Latin · Unit 12

Capita 16–20

Puer Romanus

Māter mente turbāta irruit; Laqueō meō captus; Fābula dē Gabiēnō; Alia fābula inter cēnam nārrāta; Patruus meus aliquid nārrat

132 lines

Māter mente turbāta irruit (Puer Rōmānus 16)

1
While my father was telling me this, my mother interrupted him, rushing into the tablinum in great excitement, and said, 'Cornelius, have you heard what has happened to Davus and his brother?
Patrempater: father
haechic: this
mihiego: I
nārrantemnarro: tell, tell about, relate, narrate, recount, describe
māter,mater: mother
quaequi: who, which, what, that
māgnōmagnus: great, large
cumwhen; since; although
impetūimpetus: attack, assault, charge
inin, on; into, to, against
tablīnumtablinum: terrace
irruit,irruo: rush/dash/run in/upon/headlong, attack/charge
interpellāvit,interpello: interrupt, break in on
atqueand
‘Cornēlī’,Cornelius: Cornelius
inquit,inquam: say (defective)
‘audīvistīnehear, listen, accept, agree with
quidquis: what?
DāvōDavus: Davus (a name)
frātrīquefrater: brother
ēiusis: he, she, it; that
acciderit?accido2: cut, cut into/down/up, hack, hew, fell
2
(Davus is one of our slaves, who usually sleeps in the same bed as his brother.)
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He tells a wonderful thing, and I cannot help believing him.
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But I shall tell you the whole thing from the beginning.
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Last night he was resting, as usual, in the same bed as his younger brother.
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He thought he saw someone sitting on the couch, holding knives to his, Davus's, head and cutting off the hair from the very crown.
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Thinking that he was only seeing a dream, he sleeps again.
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But soon a second dream like the first made him believe the earlier one.
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For two men in white tunics came in through the windows (so he tells it), sheared his brother as he lay there, and went back the way they had come.
10
When it grew light, Davus himself was found shorn round the crown, and the hair lying there.

irruit: rush, attack, from irruo
interpellāvit: interrupt, break in on, from interpello
audīvistīne: hear, listen
resīdentem: sit down, from resido
admōtīsque: move up, bring up
cultrīs: knife, from culter
vertice: whirlpool, eddy, from vertex
amputantem: lop, prune, from amputo
ratus: think, suppose, from reor
fidem: faith, trust, from fides
tunicīs: undergarment, shirt, from tunica
cubantemque: lying, resting on the ground
dētondērunt: clip, crop, from detondeo
recessērunt: recede, go back, from recedo
inlūxit: illuminate, shine on, from inluceo
tōnsus: cut, shear, from tondeo
repertī: discover, learn, from reperio

11
Daylight showed that his brother too was shorn, and the hair scattered around.'
12
When I had heard this I could hardly help laughing, but so as not to be punished I pretended to be filled with the greatest terror at so wonderful a dream, and my mother sent me to bed.
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I told no one that my brother and I had got into the slaves' bedroom through the windows and had cut off their hair for a joke.
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What did my mother ask when she interrupted my father?
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Who was Davus?
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Why could my mother not help believing Davus?
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I cannot help believing him.
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No one doubts that I am hard-working.
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There is no doubt that the master is quick-tempered.
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The master does not stop us going off to play.

sparsōsque: scatter, strew
afficī: speak to, address, from adfacio
iocī: joke, jest, from jocus
dētondisse: clip, crop
obstat: oppose, hinder, from obsto

21
The master stops us going off to play.
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The pupil could not help laughing.
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No one doubted that Davus was telling the truth.
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There was no doubt that the prefect was a braggart.
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No one prevented me from going home.
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Who prevented me from going home?
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What did Davus think he saw while he lay in bed?
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What made him believe the dream?
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What did he see at first light?
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What happened to me when I had heard this?
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Why did I pretend to be filled with the greatest terror?
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Can you explain what really happened to Davus?

