Ludi Novi Romani/MMDCCLXVII/Certamen Latinum Augusteum

Rules of the Certamen Latinum Augusteum

1. Questions are posted daily, one question per one day. There will be 7 questions in total.

2. Answers are to be sent to <cnaeus_cornelius@yahoo.com>. If you send in your answer before the posting of the next question (questions will be posted every second day), you will earn 5 extra points as "speed points".

3. Answers may be sent in until the last day of the games: you can answer all questions (#1-7) even on the last day, but in this case, you'll get no speed points.

Question 1 (March 2nd)

I. INTRODUCTION 1 - Verbs in the Present

Verbs are words which express what happens in a sentence: action or state of being, like "to go", "to walk", "to see", "to be".

Latin indicates grammatical information by "inflection": by changing the ending of the words. When English says "I have", "we have", Latin says "habeo" and "habemus". English puts "I" and "we" before the verb, Latin adds different endings, "-o" and "-mus", to the end of the verb.

THE CONJUGATIONS

Latin verbs are grouped into 4 conjugations (verb inflection groups). To determine which conjugation group a verb belongs to, you have to look at the dictionary form of the verb. In the case of the verb “have”, you will find:

"habeo, habére, habui, habitum" (I have, to have, I had, the had one)

When we want to conjugate a verb in the PRESENT tense, we must look at the 2nd dictionary form, the infinitive:

"habére" (to have)

The infinitive, “hab-ére” (to have) shows that this verb belongs to the 2nd conjugation, because all verbs that have the infinitive ending “-ére” belong to the 2nd conjugation.

WHICH VERB WHICH CONJUGATION?

The second dictionary element, the infinitive, determines which conjugation the verb belongs to. The 4 variants of infinitive endings and the 4 conjugations determined by the different infinitive endings are:

-are = 1st conjugation (e.g. amo, amare, amavi, amatum)

-ére = 2nd conjugation (e.g. habeo, habére, habui, habitum)

-ere = 3rd conjugation (e.g. dico, dicere, dixi, dictum)

-ire = 4th conjugation (e.g. audio, audire, audivi, auditum)

Note that “–ere”, which is short vowel, is different from “–ére”, which is long vowel.

HOW TO CONJUGATE A VERB IN INDICATIVE MOOD?

For Present and Imperfect tenses, you shall use the so called "imperfect stem", obtained by cutting of the infinitive endings of the second dictionary form. Cut off the infinitive endings -are, -ére, -ere and -ire, and replace them with the personal endings shown in these tables (follow the links):

PRESENT TENSE (e.g. "I go")

http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation#Present_Tense

IMPERFECT TENSE (e.g. "I was going")

http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation#Imperfect_Tense

For Perfect and Pluperfect tenses, you shall use the so called "perfect stem", obtained by cutting of the Perfect ending of the third dictionary form. Cut off the ending -i for all classes of verbs, and replace them with the personal endings shown in these tables (follow the links):

PERFECT TENSE (e.g. "I have gone" or "I went")

http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation#Perfect_Tense

PLUPERFECT TENSE (e.g. "I had gone")

http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation#Pluperfect_Tense

II. QUESTION 1

An important verb in Augustus' life was the verb restituo, restituere, restitui, restitutum ("to restore"). He called his political system, the Principate, a mixed form of government with republican and monarchical elements, as "Restored Republic". He was proud to report in his Res Gestae that he restored 82 temples in Rome and most of the monuments of the City. His life was dedicated to the restoration of older Roman traditions, religiousness and customs. The verb restituo is really a verb of Augustus. Our first exercise will be with this verb.
- Take this verb restituo, restituere, restitui, restitutum ("to restore"), and conjugate it in the Present Tense, and in the 3 Latin past tenses, in the Imperfect, Perfect and Pluperfect tenses. Look at the example with cupio, cupere cupivi cupitum how to do it.
- Send your solution to <cnaeus_cornelius@yahoo.com>

III. AN EXAMPLE HOW TO DO IT:

- There are 4 types, which are differentiated by the infinitive ending: -are, -ére, -ere, -ire. I have to conjugate one from each type. In this example, I choose an "-ere" (short "e") type:

cupio, -ere, -ivi, -itum (wish);

- The 2nd dictionary form (infinitive) is abbreviated as "-ere", which means that its full infinitive form written out is: "cupere".
- The infinitive ending "-ere" marks the 3rd Conjugation.
- In the conjugation table of our website (following the link given above) you will find two columns for the 3rd Conjugation: I-Stem and Consonant Stem. The ending of the 1st dictionary form (cupio "I wish") determines if a 3rd Conjugation verb is of I-Stem or Consonant Stem. It's I-Stem, if the 1st dictionary form ending is "-io". It's Consonant Stem, if the 1st dictionary form ending is "-o", without a preceding "i". For "cupio", it's I-Stem as the ending "-io" shows.
- You look at the conjugation table, Present Tense personal endings in 3rd Conjugation I-Stem, and add the personal endings to "cup-". You will write the following forms:

cupio - I wish

cupis - you wish

cupit - he wishes

cupimus - we wish

cupitis - you (plural) wish

cupiunt - they wish

(6 pts)

