Text (The conversation from last lesson is continued) Tum Epicharmus: "Et Cornelia et tu, Marce, in theatro libenter fabulas spectatis. Itaque tibi certe Amphitruo Plauti notus est: Iuppiter cum Mercurio Alcmenae appropinquat..." Et Marcus: "Mihi cunctae fabulae Plauti notae sunt cunctaeque me delectant, imprimis autem Amphitruo. Nihil magis rideo, quam cum Mercurius scalas portare debet." Epicharmus autem: "Gaudemus igitur et ego et tu in theatro, et te et me iuvat fabulas Plauti spectare." Nunc Marcus ridet et "Vos Graeci", inquit, "nos Romanos eloquentia superatis. Non ignoro. Ecce, a vobis victus neque tamen maestus sum. Vos non iam vitupero, sed vobiscum rideo." Et Demaratus: "Gaudeo, quod nobiscum rides, Marce; nam iuvat ridere." --------------------------- Reading vocabulary you needn't learn: Amphitruo: name of a play (Nominative!) scala: step; Plural: the ladder victus: defeated Vocabulary
| ignorare | not know | ignore |
| portare | to carry, bring | portable |
| eloquentia | eloquence | eloquence |
| maestus | sad, grieved | |
| notus | well-known | noted |
| ego | I | egoism |
tu |
you |
F, I: tu
|
| nihil | nothing | nihilism |
| a / ab | from, since | abduct: ab (away from) + ducere (lead) |
| magis | more, in higher degree | magistrate |
| tamen | in spite of that, nevertheless, still, yet | EO: tamen |
| non ignorare | to know very well | |
| et...et | as well as, both... and... | |
| additionally, see forms of the personal pronouns in the grammar section |
Practise the vocabulary of this lesson by matching it. Grammar This lesson introduces personal pronouns in all their form. As I have told you before, the Romans usually didn't put words like "I" or "you" in order to show who the subject is, as it's obvious from the predicate ending. But in sentences in this lesson you saw a lot of pronouns. These were put into the sentences in order to stress the subject, e. g. "ego supero" -> "I win (not you or somebody else!)". Just like in English, the personal pronouns change for different cases. Here's a table with all forms of the personal pronouns ego, tu, nos and vos (pronouns for he/she/it/they don't exist, demonstrative pronouns take their place but you'll learn them later):
Nominative |
ego (I) |
tu (you) |
nos (we) |
vos (you) |
Dative |
mihi (to me) |
tibi (to you) |
nobis (to us) |
vobis (to you) |
Accusative |
me (me) |
te (you) |
nos (us) |
vos (you) |
Ablative, e. g. |
de me (from me); mecum (with me) |
de te (from you); tecum (with you) |
de nobis (from us); nobiscum (with us) |
de vobis (from you); vobiscum (with you) |
The preposition "cum" places itself at the end of the personal pronoun,
instead of remaining in front of it (e. g. "cum Marco" but "tecum").
The expression "non ignorare", which is in the vocabulary list, is an
example of a common Latin stylistic device: the double negative
(not not-know) as substitution for a positive word (to know). In
Latin, the double negative accentuates the positive, so "non ignorare"
means not just "to know" but "to know very well".
Exercise
Put in the correct personal pronouns:
1. Cur __ irrides, Demarate, cum erro?
2. Num __ numquam erras, amice?
3. Forum Augusti __ notum est, amice!
4. Cornelia: "Marcus __ multa monumenta monstrat, Demarate
et Epicharme!"
Information: The antique comedy The antique comedy developed in Athens from the cult of the God Dionysos (Roman god: Bacchus), during whose processions it was normal to make coarse jokes. Aristophanes (445-386 BC), the master of the "Old Comedy" already knew how to make excellent cabaret about political events, for example in his works "The birds" or "The frogs". The actors wore grotesque masks. Spoken parts, arias and choir singing were part of the plays. The "New Comedy", which came into being around 300 BC, told about daily life using rolemodels like the young lover or the smart slave. The master of this type of comedy was Menander (342-290 BC) The comedies by the Roman poets Plautus (about 250-184 BC) and Terenz (about 195-160 BC) were mostly literal translations of Greek plays into Latin.
Exercise answers: 1. me 2. tu 3. mihi 4. nobis or vobis