CHAPTER Xlll

Gaius arborem ascendebat.

\> olim Quintus ad liidum ambulabat; w~ ~hM\1' "-'
subito Gaium vidit. ·

,r

..••
fl!!'

11
I

;I

Quintus anxius erat; clamavit: 'quid Gaius ad terram descendit et Quintum

..••
•
facis, Gai? descende.' saliitavit.
I
,,1-
p
I•
I
8 Past tenses of the verb
So far all the stories have been told in the present tense. You now
••
have to learn two past tenses:
ea
In English, 'I walk' or 'I am walking' is present tense. p
'I was walking' is imperfect tense.

....
/ p
·' I

'I walked' is perfect tense.

In Latin, ambulo, present tense, 'I walk' or 'I am walking'. fill
ambulabam, imperfect tense, 'I was walking' or 'I walked'
(for a long time).
ambulavi, perfect tense 'I walked' (simple past time).

98 _@1111
@·
The imperfect tense wew (vubJi~
1 2 3 4
amo, amare__ .mone6, monere rego, regere audio, audire sum (I am)
I ama-bam mone-bam rege-bam audie-bam eram (I was)
you ama-bas mone-bas rege-bas au die-bas eras (you were)
he ama-bat mone-bat rege-bat audie-bat erat (he was)
we am a-barn us mone-bamus rege-bamus audie-bamus eramus (we were)
you ama-batis mone-batis rege-batis audie-batis eratis (you were)
they ama-bant mone-bant rege-bant audie-bant erant (theyw'ere)

Notice that the endings are the same for every conjugation.

The perfect tense r\O\~ lv4-f~

1 2 3 4
I amav-i monu-i rex-i audiv-i fu-i
you amav-isti monu-isti rex-isti audiv-isti fu-isti
he amav-it monu-it rex-it audiv-it fu-it
we amav-imus monu-imus rex-imus audiv-imus fu-imus
you amav-istis monu-istis rex-istis audiv-istis fu-istis
they amav-erunt monu-erunt rex-erunt audiv-erunt fu-erunt

Note that the perfect endings are the same for every class of verb but
that the perfect stem is different for each class:
thus, from amo class, the stem is amav-
from moneo class, the stem is monu-
from audio class, the stem is audiv-
from sum, the stem is fu-

Exercise 13 .1
i
Say what tense each of the fallowing verbs is in and translate
audiebamus, laborant, pugnavit, diu
manebas, me terruisti, te rogaverunt,
bene cenat, eos monetis, eos monuistis,
ad liidum festinabat
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 Exercise 13.2 Exercise 13.3

Form the imperfect and perfect (1st Form the imperfect and perfect of the
person singular) of (he following verbs fallowing verbs and say what each means
and say what each means rego, dico, accedo, mitto
·'
clamo, intro, doceo, timeo, dormio,
iaceo (

From rego class verbs, the perfect stem is Exercise 13 .4

formed in various ways, which you will
gradually learn. At present learn the Say what tense each of the following
following verbs is in and translate
rego, regere, rex-i I rule celeriter currebant, mihi dixisti, dift
dico, dicere, dix-i I say vivebat, regi cesserunt, canem diico,
diico, diicere, diix-i I lead canem diixi, in oppido manebat,
vivo, vivere, vix-i I live nfmtium misi, regunt, rexisti
cedo, cedere, cess-i I give way ·
mitto, mittere, mis-i I send

TUMULTUS tumultus riot

Quintus ad Iiidum lente ambulabat; in via Gaium vidit

et eum vocavit. Gaius festinabat, quod sero veniebat;
sed, ubi Quintum audivit, ·mansit et eum saliitavjt.
'quid facis, Quinte?' inquit; 'ciir tam lente ambulas?
sero ad liidum venimus. debemus festinare.' Quintus
_n;~p9ndit.: 'erras, Gai. non sero venimus. exspecta me. ' erras you're wrong
Gafos anxius erat sed Quintum exspectavit .

.:. . Decimus ruit ad magistrum et iecit eum ad terram.

