Text (Continuation of the story of lesson 38:) "Orpheus voce dulci cantans animum Proserpinae movet; et regem mortuorum movent verba cantantis. Flentes stabant animae exsangues, neque Tantalus undam ef-fluentem captavit, neque aves Tityum vexaverunt iecur eius carpentes. Tum primum lacrimae erant in oculis Furiarum sortem tristem Orphei dolentium! Cui oranti datur uxor fidelis hac condicione: "Si rediens oculos flexeris, priusquam his sedibus exieris, eam amittes!" Iam Orpheus viam carpit cum uxore propter vulnus tardius incedente, iam margini terrae appropinquant, cum Orpheus amore ardens oculos flectit - et statim Eurydica, uxor amata, recedit! Redeuntem Orpheum Charon arcuit neque iterum transportavit. Tamen illum per septem noctes flentem et dolentem in eis sedibus atrocibus mansisse poetae narrant." --------------------------- Reading vocabulary you needn't learn: exsanguis, -e: without blood, pale iecur, -oris n: liver tardius (Adv.): quite slowly margo, -inis m/f: rim, border Vocabulary
| cantare | to sing | F: chanter; I: cantare |
| orare | to speak, plead, orate, beg, pray | orate |
| flêre (flevi, fletum) | to weep, cry, shed tears, sob | |
| movêre (moti, motum) | to move, arouse, affect, influence, impress | move, motion |
| flectere (flexi, flexum) | to overcome, bend | flection, re-flect, de-flect |
| fluere (fluxi) | to flow, pour, stream | fluctuation |
| incedere (incessi, incessum) | to march, go, enter into, go along | L20: cedere |
| recedere (recessi, recessum) | to go back, retire, withdraw, recede | recede |
| anima, -ae | soul; life | L32: animus |
| amor, -oris m | love | L5: amare |
| condicio, -onis f | condition, situation | condition |
| sors, sortis f | lot, share, fortune | |
| vox, vocis f | voice, sound | voice; L1: vocare |
| dulcis, -e | delightful, sweet, pleasant | I: "dolce vita", "dolce farniente" |
| tristis, -e | sad, mournful | F: triste; D: trist |
| septem | 7 | F: sept; I: sette |
| iterum | once again, for the second time | |
| primum | at first, for the first time | L24: primus |
| priusquam | before | prior |
Practise the vocabulary of this lesson by matching it.
Grammar
In this lesson, you'll learn a second type of participle: the participle
present active (PPA). As the name suggests, it relates something that
happens at the same time as the rest of the sentence, and that action
is active, not passive like the action of the PPP (participle perfect
passive) which you got to know in lesson 25. In English, the
equivalent participle is the one with -ing, for example "singing". In
Latin, the PPA is formed by taking the word stem and adding -ns
(for the Nominative singular). For example, take the word "cantare",
to sing. The stem is canta- . Add -ns and you get "cantans", singing.
Just like the PPP, the PPA behaves basically like an adjective. Only
that in this case, it doesn't behave like an adjective of the A/O-
Declensions, but like one of the I-Declension. The masculine, feminine
and neuter Nominative singular is always the same, ending in -ns.
Fortunately you don't have to learn the Genitive, for each participle, as
you had to do for nouns and adjectives of the I-Declension, the
Genitive singular always ends in -ntis. From there, the whole rest of the
cases is regular, too.
This is a huge advantage of the PPA in comparison to the PPP: the
formation is completely regular, you don't have to learn any extra form
for each verb, just memorise the rule: stem + ns for the Nominative
singular; stem + nt + case ending for the other cases.
The usage of this participle is quite similar to the usage of the PPP. It
can be used
1) as a noun: Amantes saluto.
= I greet the lovers / the ones who are loving.
2) as an adjective: Redeuntem Orpheum Charon arcuit.
= Charon kept the returning Orpheus away.
/ Charon kept Orpheus, who was returning, away.
3) as a predicativum: Pueri bene laborantes a patribus laudantur.
= Hard-working boys are praised by (their) fathers.
/ When the boys are working hard, they are praised by (their) fathers.
/ Because the boys are working hard, they are praised by (their) fathers.
Exercise
Match each word from list A with a fitting one from list B. Pay attention
to case and meaning!
List A: patrem, feminas, pugnae, servo, dominis, donum, hominum
List B: delectans, roganti, ignorantium, imminenti, appropinquantes,
vocantem, imperantibus
Information on Orpheus
Information on Eurydice
Information on Tantalus
Information on Tityus
Information on the Furies
Information on Proserpina
Information on Charon
Exercise answers:
patrem vocantem, feminas appropinquantes, pugnae imminenti,
servo roganti, dominis imperantibus, donum delectans,
hominum ignorantium