CHAPTER fil

Horatia Scintillam iuvat. Horatia difl laborat; fessa eSt .

Quintus Argum ad agrum dficit; Argus Quintus Argnm vocat sed canis non
canis bonus est. redit: malus est.

QUINTUS rs LOST
Scintilla in culina laborat. Quintum vocat. Quintus
culina kitchen
culinam intrat et Scintillam saltitatScintilla eum ad
agrum mittit. puer hortum intrat t Argum vocat. canis
hortum garden
ad puerum currit. laetus est quod uintus eum ad
agrum dticit. quod because
diicit is taking
sed in via Argus leporem videt; ferociter latrat.
Ieporem a hare
lep~s timet et_ tw,it in silva__m. pu~r Ar~m vocat, sed
ferociter fiercely; latrat barks
cams non red.~t,;·1taque Qumtus sllvam mtrat et Argum
quaerit. diii quaerit et vocat, sed non redit malus canis.
tandem puer fessus est; sub arbore iacet; dormit. ·
tandem at last
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 (

_ . diu donnit Quintus sub arbore. interea Scintilla interei meanwhile

a~xia est. Horatiam vocat et dicit: 'ubi est Quintus?' aiuda anxious; ubi? where?
CUT ~on redit ad cenam? malus puer est.' Horatia cur? why?
nesc1t. Scintilla timet; lacrimat et clamat. tandem nescit does not know
Horatiam in silvam mittit. lacrimat cries; clamat shouts
Horatia ad silvam currit. diu vocat et quaerit; sed tandem at last
puer non respondet; nam dormit. tandem puellam currit runs
audit et vocat. sic Horatia puerum invenit. Quintus respondet replies; tandem at
tutus est. Horatia gaudet et puerum ad casam reducit. length
jbi Scintilla anxia exspectat. tandem filium et sic thus; invenit finds
gaudet rejoices; rediicit leads
filiam videt. currit ad Quintum; gaudet et lacrimat et back
puerum basiat. dicit: 'o Quinte, cur parentes sic vexas?' ibi there; exspectat waits
basiat kisses; parentes
parents; vexas do you worry?
- lA.tv\

iacet lies silva wood nam for

timet ·fears, is afraid canis dog mox soon
adit goes to, approaches mains bad iam now, already
dormit sleeps tiitus safe 1 diii for a long
fugit flees laetus happy time ;
mittit sends
quaerit looks for; asks ~---- ____ j

Exercise 3 .1

Give an English word coming from each of the following

anxius, dormit, exspectat, saliitat, fugit

, The verb 'est'

We have already met two basic sentence patterns

S V S O V

Flaccus laborat. Flaccus filium vocat.

There is one more basic pattern of sentence
Quintus est puer Qu~ntus ~s boy.
Quintus est fessus Qumtus 1s tued.

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 t? The noun or
The verb est requires a completing word: Quintus~· dis in
adjective which completes the sense is called a complement an
the same case and gender as the subject.

II S V C
· l'k
So: Quintus est fessus. fessus, the complement, 1s, 1 e Quintus ' m
•

the nominative case and masculine.

I
S V C
Scintilla est fessa. fessa, the complement, is, like Scintilla,
nominative and feminine .
. I
1
Exercise 3.2 Exercise 3. 3

Analyse and translate: mark 'c' over Translate into Latin

complement 1 The boy is not bad.
1 Flaccus est fessus. 2 Horatia is good.
2 puer malus est. 3 Quintus is safe.
,,
3 Scintilla est fessa. 4 Flaccus is tired.
4 Horatia tuta est. 5 The dinner is bad.
5 cena bona est.