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 ad ludum accedebant cum mult6s puer6s v1derunt

...
11111W qui prope ianuam stabant. duo pueri pugnabant. alii
lllilii circumstabant et clamabant. tum Flavius e ianua liidi circumstabant were standing

....--
exiit; vidit puer6s pugnantes et valde iratus erat. 'quid around
facitis, pueri?' inquit; 'intrate statim et sedete. • pugnantes fighting
sed Decimus , puer magnus et dOrus. ad Flavium durus tough

...-.
accurrit et dixit: 'abi. magister. redi in ludum. noli intercedere interfere:
intercedere.' ille, valde attonitus. ·pucr impudens es.· attonitus astonished:
inquit; 'intra statim et tace. · ct Decimum saeve impudens impertinent
pulsavit. Decimus valde commtltus erat; furor et ira tace he quiet

.... a~imum vincunt: ruit in magistrum et iecit eum in

terram. alii pueri accurrerunt et Decimum •
pulsavit struck: furor frenzy
rujt he rushed
comprehenderunt seized:
comprehenderunt. Flftvius e terra surrexit; valde iratus surrexit got up
erat; nihil poterat diccrc; ludum tacitus intravit et

....
nihil nothing
ianuam clausit. clausit shut
lllli pueri valde timebant. Gaius Decimo dixit: ·quid

....
fecisti. Decime? non possumus hie manere. debemus
fugere. · itaque omnes pueri domum celeriter fugerunt.
Quintus casam intravit et matrem quaesivit. ma~er in

....
culina laborabat; cenam parabagQuintus earn vocavit.
ilia respondit: 'ecce, Quinte; in culina sum; cenam
paro. sed quid facis? cur a ludo rediisti?' Quintus in

....
culinam ~rrjt et matri omnia narravit. ilia respondit:
·mali pueri estis. i nunc, Quinte. ad agrum curre et
omnia patri narra. '

.... Quintus timebat sed non poterat recusare. ad

agrum cucurrit. ubi agrum intravit. Flaccus in ultima
parte agri laborabat. Quintus eum vocavit; ille filium
reciisare to refuse
ultima furthest

.... audivit et ad eum accessit ~'quid facis. Quinte?' inquit:

'cur a ludo tam mature rediisti?' Quintus timebat sed mature early

.....
omnia patri narravit. Flaccus valde iratus est. 'eheu!' eheu alas
inquit; ·non tua culpa est. Quinte. illi pueri scelesti sunt culpa fault; scelesti had
et Flavius est asinus. quid facere debemus? nihil in illo

.......,
ludo discis. redi mecum ad casam.'
- itaque Qui mus paterq u_e_c_e-;-le- r7it~e_r_a-.d-c-as_a_m
___- J
redierunt Scintillamque quaesiverunt. Scimilla in horto horto garden
erat cum Horatia; nam fessae erant et quiescebant. quiescebant were resting

,,.
Flaccus ad Scintillam accessit et 'Scintilla.· inquir. ·quid
ti
facere debemus? Quintus nihil discit in illo ludo. valde

,.,. ingeniosus est. sed magister docere non potest et pueri

scelesti sunt.'
Scintilla ei respondit.; ·verum dicis. Flacc~ Quintus
ingeniosus clever

,.... nihil discit; ingenium perdit. ceteri pueri in malos •

mores eum ducunt. Flacce, Quintus debet Romam ire;
debemus eum mi,ttere ad optimum ludum.·
flaccus, ubi haec audivit , consternatus erat; 'quid
ingenium intelligence;
perdit is wasting
mores habits: Romam to Rome
optimum best

,,,,) constematus dismayed

,,,,
)

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 dicis, uxor?' inquit; 'quomodo potest Quintus solus quomodo how?
Romam ire?' Scintilla ei respondit: 'non potest solus
ire; tii, Flacce, debes eum Romam diicere.'
diii rem disserebant. tandem Scintilla dixit: 'noli rem matter;
desperare, Flacce. audi me. debemus agrum vendere. disserebant discussed
tii debes Quintum Romam diicere; ego et Horatia
possumus hie manere et friigaliter vivere. sed sera hara frllgiliter inexpensively; sera
est. tempus est dormire .' hOra late
postridie Flaccus ad vicinum accessit et rem diii vicinum neighbour
disserebat. tandem constituit dimidium agri vendere, dimidium half; locare to lease
dimidium vicino locitfe. sic ipse satis argenti habebat et ipse he himself; satis
Quintum Romam diicere poterat; vicinus volebat argenti enough money
volebat was willing
vectigal Scintillae solvere; sic Scintilla poterat Venusiae vectigal rent; solvere pay;
manere et cum Horatia friigaliter vivere. Venusiae in Venusia

