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Constat non cunctos Romanos verba Marci Porcii laudavisse imprimisque Nasicam
sententiam eius sprevisse.
"Non nego", inquit, "me quoque copias Poenorum reformidavisse; sed apparet eas
ad Zamam stratas et deletas esse. Itaque credo Poenos bellum cogitare desi(i)sse.
Tu, Cato, dicis divitias eorum crevisse, Carthaginem cunctis bonis impletam esse -
et ego gaudeo Carthaginem divitiis abundare.
Neque ignoro a Poenis divitias amari; itaque pericula belli vitabunt, amicitiam
nostram colent, frumentum exportabunt. Constat ab eis pacta adhuc servata esse;
oportet ea pacta etiam a nobis servari.
Proinde desine nobis bellum iniustum suadere, desine odium et inimicitias serere,
desine Poenos timere!
Equidem non sinam Carthaginem vastari."
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Reading vocabulary you needn't learn:
Nasica: Publius Scipio Nasica, a Roman politician who favoured the Greek influence,
in contrast to Cato
Poeni, -orum: Punians, Carthaginians
reformidare: to fear
Carthaginem: (Accusative of) Carthago
Vocabulary
| exportare | to export | export |
| vastare | to lay waste, ravage | |
| suadêre | to advise, recommend | per-suade |
| oportet | it is necessary, it is proper; one should, one ought | |
| colere | to cultivate; cherish; care for | culture |
| serere (sevi, satum) | to sow, plant | D: Saat |
sinere (sivi, situm) |
to let, allow, permit |
|
| desinere (desii, desitum) | to cease, stop, leave off, desist | |
| sternere (stravi, stratum) | to throw to the ground | street |
| amicitia, -ae | friendship | L3: amicus; I: amicizia |
| inimicitae, -arum | hostilities |
|
| sententia, -ae | sentiment, opinion; decision; saying | sentence |
| bona, -orum | goods | L6: bonus |
| frumentum, -i | grain | |
| odium, -i | hatred | |
| pactum, -i | pact, treaty, contract | |
| equidem | indeed, truly, for my part | L14: quidem |
| proinde | consequently, therefore |
Practise the vocabulary of this lesson by matching it. Grammar There is just one new form in this lesson: the perfect infinitive. Its active form is built by adding the ending -isse to the perfect stem. For example: laudavi = I have praised laudavisse = to have praised (perfect infinitive, active) The passive form is even easier, it doesn't require any new ending: laudatus sum = I have been praised laudatus esse = to have been praised (perfect infinitive, passive) In English, there aren't many occasions where this kind of infinitive has to be used. In Latin, there are. You already know a construction where the infinitive plays a vital role: the AcI, which was introduced in lesson 18. An example for a sentence with AcI as you know it: Constat te errare. And the same sentence with the new form: Constat te erravisse. Can you guess the difference in the translation of these two sentences? The first one has to be translated as "It is certain that you err." The second one has to be translated as "It is certain that you have erred.", so the action in the AcI (you erred) has happened before the action in the main clause (it is certain). It is only now certain that that somebody erred in the past. Let's have examples of passive AcIs: Syrus videt oppidum suum deleri. Syrus videt oppidum suum deletum esse. The first one means "Syrus sees that his town is (being) destroyed." The second one means "Syrus sees that his town has been destroyed." In the first sentence, people are destroying Syrus' town at the same time as he is there watching. In the second sentence, Syrus' town has been destroyed before and Syrus sees only the ruins.
Exercise Add "Livius narrat" in front of each sentence and transform the sentence into an AcI. Pay attention to whether the sentence is active or passive. 1. Poeni Saguntum armis temptaverunt. . 2. Saguntinis frumentum non iam fuit.. 3. Oppidum a Poenis expugnatum et deletum est. 4. Cuncta aedificia deleta sunt.
Information on Cato Information on Saguntum Exercise answers: 1) Livius narrat Poenos Saguntum armis temptavisse. 2) Livius narrat Saguntinis frumentum non iam fuisse. 3) Livius narrat oppidum a Poenis expugnatum et deletum esse. 4) Livius narrat cuncta aedificia deleta esse.