Exercise 3.4
- I
I Analyse and translate
1 Quintus Argum vocat; canis non redit.
2 puer anxius est; Argum quaerit.
3 Quintus magnam silvam intrat. magnam great, big
4 puella fessa est; dormit.
5 malus puer puellam excitat. excitat wakes
6 puella irata est; Quintum reprehendit. irita angry
reprehend.it blames
i '
I,
I
I
I ' Exercise 3. 5

Either translate the following passage or answer the questions without

translating
Flaccus in agro dormit; fessus est. Scintilla in casa
laborat; cenam parat. anxia est; nam Flaccus non redit.
Scintilla Quintum vocat et eum ad agrum mittit.
Quintus Argum vocat et festinat ad agrum. ubi agrum festinat hurries; ubi when
intrat, Flaccum videt; Flaccus tutus est; sub arbore
dormit. filius Flaccum vocat et excitat. Flaccus eum excitat wakes up
audit; surgit et cum filio ad casam redit. surgit _gets up; cum filio with
his son
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1 What is Flaccus doing, and why? What is Scintilla doing?
2 Why is Scintilla anxious?
3 What does she do about it?
4 Where does Quintus find Flaccus?
S What does Quintus do then?
6 The following English words are derived from Latin words in this
passage: agriculture, dormitory, laborious. From what Latin word
does each come and what do the English words mean?
7 In what case is each of the following words: fessus (1.1); cenam
(1.2); Scintilla (1.3); eum (1.3)? Explain why these cases are used.

WOMEN

A family meal

Horace's mother had to work extremely hard as the wife of a Roman

farmer. She got up very early in the morning before it was even light,
stirred up the embers oflast night's fire, and lit the lamp. Then she
began to spin and weave wool in order to m~lce clothes for her family
and herself. She continued with this task for most of the day. It is
probable that even in a home as humble as hers there were some
maidservants, and perhaps she had a daughter to help her. Horace
tells us nothing about the women in his household. We have invented
a sister for him whom we have called Horatia. The women gossipped
as they worked at the wool, which would have made the long hours of
spinning and weaving pass more quickly and enjoyably.-At some stage
of the day, Horace's mother or one of her servants had to go to the
spring in the middle of the town to fetch water. Here she would stop
for another gossip with the local women before returning home with
her full jar.
Horace's mother prepared a simple breakfast for her husband
before he went off to the country to his farm . She sent his lunch out to

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 him as he worked in the fields, and provided him with dinner,.
probably the largest meal of the day, when he returned home m t~e
evening. On top of this, she had to see to all the housework. Her hfe
was difficult and exhausting, even if she did have help. Her duty was
to put her husband and sons first because she was a Roman matrona
(older, married woman). Ancient Rome was very much a man's
world, and women were only thought important because they would
be the mothers of the Romans of the future. Wives and their children
were totally under the authority of the father of the family
(paterfamilias). Marriages were arranged by the parents of the bride
and bridegroom and often took place at a very early age. Marriage
was legal for girls at twelve and for boys at fourteen, and most girls
had become wives before their sixteenth birthday. Husband and wife
would hardly have seen each other before the wedding as with many
marriages in non-Western cultures today. There is no reason to
believe·that this led to an unsuccessful marriage.
A Roman woman's situation
appears pretty grim, and yet Roman
history is full of the names of women
who made their mark because of their
strong personalities. Such women came
from the upper class, unlike Horace's
mother. They could have considerable
I. influence in politics and many of them
were well educated and witty. A girl
would not go to school (or as many years
as a boy, but she could be taught at
home by her mother or a gifted slave.
The household called her 'domina'
(mistress) and she received visitors. At
home she dined with her husband and
she went out to dinner with him.
Outside, she travelled in a litter, a
portable couch enclose_d by curtains, or
walked with an attendant, and people
made way for her in the street. .

CASTA FUIT, DOMUM SERVAVIT, LANAM FECIT

She was faithful to her husband, s~e looked after the home, she spun wool
An inscription on a Roman woman's tomb sums up th~ tradiJLonal wifely virtues.

f) Imagine you are Scintilla; describe a typical day in your life.

What seem to yoµ the most striking diffe_rences between the position
of women then and now? Ho'"': would you have liked to be a woman in
the Roman world?
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