Latin for beginners (1911)/Part II/Lesson XXX

by Benjamin Leonard D'Ooge

Layout 2

LESSON XXX

SYNOPSES IN THE FOUR CONJUGATIONS • THE ABLATIVE DENOTING FROM

177. You should learn to give rapidly synopses of the verbs you have had, as follows:^[1]

	Conjugation I		Conjugation II
	Indicative
	ACTIVE	PASSIVE	ACTIVE	PASSIVE
Pres.	a´mō	a´mor	mo´neō	mo´neor
Imperf.	amā´bam	amā´bar	monē´bam	monē´bar
Fut.	amā´bo	amā´bor	monē´bo	monē´bor

	Imperative
Pres.	a´mā	amā´re	mo´nē	monē´re
	Infinitive
Pres.	amā´re	amā´rī	monē´re	monē´rī
	Conjugation III		Conjugation III (-iō verbs)
	Indicative
	ACTIVE	PASSIVE	ACTIVE	PASSIVE
Pres.	re´gō	re´gor	ca´piō	ca´pior
Imperf.	regē´bam	regē´bar	capiē´bam	capiē´bar
Fut.	re´gam	re´gar	ca´piam	ca´piar
	Imperative
Pres.	re´ge	re´gere	ca´pe	ca´pere
	Infinitive
Pres.	re´gere	re´gī	ca´pere	ca´pī

	Conjugation IV
	Indicative
	ACTIVE	PASSIVE
Pres.	au´diō	au´dior
Imperf.	audiē´bam	audiē´bar
Fut.	au´diam	au´diar
	Imperative
Pres.	au´dī	audī´re
	Infinitive
Pres.	audī´re	audī´rī

I. Give the synopsis of rapiō, mūniō, reperiō, doceō, videō, dīcō, agō, laudō, portō, and vary the person and number.

178. We learned in § 50 that one of the three relations covered by the ablative case is expressed in English by the preposition from. This is sometimes called the separative ablative, and it has a number of special uses. You have already grown familiar with the first mentioned below.

179. Rule. Ablative of the Place From. The place from which is expressed by the ablative with the prepositions ā or ab, dē, ē or ex.

Agricolae ex agrīs veniunt, the farmers come from the fields

a. ā or ab denotes from near a place; ē or ex, out from it; and dē, down from it. This may be represented graphically as follows:

180. Rule. Ablative of Separation. Words expressing separation or deprivation require an ablative to complete their meaning.

a. If the separation is actual and literal of one material thing from another, the preposition ā or ab, ē or ex, or dē is generally used. If no actual motion takes place of one thing from another, no preposition is necessary.

(a) Perseus terram ā mōnstrīs līberat

Perseus frees the land from monsters (literal separation—actual motion is expressed)

(b) Perseus terram trīstitiā līberat

Perseus frees the land from sorrow (figurative separation—no actual motion is expressed)

181. Rule. Ablative of the Personal Agent. The word expressing the person from whom an action starts, when not the subject, is put in the ablative with the preposition ā or ab.

a. In this construction the English translation of ā, ab is by rather than from. This ablative is regularly used with passive verbs to indicate the person by whom the act was performed.

Mōnstrum a Perseō necātur, the monster is being slain by (lit. from) Perseus

b. Note that the active form of the above sentence would be Perseus mōnstrum necat, Perseus is slaying the monster. In the passive the object of the active verb becomes the subject and the subject of the active verb becomes the ablative of the personal agent, with ā or ab.

c. Distinguish carefully between the ablative of means and the ablative of the personal agent. Both are often translated into English by the preposition by. (Cf. § 100. b.) Means is a thing; the agent or actor is a person. The ablative of means has no preposition. The ablative of the personal agent has ā or ab. Compare

Fera sagittā necatur, the wild beast is killed by an arrow

Fera ā Diānā necatur, the wild beast is killed by Diana

Sagittā, in the first sentence, is the ablative of means; ā Diānā, in the second, is the ablative of the personal agent.

182.

EXERCISES

First learn the special vocabulary, p. 289.

I.

1. Virī inopiā cibī dēfessī ab eō locō discēdent.
2. Germānī castrīs Rōmānīs adpropinquābant, tamen lēgātus cōpiās ā proeliō continēbat.
3. Multa Gallōrum oppida ab Rōmānīs capientur.
4. Tum Rōmānī tōtum populum eōrum oppidōrum gladiīs pīlīsque interficient.
5. Oppidānī Rōmāmīs resistant, sed dēfessī longō proeliō fugient.
6. Multī ex Galliā fugiēbant et in Germānōrum vīcīs habitābant.
7. Miserī nautae vulnerantur ab inim!c!s^[2] saevīs et cibō egent.
8. Discēdite et date virīs frūmentum et cōpiam vīnī.
9. Cōpiae nostrae ā proeliō continēbantur ab Sextō lēgātō.
10. Id oppidum ab prōvinciā Rōmānā longē aberat.

II.

1. The weary sailors were approaching a place dear to the goddess Diana.
2. They were without food and without wine.
3. Then Galba and seven other men are sent to the ancient island by Sextus.
4. Already they are not far away from the land, and they see armed men on a high place.
5. They are kept from the land by the men with spears and arrows.
6. The men kept hurling their weapons down from the high place with great eagerness.

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References

1. Synopses should be given not only in the first person, but in other persons as well, particularly in the third singular and plural.
2. inimīcīs, here used as a noun. See vocabulary.