Latin course for the Virtual School of Languages

Lesson 37: Hercules

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Text
(A Roman narrator speaks about Hercules:)
"Hercules erat summa virtute summisque viribus. Qui iuvenis umquam
toto fere orbe terrarum factis suis tam clarus fuit? Quibus adversariis
ille umquam cessit? Quae pericula umquam vitavit?
Neque vim Centauorum, hostium periculosorum, Hercules timuit
neque illas aves, quae pennas ut sagittas mittebant. Moenia magnarum
urbium et arces firmas ipsamque Troiam delevit, extremos fines orbis
terrarum peragravit neque dubitavit ad sedem Mortis Noctisque 
tacitamque gentem mortuorum descendere. Ibi Cerberum, canem illum,
cui tria capita sunt, superavit et ad regem Eurystheum portavit. Qui ubi
iuvenem canemque videt, fugam capessit seque in magno dolio abdit.
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Reading vocabulary you needn't learn:
penna, -ae: feather
sagitta, -ae: arrow
peragrare: to wander through
dolium, -i: barrel


Vocabulary
abdere to put away, hide, conceal
avis, avis f bird
finis, finis m end, limit, boundary, purpose; Plural: area
final
hostis, hostis m enemy; stranger
hostile
orbis, orbis m world, circle
orbit
arx, arcis f castle
L29: arcêre
gens, gentis f race, nation, people, tribe
mors, mortis f death
mortal; F: mort
nox, noctis f night
noctual; I: notte
urbs, urbis f big town; Rome
urban
canis, canis m/f dog
I: cane
iuvenis, iuvenis m young man
L35: iuventus
rupes, rupis f cliff, rock
sedes, sedis f seat, residence
L1: sedêre
caput, capitis n head, top, chief; capital
capital
moenia, moenium n (plural) city wall
qui? quae? quod? which one?
orbis terrarum the world, the earth
Practise the vocabulary of this lesson by matching it.	

Grammar
In this lesson, you were able to practise the I-Declension quite a bit. 
Additionally, I'd like to introduce another use of the pronouns qui, quae,
quod, which you already know from relative clauses. These pronouns can
also be used as question words if they are combined with a noun in the 
same case. Then they mean "which one?".
Let's have a few examples of their usage:
1. Qui vir Cerberum superavit? - Which man beat Cerberus? 
In this question, qui is related to vir, which is masculine singular 
Nominative, so qui becomes masculine singular Nominative, too. The
same thing would happen if we were to form this as a sentence: 
"Hercules est vir, qui Cerberum superavit."
2. Quam deam Dido vocavit? - Which goddess did Dido invoke?
In this question, the form of quae (quam) is feminine singular Accusative,
like deam. The same as a sentence: "Hecate est dea, quam Dido vocavit."
3. In qua urbe statua (statues) summi dei spectari poterat? - In which
town is it possible to see statues of all gods?
In this question, the form of quae (qua) is feminine singular Ablative, like
urbe. 
And so on. As you can see, you don't need to learn any new forms,
just memorise that qui, quae, quod, whose forms you already know, can 
be used in this way.


Exercise
Determine the gender, case and number (singular or plural) of qui, quae, quod
in the following questions and translate them. The noun, with which they are
combined, may help you.
1. Quo dolo Ulixes Troianos superavit?
2. Quas fabulas Marco narravit?
3. Quae verba tibi ignota sunt?
4. Cuius facti populus rationem postulavit?

Information on Hercules
Information on Centaurs
Information on Cerberus
Information on Eurystheus


Exercise answers:
1. Quo dolo = masculine Ablative singular; Dative would be grammatically possible
    but not in this context. "Through which trap did Odysseus beat the Trojans?"
2. Quas fabulas = feminine Accusative plural. "Which stories did Marcus tell?"
3. Quae verba = neuter Nominative plural; Accusative would be grammatically 
     possible but not in this context. "Which words are unknown to you?"
4. Cuius facti = neuter Genitive singular. "For which deeds were the people demanding
     account?"