Latin course for the Virtual School of Languages

Lesson 32: In the giant's cave

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Text
(During his journey home, Odysseus had to undergo
many adventures, for example the one with the one-eyed
giant Polyphem:)
Ulixes, postquam dolo eius Troia expugnata est, patriam
petivit, sed ventis adversis diu per undas iactatus est multaque
mala sustinuit.
Quis ignorat ab eo etiam Polyphemum illum domitum esse,
cuius speluncam inscius intraverat? Frustra Ulixes eum de
hospitio admonuerat, frustra eum impiis factis arcere studuerat:
Polyphemus enim clamaverat: "Ego deos numquam colui!" Iam
nonnullos Graecos necaverat, cum Ulixes dolum adhibuit: 
Vinum ei praebuit, Polyphemum vino impletum docuit se 
Neminem vocari. "Nemo", inquit ille, "mihi placet; nam magno
gaudio me implevit. Itaque Nemini donum pulchrum tribuam:
Neminem ultimum necabo!"
Tum Polyphemus somno se dat. Ulixes autem socios haec iussit,
haec eis suasit: "Satis diu ille nos ursit et torsit, satis diu superbiae
eius cessimus. Ecce flammae, ecce palus: Si hic palus ardebit,
Polyphemum oculo spoliabimus. Id nobis certe continget, nisi
timidi erimus!"
Quibus verbis postquam animos eorum auxit, eos secum duxit, 
una cum eis Polyphemum temptavit. Iam palus in oculo eius haesit,
iam Polyphemus clamavit, iam amicos vocavit: "Nemo me oculo
spoliavit, nemo me necare studet!" At frustra clamat, nam a nullo
adiuvatur. Ceteri enim Cyclopes: "Si nemo te spoliat, si a nullo
necaris, nullius auxilio eges!"
---------------------------
Reading vocabulary you needn't learn:
spelunca, -ae: cave
inscius, -a, -um: unsuspecting
hospitium, -i: right of hospitality, the host's duty
palus, -i: pole, stake
una (Adv.): together
Cyclopes: Cyclopes (huge one-eyed monsters of Greek mythology)


Vocabulary

praebere (praebui)

to offer, hold out, supply; show

Practise the vocabulary of this lesson by matching it.	

Grammar
This lesson doesn't introduce any new concept, it is more like a supplement to the
grammar of lesson 21. In that lesson, you learned about the perfect tense and words
like "paravi", "superavi" etc.  All of these words (except esse which is always irregular)
added -v- for the perfect stem. Now it's time to introduce two different ways of 
forming the perfect stem: the -u- and -s- perfect. 

While the -v- perfect is used by most verbs of the A-Conjugation (those whose stem
ends in -a, like voca-re), it is rather uncommon to see a verb of the Ê-Conjugation 
(those whose stem ends in a long -e, like habêre) do that. These verbs usually convert
the ê of the infinitive into a u. The personal endings (-i, -isti, -it, ...) stay the same.
Easy, isn't it?
Some examples of verbs with -u- perfect: 
docêre ->  docui, habêre -> habui, monêre -> monui, parêre -> parui, studere -> studui
There are many more of these verbs, as I said, this is the standard way for verbs that
end in -êre.

The -s- perfect is mostly used when the consonant before the ê is a d. In that case, 
the d is replaced by an -s- and the ê is lost.
Examples: ardêre -> arsi, ridêre -> risi, suadêre -> suasi
There's a special case when the consonant before the ê (or e in case of the Consonantic
Conjugation) is g, c or qu. The -s- perfect is applied in most of these cases, too, but 
instead of writing "gs" or "cs", the Romans wrote down "x" as a simplification.
Examples: augêre -> auxi, ducere -> duxi, dicere -> dixi

Important not-so-regular forms: 
haerêre -> haesi, urgêre -> ursi, torquêre -> torsi, scribere -> scripsi, cedere -> cessi
Irregular forms you should already know: esse -> fui, ire -> ii, posse -> potui (and 
combinations like ad-fui, ex-ii, etc)

Here's a card with which you can learn the perfect conjugation of -v-, -u- and -s-
perfect, along with the irregular verbs esse, posse and ire. Print it and revise this tense
wherever you go!

Unfortunately the perfect stems are one of the most irregular forms in Latin (along with
the participle perfect passive, the PPP), so when you see a new verb, you can only make
an educated guess (based on the characteristics explained above) what its perfect stem 
will be. That is why every good dictionary gives you the perfect stem and the PPP form 
of every verb. An exception is usually made for -are verbs, because 97% of them form
a completely regular -v- perfect (according to the rule "substract -re, add -v- plus 
personal ending). I'll do the same in the new vocabulary lists: If the perfect form isn't
given, it's either an -are verb with regular -v- perfect or a really extraordinary form that
isn't worth the time learning it. If you're interested in knowing which of the verbs you 
have already learned forms which perfect and PPP forms, or you can't guess the infinitive
of a such form that you found in the text, refer to this page.  

Interesting tidbit: the perfect stem (simple past in English) and the PPP (past participle in
English) are exactly the same forms that are irregular in English and German, although these 
aren't Romance languages. For Romance languages like French and Italian, one only has
to learn the equivalents of the PPP and those verbs that are completely irregular. 
The relic of the perfect tense in Italian (now called the Imperfetto) uses -v- perfect for all
verbs and the same personal endings as other tenses. Examples of Italian: visitavo, ardevo,
ridevo.


Exercise
Add the missing letters in the following text. All should be in the perfect tense (Active and Passive).
Cato resigns:
1. "Saepe vos mon__, Romani, sed vos philosophis Graecis par__.
2. Ego semper illorum verba in foro vituper__, sed verba mea apud vos nihil val__ ;
nonnulli e vobis me irris__.
3. Ego vos disciplinam et modestiam Romanam doc__, quod luxuria(luxury, waste)
Graeca semper terr__ eram. 
4. Sed a me mon__, vos verba illorum magis ama__ quam mea; me irris__. 
5. Nos Romani autem imperium non eloquentia et luxuria ten__, sed disciplina et constantia.
6. Nunc ego tacebo, quod verbis meis non iam paretis." 


Information on Odysseus
Information on Polyphemus
Information on the Cyclopes




Exercise answers:
1. monui, paruistis
2. vituperavi, valuerunt; irriserunt
3. docui, territus
4. moniti, amavistis, irrisistis
5. tenuimus