- Next, you look at the conjugation table, Imperfect Tense personal endings in 3rd Conjugation I-Stem, and add the personal endings to "cup-". You will write the following forms:

cupiebam - I was wishing

cupiebas - you were wishing

cupiebat - he was wishing

cupiebamus - we were wishing

cupiebatis - you (plural) were wishing

cupiebant - they were wishing

(6 pts)

- Perfect and Pluperfect is formed from the "perfect stem" (the third dictionary form of the verb, by cutting off the ending "-i"), you look at the conjugation table, Perfect Tense personal endings which are the same in all conjugations, and add the personal endings to the perfect stem, "cupiv-". You will write the following forms:

cupivi - I have wished - I wished

cupivisti - you have wished - you wished

cupivit - he has wished - he wished

cupivimus - we have wished - we wished

cupivistis - you (plural) have wished - you (plural) wished

cupiverunt - they have wished - they wished

(6 pts)

- Perfect and Pluperfect is formed from the "perfect stem" (the third dictionary form of the verb, by cutting off the ending "-i"), you look at the conjugation table, Pluperfect Tense personal endings which are the same in all conjugations, and add the personal endings to the perfect stem, "cupiv-". You will write the following forms:

cupiveram - I had wished

cupiveras - you had wished

cupiverat - he had wished

cupiveramus - we had wished

cupiveratis - you (plural) had wished

cupiverant - they had wished

(6 pts)

Question 2 (March 4th)

I. INTRODUCTION 2 - Nouns and their cases

A noun is a word used to name a person, animal, place, thing, and abstract idea, like "mother", "lion", "forest", "birth".

As we saw with the verbs, Latin indicates grammatical information by "inflection": by changing the ending of the words. This is the same with nouns. When English says "The lion eats the father", and "The father eats the lion", the question of who eats whom is decided by word order. In Latin, word order is free and doesn't help to decide who eats whom, instead Latin uses features like the ending "-m" in the word "whom", where the ending "-m" shows that it's the object case (accusative). The form "who", without "-m", is subject case (nominative). English maintains the same distinction between "he" and "him" ("The lion /he/ eats the father /him/." or "The father /he/ eats the lion /him/.") and in some other cases ("I" and "me", "they" and "them" etc.).

In addition to the subject (nominative) and object (accusative) case, English has a third case, in "whose" or "his": the possessive case, called genitive in Latin grammar. Latin went just a little bit further, and added two other cases: the dative, which is the case of the recipient ("to whom") and ablative, which is the adverbial case, and expresses adverbials like "by whom", "with whom" or "from whom". Please note that modern English, although carefully observes the difference between "he" and "him", many times it neglects the difference between "who" and "whom", and people may say things like "who eats who". But in Latin this is impossible and the distinction is always kept. Latin is also more uniform than English, because while English can differentiate between "who" and "whom", or "he" and "him", it can not make difference between "The father /he/ (eats something)" and "(Something eats) the father /him/": both as a subject and as an object "father" remains the same. Well, Latin would add a different ending to the object case: the accusative ending.

Now, let's summarize the Latin cases and their meanings, using the example of "mother" and "who eats whom":

• nominative - the father (eats the lion) SUBJECT (he)
• accusative - (the lion eats) the father OBJECT (him)
• genitive - the father's (lion) / (the lion) of the father POSSESSIVE (his)
• dative - to the father RECIPIENT - INDIRECT OBJECT (to him)
• ablative - by/with/from the father - ADVERBIAL OF MEANS/MANNER/PLACE/TIME (by/with/from him)

THE DECLENSIONS

Latin nouns are grouped into 5 declensions (noun inflection groups), because not all nouns get the same case endings. English has something similar, when the plural of "kid" is "kids", but the plural of "child" is "children". In this case, we can say English has "two declensions", in one declension words get the plural "-s" ending, in the other, although very tiny declension (containing 1-2 words only) words get the plural "-en" ending. But Latin has a great variety, and there are 5 declensions where words can get different endings. To determine which declension group a noun belongs to, you have to look at the dictionary form of the noun.

In the case of nouns, for example, “friend”, you will find:

amicus, -i, m.

This is 3 pieces of information:

(1) amicus;

(2) -i;

(3) m.

(1) amicus; This means that the word “friend” in nominative (subject) case is “amicus”.

(2) -i; The abbreviated form “-i” means that the word “friend” in genitive (possessive) case is “amici” (something of friend, or friend’s something), thus the original ending “-us” changes to “-i”.

(3) m.; The “m.” means that it is a masculine noun. In Latin, all nouns have three genders, they are masculine, (abbreviated as “m”), feminine (abbreviated as “f”), and neuter (abbreviated as “n”). English has a similar phenomenon when we use “he”, “she” or “it”. The new thing in this is that Latin uses these genders for things or abstract concepts, too, like in the exemples above, “loyalty” (fides, -ei, f) is feminine in Latin, the “senate” (senatus, -ús, m) is masculine, “Rome” (Roma, -ae, f) is, again, feminine.

