was to plead before the four united courts, I was to plead against the most powerful men in the state and even against friends of Caesar, any one of which things could have knocked the wits out of me after so gloomy a dream.
167
All the same it turned out well, and so that case opened men's ears to me, and opened the door of my fame.
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So consider whether you too, following this example, may turn that dream of yours to good; or, if you think that the rule of every very cautious man is safer, 'What you doubt about, do not do,' write back and say so.
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I shall find some way round it and plead your case, so that you may plead that one of yours when you wish.
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For your case is quite different from what mine was.
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For a trial before the Hundred cannot be put off in any way, but yours can, with difficulty, all the same.
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Farewell.'
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When this letter had been read I said, 'Father, I should very much like to know whether you think that ghosts exist and have a shape and a power of their own, or that they are empty and unreal and take their appearance from our own fear.'
174
'What leads me above all to believe that they exist,' he answered, 'is what I hear happened to Curtius Rufus.

Suscēperam: undertake, from suscipio
quiēscentī: rest, keep quiet, from quiesco
socrus: father-in-law
advolūta: roll to, from advolvo
obsecrāre: entreat, from obsecro
adulēscentulus: young woman
quadruplicī: fourfold, from quadruplex
cīvitātis: citizenship, from civitas
excutere: shake out or off, from excutio
Prōsperē: day before, abb. pr, from prosperus
cessit: go, from cedo
ideō: therefore, for the reason that
aurēs: ear, from auris
fāmae: rumor, from fama
Proinde: hence, so then
dīspice: look about, discover espy, from dispicio
exemplō: adduce
dubitēs: doubt, from dubito
rescrībe: write back in reply, from rescribo
stropham: trick, artifice, from stropha
agamque: unmarried
centumvirāle: of, from centumviralis
differrī: postpone
aegrē: be sick, from aegreo
Perquam: extremely
phantasmata: ghost, from phantasma
figūram: shape, form, from figura
inānia: empty space, hollow, from inane

175
While he was still poor and unknown he had attached himself as a companion to the governor of Africa.
176
Towards the end of the day he is walking in a colonnade; the figure of a woman appears to him, taller and more beautiful than a human being; as he stood terrified she told him that she was Africa, foretelling what was to come; for he would go to Rome and hold offices and even come back to that same province with the highest command, and there he would die.
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All of which came true.
178
Besides, it is said that the same figure met him on the shore as he came to Carthage and was leaving his ship.
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Certainly when he was caught by illness he judged what was to come from what had passed, and bad fortune from good, and threw away all hope of recovery, though none of his household despaired.'
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Why did I look for my father again?
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What did I ask him?
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What did my father ask me?
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What did I answer?
184
Why could my father not speak about dreams?

Tenuis: thin, fine
obtinentī: possess, occupy, from obtineo
Inclīnātō: bend, from inclino
mulieris: woman, from mulier
pulchriorque: pretty
perterritō: frighten thoroughly, terrify
praenūntiam: acting as harbinger, from praenuntius
Praetereā: in addition, besides
accēdentī: come near, approach, from accedo
ēgredientīque: go
lītore: seashore, beach, from litus
implicitus: implicate, from inplico
praeteritīs: past, from praeterita
secundīs: after-birth, from secunda
augurātus: office of augur
prōiēcit: throw down, throw out, from proicio

185
What did my father promise to do?
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What did I do meanwhile?
187
What was Suetonius Tranquillus afraid of?
188
What did he ask my father?
189
In interpreting dreams what matters most?
190
What sort of dream did my father have?
191
In what sort of court was he going to plead?
192
But how did the case turn out?
193
What is the rule of every very cautious man?
194
What is the difference between a trial before the Hundred and the case Suetonius Tranquillus was pleading?

interpretandīs: explain, from interpretor
percēpit: secure, gain, from percipio

195
What is the tablinum?
196
What do the shelves hold?
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Why do men sometimes ask that a case be put off?
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What is a wife's mother's husband called?
199
When this letter had been read, what did I say I wanted to know?
200
What led my father to believe that ghosts exist?
201
What happened to Curtius Rufus while he was walking in the colonnade?
202
What did this figure say she was?
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What did she say about Curtius Rufus?
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What happened to him as he was leaving his ship?
205
Why did he lay aside all hope when he was caught by illness?

differātur: postpone
marītus: nuptial
ēgreditur: move out, disembark, from egredior

The particulars

The course: Paine and Mainwaring, Prīmus Annus (Oxford, 1912) and Secundus Annus (1917); Appleton and Jones, Puer Rōmānus (1913); D'Ooge, Latin for Beginners (Boston, 1911); Ritchie, Fabulae Faciles (1903). Public domain. The teaching pages, the glosses and the narration are ours.
Reading aloud: Digital narration, directed by 1732 Studios.
The app: The course on your phone, with the drills, your place kept and the audio offline.
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The book: The Aeneid, the work this course leads to, free to read here.
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