sociorum ante oculos prope suos then when (something we have regarding) the country (or property) of the allies (the syntactical relation of res sociorum we cannot yet see before his own eyes the meaning we can) almost plunder and ravage ferri agique vidit, (to be) plundered and ravaged he sees (for vidit must refer to Flaminius, as no other logical subject has disgrace been introduced), suum (i.e., Flaminius') id dedecus think ratus, thinking (for the reader seeing in ratus a form of reor must refer it to Flaminius, and the peculiar usage in Latin after a verb of thinking should explain suum id dedecus) that (to be) his own move about disgrace, per mediam iam Italiam vagari Poenum (evidently explanatory of id) that the Carthaginian was moving about, through the very midst of Italy, atque (a like construction will follow atque 1) resist obsistente nullo ad ipsa Romana moenia ire oppugnanda, (the relation of ire as well as vagari should be easy for one who understands ratus, and he who has learned to distinguish between gerund and gerundive should see in oppugnanda no difficulty) and that, no man hindering, to the very walls of Rome was he marching to storm them (lit. to the very Roman walls to be stormed), ceteris omnibus in consilio 2 salutaria magis showy quam speciosa suadentibus, all the others (except Flaminius himself) in the war-council advocating things conducive to safety rather than (things) showy 1 The force of coördinate conjunctions is the same in Latin as in English and should be observed carefully in reading, especially et, atque, que and the correlatives et . . . et. (i.e., a safe rather than a more offensive policy). The meaning of suadentibus suggests what sort of colleague a sentence to follow? collegam exspectandum, (namely) that his colleague should be waited-for, ut the time of exspectandum (future) gives us the meaning of ut beyond peradventure, in order that coniunctis exercitibus, communi animo consilioque, with (there ought to be little danger of an attempt to read these words as dative, for the context demands the ablative) united armies, with a common spirit and plan (we can almost guess what the context requires here evidently some word struggle expressive of action, like pugnare), rem gererent, they might carry on the struggle, interea exercitu auxiliisque levium armorum ab (read on to see what follows ab—of itself indefinite; up to ab unrestrained the meaning is clear enough) effusa praedandi1 licentia, in the meantime with the army and allies of the light arms (i.e., light-armed men) evidently something was to be done and, as the context, shows, something to put a check upon the unlimited. plundering. What? hostem cohibendum, If the collegam exspectandum above was understood, these words should not be mysterious, closely connected as the two phrases are. (Advising) that the enemy be prevented from their unrestrained license of plundering, iratus a glance at the form of this word ought suffice to refer it to the subject, Flaminius enraged, se (indefinite as to relation, but clearly referring to Flaminius) ex consilio remembering the meaning of consilio above (concilio), the notion Flaminius himself from the 1 praedari, to plunder. council of war should help us to guess the following idea, if the next word did not at once reveal it : proripuit, hurried himself, i.e., rushed from the council. What was said relative to the last period might be repeated here. We see the same peculiarities: subject (Flaminius) at the beginning of the sentence, the main verb (proripuit) at the end, the subordinate clauses logically connected together, but falling in between the subject and main verb. Here no more than in the last sentence, while seeking in Livy's order, so far as possible, to see what Livy meant, have we sought to make an idiomatic English translation. That translation will not, as in Latin, be a single sentence, but will consist of a series of coördinate expressions. Thus : Flaminius, qui ne quieto quidem hoste ipse quieturus erat, tum vero, postquam res sociorum ante oculos prope suos ferri agique vidit, suum id dedecus ratus, per mediam iam Italiam vagari Poenum atque obsistente nullo ad ipsa Romana moenia ire oppugnanda, ceteris omnibus in consilio salutaria magis quam speciosa suadentibus, collegam exspectandum, ut coniunctis exercitibus, communi animo consilioque rem gererent, interim equitatu auxiliisque levium armorum ab effusa praedandi licentia hostem cohibendum, iratus se ex consilio proripuit. Flaminius would not have remained inactive even though the enemy had kept quiet. But, when he saw that the possessions of the allies were ravaged and plundered almost under his eyes, that Hannibal was now marching whithersoever he pleased, through the very midst of Italy and without opposition was on his way to storm Rome itself, he felt the disgrace as though it were personal. All in the council of war, except himself, advised a course such as should ensure safety rather than mere display. They urged that he should await the arrival of his colleague, so that with united forces and a common courage and plan of campaign they might continue the struggle, and that for the time being with the cavalry and light-armed troops they should check the enemy in his unrestrained plunder. At this Flaminius, beside himself with rage, rushed from the council. The meanings of words. II. Next to the Latin order and syntax, a strange vocabulary constitutes the greatest impediment to rapid and satisfactory reading. Too often the pupil, when commencing his first Latin text, has but a very limited stock of words, and, though by oft-repeated and unceasing reference to the dictionary he may acquire such vocabulary as to suffice for his first-read text, as soon as he opens a new author, he finds that his work, if not for the most part to be done over, must be continued in the same trying and discouraging way. He seems enslaved to grammar and lexicon without hope of release. Now, anything that can free him and make the acquirement of a vocabulary an agreeable, or reasonably easy task, is very desirable. It is hoped that the following suggestions, if followed, may be found helpful to that end. Translation vs. thinking in Latin. The learner should from the start learn the lesson taught in the earlier pages, that the translation of a Latin sentence into idiomatic English is a very different thing from such a comprehension of the Latin words as enables the reader to get the idea or meaning of the Latin, and in sight-reading he should seek to find out this meaning without making any conscious effort at an English translation; that the meanings of individual words are not to be sought out and in puzzle fashion put together "so as to make sense," as many a boy actually tries to do, but that the sense, as in the exercises before-given, is to be got in the order of the Latin words, Sources of help. idea being added to idea until the meaning as a whole is seen. Neither need he finger a lexicon for every new word 1 nor, again, ought he to rely upon any one source of help in inferring meanings. But, in order to be serviceable, the means of help must be fairly used. That is, the reader should keep them in mind when reading, and should try to apply such of them as will enable him to infer meanings in each instance. Some one of them will be found of use in the case of very many, if not most, strange words. The meaning of a word. In what does the meaning of a word consist? Where do we look for it? By what elements is it determined? By the 1. Root. (A. and G. 157; G. 24, 2; H. 314.) 2. Stem Signification, or "significant endings" (suffixes) as seen in the formation of the word. (A. and G. 159; H. 317, 318.) 3. Inflectional Endings. (A. and G. 20; G. 16; H. 46.) 4. The force of the components (including prefixes) making compound words. Of these various elements we shall speak in turn.2 Main idea or root-meaning. In seeking the meaning of a word having more than one meaning, the main idea or root-meaning should be first looked for, i.e., thought of, if known, and from this a more specific meaning must be inferred in accordance with the requirements of the context or general sense of the passage. This is especially necessary in the case of verbs. A word is 1 "Judicious guessing" is not only fair but sometimes wise. In English we often resort to it as a temporary expedient. But it should never (in Latin) take the place of after-consultation of the dictionary. 2 Of course, the value of context in determining meaning must be constantly recognized. |