WHICH NOUN WHICH DECLENSION?

This is the most important point. This ending “–i” in amicus, -i, m. determines that “amicus” belongs to the “second declension”, whose identifier is the genitive “–i”. As we have mentioned, there are 5 declensions, and each one of these has a unique, declension-specific genitive ending. It’s important because the genitive ending determines the other inflections as well. The five types of genitive ending and the five declensions determined by the different genitive endings are:

-ae = 1st declension, e.g.: Roma, -ae, f (Rome)

-i = 2nd declension, e.g.: amicus, -i, m (friend)

-is = 3rd declension, e.g.: rex, regis, m (king)

-ús = 4th declension, e.g.: senatus, -ús, m (senate)

-ei = 5th declension, e.g. fides, -ei, f (loyalty)

HOW TO DECLINE A LATIN NOUN?

Cut off the declension specific genitive ending (-ae, -i, -is, -ús, -ei) and replace them with the various case endings shown in this table (follow the link):

http://novaroma.org/nr/Declension#How_to_decline_a_Latin_noun

II. QUESTION 2

Below you will find a selected vocabulary of the first 8 chapters of Augustus' autobiography, the Res Gestae Divi Augusti. These all are words written by Augustus himself.
- Choose three masculine OR feminine nouns from among the words below. EACH of the three masculine or feminine nouns must be of DIFFERENT declension. (For example, you can choose a masculine or feminine noun which is of the 1st, one which is of the 3rd and one which is of the 4th declension.)
- Choose two neuter nouns from among the words below. EACH of the two neuter nouns must be of DIFFERENT declension. (For example, you can choose a neuter noun which is of the 2nd and one which is of the 3rd declension.)
- This is in total 5 nouns. Determine which declension they belong to, and decline them in all five cases both in singular and in plural. Write down their translations for each case.
- Choose three verbs, too, EACH from a DIFFERENT conjugation. Determine which conjugation they belong to, and conjugate them ONLY in the THIRD PERSON SINGULAR AND PLURAL, in the Present, Imperfect, Perfect and Pluperfect tenses. This is 4 different tenses. Write down their translations for each item.
- Send your solution to <cnaeus_cornelius@yahoo.com>

res, rei, f (thing, deed, state)

terra, -ae, f (land)

imperium, -i, n (empire, power)

annus, -i, m (year)

exercitus, -ús, m (army)

consilium, -i, n (plan, advice)

impensa, -ae, f (cost, expense)

comparo, -are, -avi, -atum (prepare, set up)

dominatio, -onis, f (domination)

libertas, -atis, f (liberty)

senatus, -ús, m (senate)

decretum, -i, n (decree)

adlego, -ere, -legi, -lectum (enroll)

sententia, -ae, f (sentence, opinion)

iubeo, -ére, iussi, iussum (order)

consul, -is, m (consul)

cado, -ere, cecidi, casurus (fall)

vir, -i, m (man)

creo, -are, -avi, -atum (elect)

interficio, -ere, -feci, -fectum (kill)

facinus, -oris, n (deed)

acies, -ei, f (front line of an army)

ager, agri, m (field, soil)

augeo, -ére, auxi, auctum (increase)

caput, -itis, n (head)

III. AN EXAMPLE HOW TO DO IT:

- There are 5 noun types, which are differentiated by the genitive ending: -ae, -í, -is, -ús, -eí. You have to choose three masculine or feminine nouns from separate declensions, and two neuter nouns from separate declensions. In this example, I will show you only one, when a neuter noun is chosen. Here you have chosen an "-i" genitive type, that is, 2nd declension noun:

auxilium, -i, n (help);

- After analyzing this dictionary form, you see that its genitive abbreviated is "-i", which means that its genitive form written out is: "auxilii". The letter "n" means it's neuter. It will be important: pay attention to the neuter rule (indicated below).
- The genitive ending "-i" marks the Second Declension. It means you have to cut off this "-i" ending of the genitive form, and the remaining "auxili-" will be the invariable stem to which you will add the case endings. Therefore you go to the website, where you notice that there is a "neuter rule" and neuters have a slightly different declension than masculine or feminine nouns. Keeping that in mind, search for the respective neuter singular and plural case endings. You will find them and you will give the following forms, with English translation added:

Determining declension for "auxilium, -i, n": a noun from the 2nd declension (1pt)

SINGULAR

nominative = auxilium - the help (comes) (1 pt)

accusative = auxilium - (gives) help (1 pt)

genitive = auxilii - of the help / help's (1 pt)

dative= auxilio - to the help (1 pt)

ablative= auxilio - by/with/from help (1 pt)

PLURAL

nominative = auxilia - the helps (come) (1 pt)

accusative = auxilia - (gives) helps (1 pt)

genitive = auxiliorum - of the helps / helps's (1 pt)

dative= auxiliis - to the helps (1 pt)

ablative= auxiliis - by/with/from helps (1 pt)

ATTENTION: "gives" and "comes" are added only to mark the difference in grammatical meaning between nominative and accusative. You must use a similar solution in your exercise.

