Latin course for the Virtual School of Languages

Lesson 29: Dido's curse

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Text
Dido regina, quae Aeneam valde amaverat, fugam eius vehementer
dolebat. Ea, postquam frustra deos, frustra fortunam accusavit, se
eo gladio, quem Aeneas ei donaverat, necare paravit. Dum ei rogus
struitur: "En", inquit, "vir pius, qui simulacra e Troia servata secum
portat!
En pius Aeneas, cui dei ipsi imperant, cuius facta deis ipsis placent!
At ego te, Hecate, voco, a qua vindicantur facta impia: Tu eum ipsum
sociosque, quos secum ducit, Italia arcebis! Sin autem fata non sinent,
eum bello quidem et armis vexabis: Mortuos videbit eos, quos amavit,
neque diu regnabit in eis terris, quas nunc petit! Numquam amicitia
inter eius populum et meum erit, et oppida, quae condet, aliquando a
copiis Poenorum vastabuntur. Bellum diuturnum erit, ipsique 
pugnabunt et posteri cuncti!"
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Reading vocabulary you needn't learn:
vehementer: violently, strongly, exceedingly
rogus, -i: funeral pile
en: there's that... ! 
condere: to found
posteri, -orum: offspring, following generations

Vocabulary
accusare to accuse, blame
accuse
donare to donate
donate, L5: donum
vexare to vex, annoy, irritate
vex
vindicare to claim; punish; liberate
vindictive
arcêre to shut up, enclose, keep from, keep away
struere to devise, fit out, construct
con-struct, con-strue
factum, -i
action, deed, achievement
fact, factor
fatum, -i fate, destiny, doom
fate
simulacrum, -i icon, image of God
diuturnus, -a, -um lasting a long time, long duration
L5: diu
mortuus, -a, -um

dead

mortal
pius, -a, -um pious, dutiful, compassionate
pious
impius, -a, -um ungodly, without respect, irreverent
im-pius
qui, quae, quod who, which
F: qui, I: chi
at  but, however
sin if however
sin autem if however
mortuus est he has died  
Practise the vocabulary of this lesson by matching it.	

Grammar
In this lesson, you'll finally learn how to describe things and people more 
extensively, using a whole subclause. This kind of subclause usually starts with 
the relative pronouns "who" and "which" in English. The Latin equivalent is
qui, quae, quod. Unfortunately, its declension is rather irregular, compared
to the A/O-Declensions. Here's the scheme:
Nominative qui quae quod he, who is nice
Genitive cuius cuius cuius he, whose father I know
Dative cui cui cui he, to whom I listen
Accusative quem quam quod he, whom I like
Ablative quo(cum) qua(cum) quo(cum) he, with whom I play
Nominative qui quae quae they, who are nice
Genitive quorum quarum quorum they, whose father I know
Dative quibus quibus quibus they, to whom I listen
Accusative quos quas quae they, whom I like
Ablative quibus(cum) quibus(cum) quibus(cum) they, with whom I play
In the scheme, you'll notice several things you already know: the Genitive and Dative
singular is comparable to the Genitive and Dative of is, ea, id and ipse, ipsa, ipsum; 
and several forms, but not all other, correspond to the A/O Declensions. The most
remarkable exceptions are the Dative & Ablative plural and the masculine Dative
singular, which are taken from a different Declension (more about that in lesson 33).
I wrote down a sample use for qui in each row and marked the word, that corresponds
the form of qui in blue. Note that this is just the translation of qui; if you see a form of
ea, you have to replace "he" with "she" and if you see a form of quod, you have to say
e. g. "it, which" or "the thing, which". (You might even have to use "which" with qui or
quae because the Romans adapted their pronouns just like their adjectives: they look
at the grammatical gender, not the actual gender).


Exercise
Fill in the right relative pronoun in these sentences about Dionysius and translate. 
If you're unsure of the facts behind the sentences, review lessons 17, 18 and 21. 
Every sentence starts like this:
Non ignoramus Dionysium,
1) __ multos annos Syracusanis imperavit.
2) __ Moerus necare studebat.
3) de __ multa facta narrantur.
4) __ divitias Damocles laudaverat.
5) __ multi servi erant.

Information on Dido
Information on Aeneas
Information on Carthage

Exercise answers:
We know Dionysius very well,
1) qui : who ruled over the citizens of Syracus for many years.
2) quem : whom Moerus tried to kill.
3) de quo : about whom many things are told.
4) cuius : whose wealth Damocles praised.
5) cui : who had many slaves