quōminus: that not, from
impedīvit: hinder, impede, from impedio

Laqueō meō captus (Puer Rōmānus 17)

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But while I lay in bed I reasoned with myself in this way: 'Whatever happens at night, everyone thinks either that it was a dream or that the ghosts did it,' and I thought out this trick.
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I decided to persuade Marcus, my schoolfellow and my own age, who says there are no ghosts, to sleep one night in a certain tomb.
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The next day I shared my plan with my brother, and Marcus promised that he would sleep in the tomb to prove to us that there are no ghosts.
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So at night Marcus took himself off to the tomb, and my brother and I got these things ready: dressed in black clothes we put masks made like skulls on our heads; in this dress we hurried at once to the tomb, and began to dance round it.
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But Marcus was so far from being afraid that he merely lifted his head out of the tomb and ordered us to go away and not play the fool.
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Cast down in our hopes we went off home, caught, as the proverb says, in our own snare.
39
The next day some guests were dining at our house, and during dinner my father was telling what had happened to Davus, our slave.
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Then they all begin to relate marvels.
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One of the guests said that the dead could foretell what was to come.
42
'Sometimes, though,' he said, 'they foretell what is false, as the story of Gabienus shows.'

Quicquid: whoever, from quisquis
dolumque: hurt
excōgitābam: think out
aequālī: equal, similar, from aequalis
sepulcrō: grave, tomb, from sepulcrum
commūnicāvī: share, from communico
recēpit: receive, recover, from recipio
persōnās: mask, from persona
īnstar: image, likeness
calvāriārum: skull
ēlātō: spray
neu: not
ineptiās: fiber, from ineptia
laqueō: noose, from laqueus

43
When they all pressed him to tell the story, he told this.
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What was I reasoning with myself while I lay in bed?
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What did I decide to do?
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What did Marcus promise to do?
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What did he order us to do as we danced round the tomb?

Flāgitantibus: demand urgently, from flagito
saltantibus: leap, spring

Fābula dē Gabiēnō (Puer Rōmānus 18)

48
'In the Sicilian war Gabienus, the bravest of Caesar's marines, was captured by Sextus Pompeius, and by his order his neck was cut through, so that it barely held together, and he lay on the shore the whole day.
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Then, when evening came on, with groans and prayers he begged the crowd that had gathered that Pompey should come to him, or send one of his friends; for he had been sent back from the dead and had something to report.
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Pompey sent several of his friends, and Gabienus said to them: the gods below approved Pompey's cause and his loyal party.
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Therefore the outcome he hoped for would come about, and he had been ordered to report this.
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The proof of its truth would be that, when his message had been delivered, he would die at once.
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And so it came about.'
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Who was Gabienus?
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What happened to him?
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What did he do as evening came on?
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Why did he want to see Pompey?
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What did Gabienus tell Pompey's friends?

Siculō: Sicilian, of, from Siculus
classiārius: mariner
incīsā: happen, from incido
cervīce: neck, nape, from cervix
cohaerente: stick, adhere, from cohaereo
advesperāvisset: evening is coming on, it
gemitū: groan, sigh, from gemitus
precibusque: prayer, request, from prex
congregātā: collect, from congrego
īnferīs: offerings to the dead, from inferi
placēre: be pleasing to, please, from placeo
piās: conscientious, from pius
ēventum: occurrence, event
optāret: choose, select, from opto
Argūmentum: proof
vēritātis: truth, fact, from veritas
mandātīs: order, command, from mandatum
prōtinus: straight on, forward
exspīrātūrus: breathe out, exhale, from exspiro

Alia fābula inter cēnam nārrāta (Puer Rōmānus 19)