- When you have finished with all five nouns that you had to decline, you must choose three verbs from separate conjugations. As for how to do it, you will find help in our previous Question #1 exercise, so please review the "III. AN EXAMPLE HOW TO DO IT" section of Question #1.
- Don't forget that you only have to give the third person singular and plural ("he" and "they") forms of the three verbs in the Present and three past tenses, with translations. (The determination of conjugation type and each correct verb form will earn 1 pt).

Question 3 (March 6th)

I. INTRODUCTION 3 - Simple Latin Sentences

We have so far discussed the dictionary forms of the Latin nouns and verbs. We tried out how to decline nouns, adjectives, and how to conjugate verbs in the Present Tense and in the 3 past tenses, in the Imperfect, Perfect and Pluperfect Tense. Today we start making use of our knowledge, and we will create our first Latin sentences! What? Only our third exercise and we are writing full sentences on Augustus' language? It's a big deal! We get real! That's what we all waited for - now, we'll taste speaking and writing in Latin.

In order to start this, please review everything we learned about conjugations and declensions, following these links:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Declension

http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation

Today we try out writing some simple Latin sentences. But how to start this? Let's clarify four simple rules about Latin sentences.

1. Word order

Good news for you! There is absolutely no obligatory word order in Latin! You can place the words in any particular order. It means that you can not screw up the word order of a Latin sentence - but you must be informed that any change in the word order indicates a slightly different emphasis in the sentence. Normal, non-emphatic Latin sentences tend to display a "Subject - Indirect Object - Object - Adverbial - Verb" word order. But it's not our level of knowledge, and we will not engage in this depth of Latin grammar. So, for now, write in the order as you like. It can't be wrong.

2. Word endings - using the cases of the declensions

That's a bit more difficult, but we have already discussed most if it. We know that Latin indicates grammatical function such as "subject" and "object", by changing the ending of the words. English uses word order to express who is the subject (the performer, who does something) or the object (which is what the action is being done to, for example, "reading a book", where "book" is the object). In English, the object is always placed after the verb, word order determines whether a word is an object or not. Latin, however, uses the accusative word ending to express the object of the sentence. Latin differentiates subject from object (or any grammatical function) by word ending. You must use -

- the nominative form for expressing subject ("CICERO writes a letter."),

- the accusative ending to express an object (Cicero writes A LETTER."),

- the genitive for possession ("It's CICERO'S letter."),

- the dative for indirect object ("Cicero writes a letter TO BRUTUS.")

- and the ablative for various adverbials ("Cicero writes a letter BY HAND/ON PAPYRUS/FOR FUN/etc.").

We have already learned how to determine which declension a noun belongs to. Now it's time to make use of this knowledge and to use the declined forms of nouns in sentences.

3. Word endings - using the personal endings of the conjugations

We saw that unlike English, Latin uses verb endings to express the person and number of the verb, and its tense or mood. You must identify who performs the action described by the verb of the sentence: I, you, he/she/it, we, you (plural) or they. Once it's determined, you will use the proper personal endings, respectively to the conjugation which the verb belongs to. You must pay attention to the tense used in the sentence, and you can decide what Latin tense is to be used if you consult our website:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation

4. Articles

There are no articles in Latin! Yahoooo!... There is no definite ("the") or indefinite article ("a", "an") either. When you write in Latin, you simply forget about them. No rules to be memorized, no problems when to use them or when not to. Long live the freedom from articles! :)

Learn more about how to write a Latin sentence here:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Latin_sentence

II. QUESTION 3

Before you start, review the basic grammatical rules here:
http://novaroma.org/nr/Declension
http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation

Translate the following simple sentences about Augustus to Latin. The Latin words needed to these translations are given below in their dictionary forms. Use them. The only verbal tenses that you need to use in the sentences are those four tenses we exercised so far.

You may follow the guidelines here in addition to what I have explained above:
http://novaroma.org/nr/Latin_sentence

"Augustus as a ruler had the name Imperator Gaius Iulius Caesar Octavianus Augustus." (10 pts)

Augustus, -i, m (Augustus)

princeps, -cipis m (ruler)

habeo, -ere, -bui, -bitum (have)

nomen, -inis, n (name)

Imperator, -oris, m (Imperator)

Gaius, -i, m (Gaius)

Iulius, -i, m (Iulius)

Caesar, -aris, m (Caesar)

Octavianus, -i, m (Octavianus)

• Comment: the word "as" does not need to be translated in such a context (it can be translated with "ut", but not needed here).