0 nirr6, narrare, nArrAvi I teJl uxor,uxoris,f. wife

sto, stAre, steti I stand savage, cruel
saevus-a-um
moveo, movere, movi I move
verus-a-um true
commoveo, commovere, I move
verum, veri, n. the truth
commovi violently,
disturb nihil nothing
fleo, flere, flevi I weep tum then
ineo I go into, begin
disco, discere, didici I learn
vendo,vendere,vendidl J sell
vivo, vivere, vixi I live
argentum, argenti, n. silver, money

NB
paro I prepare paratus-a-um prepared, ready
terreo I terrify territus-a-um terrified
armo I ann armatus-a-um armed
commoveo I move commotus-a-um moved, upset

Exercise 13.5
4 pater eum Romam diixit et misit ad
Translate into English optimum h1dum.
1 Scintilla et Flaccus in Apiilia 5 Scintilla et Horatia in Apiilia
vivebant. manebant. _,,,- '

2 fmum filium habebant, nomine 6 quid faciebatis, pueri? ciir in via ..

Quintum. pugnabatis?
3 puer ingeniosus erat, sed nihil 7 fratres lente ambulabant; sero ad
discebat in ludo Flavii. liidum advenerunt. ·
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 8 ad magistrum accessimus et omnia ei
diximus.
9 pueri taciti sedebant; magister
c6nstituit fabulam eis narrare.
10 puerum vidisti, qui arborem
ascendebat?
3 I heard the boys.
4 We were dining in the house.
Exercise 13.6 5 The messenger warned the king.
6 The king was angry.
Translate into Latin 7 Why did you not sail to Troy?
1 We said nothing. 8 You were not brave.
2 They were leading the horse to the 9 I was working in the field.
water. 10 You were preparing dinner.

Exercise 13. 7

Translate the first paragraph and answer the questions below on the
second and third paragraphs
per t6tam hiemem Quintus domi manebat et parentes hiemem winter; domi at
iuvabat. omnes diligenter laborabant. Quintus in agro home
laborabat; Flacc~s coactoris partes age bat et sic J ,\ . ,I\ diligenter hard
multum arge·ritum· comparabat. ver accedebat cum coactoris partes
agebat worked as an
Flaccus uxori dixit: 'iam tempus est Quintum Romam auctioneer
ducere; iam satis argenti comparavimus. 1 paucis post comparabat earned
diebus omnia parata erant. Flaccus Quintusque ver spring
Scintillam et Horatiam et Argum valere iusserunt. satis enough; paucis post
',, diebus in a few days
valere iusserunt said goodbye
to

Flaccus Quintusque Horatiam et

Argum valere iubent.

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 mater flebat et de6s 6rabat: '6 dei, servate filium
incolumem safe
meum; reddite eum mihi incolumem. 6 Flacce,
esto be
Quintum cura! 6 Quinte , bonus puer esto! diligenter
stude work; osculum kiss
stude et mox domum redi.' filio viroque osculum dedit
et rediit in casam, valde commota.
Horatia et Argus cum patre et fratre ad prim um
millarium milestone
miliarium ierunt; tum Horatia e6s valere iussit et
'.1gum domum reduxit. illi , et tristes et laeti, viam
quae which
11erunt, quae Romam ducebat.

1 What was Scintilla's prayer to the gods?

2 What did she tell Aaccus to do?
3 What did she tell Quintus to do?
4 In the last sentence Flaccus and Quintus are described as 'et tristes
et laeti' . Explain why they had these conflicting feelings.
5 Do you approve of his parents' decision to take Qifintus to Rome?
6 The following English words are derived from Latin words in the
second paragraph; say from what Latin word each comes and
explain the meaning of the English word: oratory, conservation,
diligence.
7 From the second paragraph, give one example each of an imperfect
tense, a perfect tense, an imperative.
8 Translate into Latin:
(a) Aaccus decided to lead his son to Rome.
(b) When Quintus and his father went away, mother was very sad.
(c) 'Work hard,' she said, 'and come home soon.'