59
'There are some who say,' said another, 'that the soul, when it has left the body, is in the habit of wandering, and of reporting many things which could not be known except by someone who was there.
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For of two brothers of the knightly order, it happened to the elder, Corfidius, that he seemed to have died; and when the will had been opened the younger, made sole heir, took charge of the funeral; meanwhile the man who seemed to be dead, roused by the sound of the mourners, said that he had come from his brother.
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He showed besides in what place he had buried gold, with no one knowing, and begged that he might be carried out with the funeral rites that had been prepared.
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When he had said this, his brother's household announced that the other had died, and the gold was found where he had said.'
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While the guest was telling this story, my father, having noticed that everyone had finished eating, ordered the slaves to bring the dice and the garlands.
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When these had been brought, all the guests put garlands of roses on their heads, each his own; then, by throwing the dice out of the box, they began to draw lots for what is called the kingship of the wine.
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My father first, shaking the box, said, 'Let Venus leap out,' but as he threw, only the 'dog' came up; and he called out, 'How rightly Propertius wrote:
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When I too sought Venus with a lucky throw of the dice,
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the ruinous dogs always leapt up!'
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and he gave the dice and the box to my grandfather, who was reclining next to him, and for him Venus at once leapt out.

equestris: equestrian, mounted on horse, from equester
tēstāmentō: will, testament, from testamentum
hērēs: heir
asse: penny, copper coin, from assis
īnstitit: pursue, threaten, from insto
interim: meanwhile
plangentium: strike, beat, from plango
sonitū: noise, loud sound, from sonitus
concitus: move, set in violent motion, from concieo
cōnsciō: conscious, aware of, from conscius
dēfōdisset: bury, from defodio
fūnebribus: funeral rites, from funebria
efferrētur: savage, cruel
domesticī: domestics, those of the household
exanimātum: kill, deprive of life, from exanimo
repertum: discovery, from reperta
animadvertisset: turn the mind to, notice, from animadverto
tālōs: ankle, from talus
corōnās: wreath, garland, from corona
fritillō: dice-box, from fritillus
sortīrī: cast or draw lots, from sortio
quassātō: shake repeatedly, from quasso
iacientī: throw, hurl
damnōsī: harmful, from damnosus
subsiluēre: jump, from subsilio

69
So he, made master of the drinking, ordered the slaves to fetch out a jar of Massic wine.
70
So the slaves brought a jar covered with so much soot that the label could not be made out; they moved aside the stopper of the jar, which was sealed with pitch, poured the four-year-old wine into the mixing bowl, and asked my grandfather, as master of the drinking, how much water should be added.
71
At his order they mixed the wine with water in this proportion: they mixed nine ladles of wine (a ladle is a measure, the twelfth part of a pint) with three of water; sometimes we mix the other way round, three ladles of wine with nine of water; then they pour the wine out of the mixing bowl with ladles into each guest's cup.
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What happened to Corfidius?
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When the will had been opened, what did his brother do?
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What did the other say, roused by the sound of the mourners?
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What did he beg?
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What did the household announce?
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When this story had been told, what did my father order the slaves to do?
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How do we draw lots for the kingship of the wine?

arbiter: eye-witness, on-looker
diōtam: two-handled jar, from diota
Massicī: mace, from Massicum
dēprōmerent: bring, fetch
adportāvērunt: carry
tēctam: cover, protect, from tego
āgnōscī: recognize, realize, from agnosco
corticem: bark, from cortex
pice: pitch, tar, from pix
adstrictum: tie up, from adstringo
dīmōvērunt: put, dismiss
quadrīmumque: four years old
merum: wine
crātēram: mixing bowl, from cratera
mīscuērunt: mix, mingle, from misceo
mēnsūra: measure
duodecima: twelve
sextāriī: sextarius measure, from sextarius
tribus: third part of the people
inversā: turn upside down, from inverto
īnfundunt: pour in, pour on, from infundo

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What came up for my father as he threw the dice?
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Who was made master of the drinking?
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What did he order the slaves to do?
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What did the slaves ask my grandfather?
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In what proportion do we drink our wine?