"He occupied Pannonia while he was defending the people of the empire." (5 pts)

occupo, -are, -avi, -atum (occupy)

Pannonia, -ae, f (Pannonia)

dum (while)

defendo, -ere, -endi, -ensum (defend)

populus, -i, m (people)

imperium, -i, n (empire)

He had adopted Tiberius, although he wished to have Gaius and Lucius as heirs. (7 pts)

adopto, -are, -avi, -atum (adopt)

Tiberius, -i, m (Tiberius)

although (quamquam)

cupio, -ere, -ivi, -itum (wish)

Lucius -i, m (Lucius)

heres, -edis, m (heir)

"The Romans today honor the memory of Imperator Iulius Caesar Augustus, because he restored the glory of Rome, and was always working for the stability of the empire. (13 pts)

Romanus, -i, m (the Roman)

hodie (today)

honoro, -are, -avi, -atum (to honor)

memoria, -ae, f (memory)

quia (because)

restituo, -ere, -ui, -utum (restore)

gloria, -ae, f (glory)

Roma, -ae, f (Rome)

semper (always)

laboro, -are, -avi, -atum (work)

pro + ablative (for)

firmitudo, -inis, f (stability)

"Augustus lives in the memory of the peoples of the world." (5 pts)

vivo, -ere, vixi, victum (live)

in + ablative (in)

mundus, -i, m (world)

III. AN EXAMPLE HOW TO DO IT:

"We are defending Rome from the Gauls." (would be 3 pts)

defendo, -ere, -endi, -ensum (defend)

Roma, -ae, f (Rome)

a + ablative (from)

Gallus, -i, m (Gaul person, Gaulish)

- After analyzing this English sentence, we find that "are defending" is the predicate of the sentence, and as we learned from the previous exercises, Latin Present Tense includes both English Present Progressive (is defending) and Present Simple (defends). Thus, "we are defending" is equal to "we defend", Present plural first person. We dont' have to put "we" in the sentence since Latin expresses "we" by the verb ending. We examine the dictionary form of "defendo": we see it's third conjugation because infinitive ending "-ere" indicates belonging to the third conjugation. In the table of conjugations on the website, we find that the third conjugation plural 1st person ending is "-imus". So "we are defending" becomes "defendimus" (1 pt).
- We find that the subject is "we", but it's already expressed by the ending "-imus", so we are done with the subject.
- We find the object, which is "Rome". The genitive ending of the dictionary form "-ae" shows it's first declension, where singular accusatives end in "-am". So "Rome" becomes "Romam" (1 pt).
- We see that "from" in Latin is "a + ablative". Then we must put "Gallus" into plural ablative and place it after the preposition "a". From the table of declensions, after we have realized it's second declension as the genitive "-i" indicates, we chose the ending "-is", and the final form will be "a Gallis" (1 pt).
- We put the sentence together, in any optional word order, but keeping in mind that normal, un-emphatic Latin word order is Subject - Indirect Object - Object - Adverbial - Verb:

"Romam a Gallis defendimus." 3 points

Question 4 (March 8th)

I. INTRODUCTION 4 - Using Adjectives

What is an adjective? An adjective is a word that describes, identifies, qualifies or modifies a noun, for example: "big", "fast", "green", "exciting", "Roman".

You must remember that Latin nouns have genders, marked by "m.", "f.", "n." in the dictionary forms. These are abbreviations for masculine, feminine and neuter. English has a similar phenomenon when we use “he”, “she” or “it”. Latin, however, uses these genders for things or abstract concepts, too, like in these examples where “loyalty” (fides, -ei, f) is feminine in Latin, the “senate” (senatus, -ús, m) is masculine, “Rome” (Roma, -ae, f) is, again, feminine. In general, we can state that things connectable with males, or virile, robust things are masculine (thus "senatus" is masculine because the senate consisted of men), things connectable with females, womanly, soft and gentle things, abstract ideas, terms and concepts (noble concepts like "freedom", "fatherland", countries, cities) are all of feminine gender (hence "Roma" is feminine, as a city/country, and "fides" as and abstract idea or noble concept), and simple objects, means or places and things, especially those made of non-living material, are neuter. However, there are certain typical word endings which betray the gender of a noun. If you memorize these typical word endings, you will know the gender of 90% of all Latin nouns without checking the dictionary. Some typical endings: -a, -io, -tas, -tudo are feminine; -us, -or, -er are masculine; -um, -en are neuter. There are a lot of other endings and rules, but we are not going for perfection here in this little exercise. The more Latin words you learn, the better you will see what these rules are. But truth is that in a lot of cases you must memorize the gender of each Latin word you want to know. 'But why this all trouble with the genders?' - you ask. Here come to the picture: the adjectives.

1.1. Gender-Number-Case Agreement Rule

Latin adjectives must agree in gender, number and case with the noun to which they are attached to: so it's essential that you know the gender of each noun if you want to add an adjective to it. A neuter noun in genitive singular can only get a neuter adjective in genitive singular, a masculine plural noun in accusative can only get a masculine plural adjective in the accusative.