STORIES FROM THE EARLY HISTORY

OF ROME
Rome was governed by kings for the first 244 years of its history. The
names of six of these after Romulus are recorded, and some of them
came from a talented race which lived to the North of Rome, the
Etruscans. The last king, Tarquin the Proud, was one of these. He was
I.
a valiant leader in war but a cruel tyrant among his people. He added
I to the greatness of Rome by carrying out vast building projects, but
I
I the common people complained bitterly about the labour involved
especially in the construction of a great sewer system for the whole'
city.
Tarquin attacked the rich neighbouring town of Ardea in order to
pay for thes~ works. But Ardea proved extremely difficult to capture
and a long s1~g~ follo_wed. <?ne da~. Tarquin's sons were whiling away
the hours dnnkmg with their cousm Collatinus. They began to talk .

104
about their wives, each of them claiming that his own was the most
virtuous and faithful. Collatinus pointed out that the only way to settle
the matter was to make a sudden journey to Rome, visit their wives
unexpectedly and see for themselves what they were doing.
The young men had all drunk a great deal of wine and
Collatinus's idea struck them as a very good one. They mounted their
horses and galloped to Rome, arriving there in the evening. The
princes' wives were taking advantage of their husbands' absence to
enjoy a lively dinner party. But they found Collatinus's wife Lucretia
working with her maidservants by lamplight at her spinning. Lucretia
thus was the clear winner of the competition in wifely virtue.
However, events now took a disastrous turn. One of the princes,
Sextus Tarquinius, had been so overcome by the sight of the virtuous
and beautiful Lucretia that he fell passionately in love with her. A few
days later he paid her a visit without telling Collatinus. She received
him hospitably, gave him dinner, and took him to the guest chamber.
But Tarquinius made his way to Lucretia's bedroom at dead of night,
with drawn sword. He persecuted her with dreadful threats, raped
her, and then rode away, proud of his shameless deed.
Lucretia now proved that she was as
courageous as she was virtuous. She
summoned her father and her husband
and told them what had happened. She
made them swear to take vengeance on
Sextus Tarquinius. Then, declaring that
she could not live now that she had lost her
honour, she drove a knife into her heart.
Her father and husband were too
shocked to do anything but weep. But
Collatinus's companion Brutus drew the
knife from Lucretia's body, held it up and
vowed that he would drive the impious
family of the Tarquins from Rome.
The dreadful story of Lucretia caused
such widespread horror and indignation
that Brutus found his threat easy to fulfil.
The Tarquins were driven into exile, but
they tried to regain their power, first
through a conspiracy and later by force.
Brutus's two sons joined in the ·
conspiracy to bring back the tyrant, and
their father had no alternative but to
order their execution and watch them
being beheaded. His terrible distress was
obvious to all. Nevertheless, his love of
the liberty which bad been so recently Brutus
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won overcame his feelings as a father.
The stem example of Brutus was very much in the mind of his
descendant Marcus Junius Brutus 500 years later. It looked as if Julius
Caesar was about to become king and bring back the hateful form of

,,,.
government which his ancestor Brutus had brought to an end. So he
led a conspiracy to murder Caesar, his close friend.
Tarquin then persuaded the Etruscan king Porsenna to use open i
force to bring about his return. Porsenna advanced on Rome and
indeed it looked as if his forces would sweep over the wooden bridge ·

.-
fl!"

----
across the Tiber.
The story of how Horatius Codes prevented them is famous. The
Roman troops fled in a panic back across the rjver, and Horatius

--•..
shouted to them that if they left the bridge standing the enemy would
soon be in Rome. He declared that he would hold back the enemy
single-handed to give them time to destroy the bridge. He proudly
took his stand at the entrance to the bridge and, first helped by two
brave companions and then on his own, he fought off innumerable
Etruscans. He astonished them so much by his courage that they were