Patruus meus aliquid nārrat (Puer Rōmānus 20)

84
When this had been made ready, Silius, my uncle, said, 'We must not drink, it seems, after the manner of Lupercus.
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For it happened that I, who am not at all one of his intimates, was dining at the house of a man who thought himself elegant and careful, and seemed to me both mean and extravagant.
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For he set rich dishes before himself and a few others, and cheap and scanty ones before the rest.
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He had even divided the wine into three kinds, in little flasks, not so that there might be a power of choosing, but so that there might be no right of refusing: one for his own people and for us, another for his lesser friends (for he has his friends in grades), another for his freedmen and ours.
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The man reclining next to me noticed it and asked whether I approved.
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I said I did not.
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'What custom, then,' he said, 'do you follow?'
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'I set the same before everyone; for I invite men to dinner, not to a branding, and I make equal in all things those whom I have made equal at table and couch.'
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'Even the freedmen?'
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'Even them; for then I count them table-companions, not freedmen.'

patruus: father's brother
Lupercī: protector against wolves, from Lupercus
sumptuōsum: expensive, costly, from sumptuosus
opīma: rich, fertile, from opimus
minūta: minute, from minutum
parvulīs: very small, very young, from parvulus
lagunculīs: small, from laguncula
dīscrīpserat: divide, assign, from discribo
potestās: power, rule
ēligendī: pick out, choose, from eligo
iūs: gravy, from jus
recūsandī: refuse, from recuso
gradātim: step by step, by degrees
lībertīs: freedwoman, from liberta
probārem: approve, esteem, from probo
cōnsuētūdinem: habit, from consuetudo
invītō: invite, summon
exaequō: equalize, make equal
aequāvī: level, make even, from aequo
lībertōs: freedwoman, from libertus
convīctōrēs: messmate, friend, from convictor

94
And he said, 'That costs you a great deal.'
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'Not at all.'
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'How can that be?'
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'Because, of course, my freedmen do not drink the same as I do, but I drink the same as my freedmen.'
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At this remark, so wittily made, they all applaud; and now the dinner party was in full swing with everyone's talk and merriment.
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Then, when a second jar had been fetched out, my father begged someone or other to tell the story of Thrasyllus, and he, having drained his cup, began in this way.
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Why did my uncle think Lupercus mean and extravagant?
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Why did Lupercus set one kind of wine before his friends and another before his freedmen?
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How could Silius set the same before everyone without great expense?
103
He nearly fell into the river.

cōnstat: agree, be correct, from consto
facētē: witty, humorous
iamque: now, already, from jamque
laetitiāque: joy
convīvium: banquet
dēpromptā: bring, fetch, from deprompto
haustō: draw up, from haurio
exorsus: without share in

104
We nearly broke the window.
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He is nearly here.
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The holidays are nearly here.
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He nearly killed the man.
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The master is nearly getting angry.
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I have nearly finished.
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We have nearly reached Rome.
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The hour has nearly gone by.
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His leg was nearly broken.
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The master persuades the pupils to pay attention.

fēriae: festival

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The master easily persuades the boys to go home.
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No one can persuade me to lie.
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Who can persuade a lazy man to set to work?
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Who can persuade a miser to give money away?
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We were persuaded to go away.
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He persuaded me to come back.
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No one could persuade him to give back the money.
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We persuaded Marcus to sleep in the tomb.
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I persuaded them to believe me.
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Who was caught in his own snare?

redeant: return, go back
mentiar: lie, deceive, from mentior
avārō: avaricious, greedy, from avarus
largiātur: give bountifully, from largior

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What sort of man is a marine?
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How much of the estate does a sole heir get?
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What do we throw out of the dice box?
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How does a wine jar come to be covered with soot?
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Why was the stopper sealed with pitch?
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How much difference is there between a ladle and a jar?
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What is a mixing bowl?
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Who is a freedman?
132
What is a witty saying like?

patrimōniī: inheritance, from patrimonium
adstringēbātur: tie up
dictum: words, from dico2

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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