1.2. Types of Adjectives

In order to assure that each adjective can accompany all nouns of any gender, all Latin adjectives are of three genders. Each adjective is masculine, feminine and neuter at the same time. Adjectives of the 1st-2nd declension have three separate forms as variants for all three genders (bonus, -i, m.; bona, -ae, f.; bonum, -i, n.: "good"); adjectives of the 3rd declension have only two forms, one variant for the masculine-feminine, and another variant for the neuter (fortis, -is, m./f.; forte, -is, n.: "brave"), and there are some adjectives of the 3rd declension that have only one form, which may be used for all three genders (felix, -icis m./f./n.: "fortunate").

Please revise what we learned about declensions so that you can understand better that follows:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Declension

1.2.1. Adjectives of three forms in the 1st-2nd Declensions

Adjectives which have three separate forms, as you can see from the example above, in masculine have an ending in "-us" (bonus), in neuter in "-um" (bonum), and both have the genitive "-i", which makes both the masculine and neuter forms belong to the 2nd declension. The feminine variant, however, ends in "-a" (bona), and with the genitive "-ae" it belongs to the 1st declension. They have the abbreviated dictionary form:

bonus, -a, -um (good)

where the genitive forms are omitted because the users of the dictionaries are expected to know that all of the adjectives of this type follow the same pattern, the masculine and neuter belonging to the 2nd declension, the feminine to the 1st declension.

Note that there a few adjectives of which the masculine variant ends in “–er”, like in “pulcher, pulchra, pulchrum” (beautiful). But they, too, work exactly the same way as the adjectives ending “-us, -a, -um.”

1.2.2. Adjectives of two forms in the 3rd Declension

Adjectives having only two forms, one combined masculine-feminine, and another for the neuter, have the ending "-is" in the masculine-feminine variant (fortis), and the ending "-e" for the neuter form (forte). Both variants, however, share the same genitive "-is", which means that this class of adjectives belongs entirely to the third declension, and within that, to the I-Stem sub-group. Their dictionary form is:

fortis, -e (brave)

with genitive forms omitted again, as they, too, follow the same pattern always.

1.2.2. Adjectives of one single form in the 3rd Declension

Adjectives with only one single form, like "felix, -icis", don't have a specific nominative ending, but they all have the genitive ending "-is", which means, they are all belonging to the third declension. Most of them are of I-Stem (they end in “-ns” or “–x”), some of them are of Consonant-Stem. Their dictionary form is:

felix, -icis (fortunate)

where the genitive is given, because their genitive form may show great variety, including forms like:

sapiens, -entis (wise)

audax, -acis (bold)

vetus, -eris (ancient)

So what to do with all these adjectives, when placing them into a sentence?

1.3. Adjectives' Word Order

You make them agree in gender, number and case with the noun you want to attach them to, and place them after the noun, because Latin adjectives follow the nouns. It's like as if you would say "house big" instead of "big house" in English. But sometimes English does this, too! Or can't we say "all things Roman", instead of "all Roman things"?

II. QUESTION 4

We will now take a section of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti, and will adorn it with various adjectives. The text below is taken directly from the autobiography of Augustus (chapters 1-4), but I took out the adjectives originally therein, and I have also simplified the sentences for you. Your task will be a little more creative than so far in these exercises.
- You have to add an adjective (carefully observing the Gender-Number-Case Agreement Rule) to EACH noun of the text. You can not use the one that was originally used in the text of Augustus. You have to add a new adjective, chosen by you. (I selected adjectives for you that aren't the same as Augustus' ones, but for reference, here are the first four sections in which you can check whether a certain adjective was already used by Augustus for the same noun: http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/resgestae.html ).
- You can use a given adjective in the text no more than 3 times. For example, you can add magnus, -a, -um ("big") to "exercitum", to "consilio" and to "libertatem", but after that you can't use magnus, -a, -um again.
- The context must remain sensible.

Before starting this exercise, revise the basics of declension:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Declension

And also, check out what I-Stem meas in the Third Declension, because almost every Third Declension adjective is of I-Stem:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Third_declension

- Send your solution to <cnaeus_cornelius@yahoo.com>

THE TEXT FROM THE RES GESTAE TO BE ADORNED WITH YOUR ADJECTIVES

Exercitum consilio et impensa comparavi. Rem publicam a dominatione factionis in libertatem vindicavi. Senatus decretis in ordinem me adlegit. Laurum de fascibus deposui in Capitolio. In triumphis duxi ante currum reges aut regum filios novem. Consul fueram terdecies.