..
paralysed at first. When they recovered enough to shower weapons at flll'
him, he brushed them aside with his shield.
Finally, just as it looked as if he would be overwhelmed by the flJ!I'
huge number of the Etruscans, a great crash accompanied by a cry of
triumph from the Romans showed that the bridge was now down.
1!111
••
Horatius plunged fully armed into the Tiber with a prayer to the river
god to protect him, and swam amid a hail of weapons. The Etruscan
king was impressed by his enemy's bravery and an English poet,
Thomas Macaulay, describes him as hoping that Horatius will get
safely across: IP
'Heaven help him!' quoth Lars Porsenna, il)I
'And bring him safe to shore;
For such a gallant feat of arms IF'
Was never seen before.' i}II
Needless to say, he succeeded in reaching the other bank.
Porsenna was frustrated by this and other such acts of courage on
••
••
the part of the Romans, and stopped supporting the Tarquins. The
end of the monarchy in Rome was guaranteed. The city became a
republic governed by two consuls who were elected every year. The
word rex was from now on a hateful one to Roman ears.

••
••
•
iii
106
•
; ti
ENEMIES OF ROME 1 The Gauls
The new republic of Rome constantly strengthened her Jeading
position in central Italy. Her struggles with neighbouring tribes
continued at intervals for centuries, but two foreign enemies involved
the city in her greatest danger. The first were the Gauls who came
from what is now North Italy and France.
They inflicted a shattering defeat in about 386 BC upon the
Roman army only eleven miles from the city. More than half of the
Romans fled in utter terror to the neighbouring town of Veii and
Rome appeared to be totally at its enemy's mercy. But the
determination and courage of this tough nation were seen at their best
at such moments. The inhabitants left most of the city undefended and
abandoned the old and helpless to face whatever fate the Gauls had in
store for them. All the city's able-bodied men occupied the Capitol,
the hill that was Rome's main fortress. It was a difficult decision, but it
seemed wrong to use up the limited supplies on the Capitol on people
who could not contribute actively to Rome's defence. This hill was the
home of the gods who protected Rome, and here the younger
members of the senate determined to preserve their government and
their religion.
The older senators, left in the city below and doomed to death in
company with the humbler citizens, put on their finest clothes in order
to meet their end with dignity. They sat in the courtyards of their
magnificent houses with a grave and calm majesty. The Gauls entered
the eerily empty city and, looking curiously around them, made their
way to the Forum. When they saw the senators, they were so
impressed by their dignified stillness that they thought they must be
gods. They wondered if they were stone images. One of the Gauls
stretched out his hand and touched a senator's beard to see whether it

107
 was real or not. The senator, enraged, hit him over the head with his
ivory staff. The silence now ended in horror as the Gauls slaughtered
everyone they could lay their hands on and plundered and burned the
city.
The garrison on the Capitol was appalled as they looked down
and saw what was happening to their fellow citizens below. It was
indeed a grim sight. Yet they themselves were soon to be even closer
to danger than they imagined, for the Gauls had spotted a way by
which they could clamber up a rocky slope of the Capitol and surprise
the Roman fort. It was a dangerous climb, but one night they
undertook it and achieved their aim so silently that they neared the
top without being noticed by a single guard. The Romans were saved
by their own piety, for some geese sacred to the goddess Juno were on
the Capitol. They had been left unkilled despite the dreadful shortage
of food. These geese were alarmed by the Gauls and cackled and beat
their wings, thus awaking Marcus Manlius. He seized his sword and
gave the alarm. The leading Gaul was already on the top but Manlius
pushed him over the side with his shield. His fall knocked other Gauls
down the slope and they tumbled to the bottom of the cliff.
This hair's-breadth escape did not save the besieged Romans
from near starvation, and eventually they decided to buy off the Gauls
with 1,000 pounds' weight of gold. But the Gauls used especially
heavy weights in order to ~heat the Romans. When they complained,
the barbarian leader threw his sword into the scale making it even
heavier, and exclaimed, ~vae victis!' ('Woe to the conquered!'). At
this moment an army gathered by the exiled general Camillus
suddenly appeared on the scene and the Gauls' forces were wiped out.
Thus a terrifying moment in their history ended with a Roman victory.

f) The Roman historian Livy who tells these stories was well aware that
they are legends rather than a factual account of the early days of
Rome. What qualities of the Roman character do you feel that these
legends bring out? Do you find these qualities admirable?

108