THESE ARE THE ADJECTIVES YOU CAN CHOOSE FROM

probus, -a, -um (upstanding, honest, good)

clemens, -entis (merciful)

vehemens, -entis (vehement)

utilis, -e (useful)

sapiens, entis (wise)

macer, -cra, -crum (thin)

blandus, -a, -um (sweat, dear)

audax, -acis (bold)

acutus, -a, -um (sharp)

bonus, -a, -um (good)

efficax, -acis (effective)

magnus, -a, -um (big, great)

parvus, -a, -um (small)

longus, -a, -um (long)

brevis, -e (short)

meus, -a, -um (my)

suus, -a, -um (his/her/its/their own)

Romanus, -a, -um (Roman)

nobilis, -e (noble)

fortis, -e (brave)

noster, -tra, -trum (our)

grandis, -e (great)

hostilis, -e (hostile)

optimus, -a, -um (best)

pulcher, -chra, -chrum (beautiful)

maximus, -a, -um (biggest, greatest)

gloriosus, -a, -um (glorious)

beatus, -a, -um (happy)

III. AN EXAMPLE HOW TO DO IT:

"Patriciorum numerum auxi iussu populi."

- After deciphering the meaning of the sentence (you can use dictionaries or English translations found online, but the sentences contain no other grammar than what we practiced), you see its meaning is "I increased the number of patricians upon the order of the people and senate". So, you see that you have to add adjectives to "patricians", "number", "order" and "people". You have to find the dictionary forms of these words and identify their gender so that you can make the adjectives agree with them in gender.
- You had to choose an adjective for "patriciorum". Let's say you have chosen "bonus, -a, -um" ("good"). The endings "-us, -a, -um" identify this is of type 1st-2nd Declension.
- Having analyzed the dictionary form of "patriciorum", you see that it is "patricius, -i, m", its abbreviated genitive form is "-i", which means that its genitive form written out is: "patricii". Thus, 2nd declension. The letter "m" means it's masculine. So we have to use "bonus" since it's the masculine variant of "good".
- According to the Gender-Number-Case Agreement Rule "bonus" must agree with "patriciorum" in number and case, too. Since "bonus", as all masculine variants of 1st-2nd declension adjectives, has to be declined in the 2nd declension, it will be "bonorum". (1 pt)
- Next is "numerum". The dictionary tells us it is "numerus, -i, m." It stands in accusative in the sentence. Let's say, we choose "grandis, -e" (great) for the adjective to be added. This is a "two forms" adjective, having one combined masculine-feminine (grandis), and another for the neuter (grande). They are declined in the 3rd declension I-Stem sub-group. I have to put grandis (m) into the accusative case to agree with "numerum". The result is "grandem". (1 pt)
- Now, "iussus". The dictionary shows it's "iussus, -ús, m". I choose the adjective "efficax, -acis" ("effective"). It is an invariable "one ending for all genders" adjective, which means it is from the 3rd Declension (I-Stem). Since "iussu" is masculine and ablative, efficax must follow this, and the result is "efficaci" (1 pt).
- "Populi" from "populus, -i, m" is in the genitive, a masculine noun. I choose "Romanus, -a, -um" ("Roman"). The genetive of the masculine variant is "Romani". (1 pt) So the final result of the sentence adorned with adjectives (which shall follow the nouns normally) is:

"Patriciorum bonorum numerum grandem auxi iussu efficaci populi Romani."

(I increased the great number of good patricians upon the effective order of the Roman people.)

Question 5 (March 10th)

I. INTRODUCTION 5 - Indirect Speech

If you have made it to this point, you should be very, very proud of yourself. With today's exercise, we will have basically covered all Latin grammar during the Ludi Novi Romani, 16th Anniversary Games of Nova Roma, honoring the 2000th Anniversary of the Decease of Augustus. What does it mean? It means that there is nothing left in Latin grammar that could surprise you once you decide to finish your Latin journey and to learn the rest. Basically, we can state: you have now learned Latin grammar IN 4 BIG STEPS! Earlier editions of this contest introduces Indirect Speech at Question 10, or Question 6-7. This is now a "historical" break through that we are discussing the most difficult part of Latin grammar after 4 exercises. Is it real that one could learn most of the Latin grammar in 5 exercises? Well, experience from previous years prove this, and we are now doing this. And what's left from Latin grammar which we did not discuss? The passive, which will be a joke for you if you could handle the past 4 exercises, and the ablative absolute, which is a bit harder, but easier than what we will practice today.

Because what we are up to do now, dear contestants...! We have made huge steps, giant steps, and with these steps we have now arrived to the hardest height of Latin grammar, the Indirect Discourse (or Indirect Speech) which includes the Sequence of Tenses rules and the Accusative with Infinitive, two things which made students of Latin cry since the Middle Age.

From the dictionary forms, where we had started, we went through all declensions of nouns and adjectives, we practiced the conjugations of Present and Past Tenses, we made our first complex Latin sentences, but none of these could frighten us away. Today we will win and conquer the Indirect Speech, the jewel in our crown. In the rest of the exercises we will only practice what we learned to this point. You can be sure that if you can do today's exercise with at least 60% good result, Latin will be a piece of cake for you, and you will never have to fear anything in Latin grammar, because there will be nothing harder than that. So, if you are ready, up to work!

WHAT IS INDIRECT SPEECH?

Indirect Speech (Reported Speech, or Indirect Discourse) refers to a sentence reporting what someone has said, thought, seen, heard or perceived by any mental activity. It is almost always used in spoken English.

Direct Speech is:

"Cicero said: 'I see Brutus in the garden'."

Indirect Speech is:

"Cicero said (that) he saw Brutus in the garden".

From this example we can see that there must be some rules about the Sequence of Tenses, because in the Indirect Speech "see" became "saw". Yes, there is a Sequence of Tenses rule in English, too, and we will see that the Latin rules are similar, but Latin uses them only in Indirect Questions, because in Indirect Statements Latin has chosen an entirely different solution: the Accusative with Infinitive. We will take care of this first.

Now, there are three types of Indirect Speech, depending on the reported sentence if it is a statement, order or question, an Indirect Speech can be Indirect Statement, Indirect Command, or Indirect Question. Let's start with the Indirect Statements.

1. Indirect Statements

In English, the verb tense of the reported or indirect sentence follows a simple logical Sequence of Tense rule: if the reporting verb ("said") is in the past, the reported clause will be in a Past Tense. If the reporting verb is present ("say"), the reported clause will be in a Present Tense:

With the reporting verb in Present:

"Cicero says: 'I see Brutus in the garden'." (Direct Statement)

"Cicero says (that) he sees Brutus in the garden." (Indirect Statement)

With the reporting verb in Past:

"Cicero said: 'I see Brutus in the garden'." (Direct Statement)

"Cicero said (that) he saw Brutus in the garden." (Indirect Statement)

Instead of this rule, in Latin we find that there is an entirely different construction, the Accusative with Infinitive, used for reporting statements.

1.1. ACCUSATIVE WITH INFINITIVE

There is a similar construction in English, when you say "I see Brutus come," and "I see him go," where "come" is an infinitive without the usual "to" (otherwise it would have been "comes"), and "Brutus" is an accusative. English uses the Accusative plus Infinitive with verbs of wishing, believing and perception ("I believe Brutus to come"). The infinitive is usually introduced by "to", but in some cases (e.g. with "see") it's without "to".

"I see Brutus come."

"Video Brutum venire."

"I believe Brutus to come."

"Credo Brutum venire."

However, English does not use this construction with verbs of saying. There is no "I say Brutus to come". English puts it as "I say (that) Brutus comes". In Latin, however, we must always use the Accusative with Infinitive construction with all verbs of saying, thinking, perceiving or communicating.

"I say (that) Brutus comes."

"Dico Brutum venire." (Literally: "I say Brutus to come.")

1.2. Indirect Statments' Timing in the Accusative with Infinitive Construction

1.2.1. If the Reported Statement is about an event which is contemporaneous, simultaneous with the time of the reporting verb, like "I say (that) Brutus comes (is coming)", or "I said (that) Brutus came (was coming), we use the Present Infinitive, i.e. the 2nd dictionary form:

amo, -are, -avi, -atum --> amare (to love)

facio, -ere, feci, factum --> facere (to make)

venio, -ire, veni, ventum --> venire (to come)

It does not matter of what tense the reporting verb is:

"I say (that) Brutus comes / is coming."

"Dico Brutum venire." (Literally: "I say Brutus to come.")

I said (that) Brutus came / was coming.

"Dixi Brutum venire." (Literally: "I said Brutus to come.")

1.2.2. If the action of the reported sentence is prior to the time of the reporting verb, like "I say (that) Brutus came (has come)", or "I said (that) Brutus had come", you must use the Perfect Infinitive. To form a Perfect Infinitive, you simply cut off the Perfect Tense "-i" ending of the 3rd dictionary form, and add ending "-isse" to the Perfect Stem:

amo, -are, -av|i, -atum --> amavisse (to have loved)

facio, -ere, fec|i, factum --> fecisse (to have made)

venio, -ire, ven|i, ventum --> venisse (to have come)

It does not matter of what tense the reporting verb is:

"I say (that) Brutus has come / came / was coming."

"Dico Brutum venisse." (Literally: "I say Brutus to have come.")

"I said (that) Brutus had come."

"Dixi Brutum venisse." (Literally: "I said Brutus to have come.")

All Latin Indirect Statements have to follow these rules, and all Latin Indirect Statements are to be transformed into such Accusative with Infinitive constructions.

2. Indirect Commands

An Indirect Command is a reported command. Indirect Commands express what someone begs, asks, urges or orders. Let's see an English example:

"I begged that Brutus come."

"Come" is an English Subjunctive here. Latin uses Subjunctive as well. But what is Subjunctive?

2.1. THE SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD

The Subjunctive is a verb mood typically used in subordinate clauses. It has three main uses:

1) it can express condition or uncertainty ("He would come here"),

2) it expresses commands ("Come here!"), and

3) it indicates a cited question, the Indirect Question ("She asks when he comes.")

In this exercise, we will apply only these last two uses when the Subjunctive is used in indirect commands and questions.

Latin uses four Subjunctive Tenses: Present Subjunctive, Imperfect Subjunctive, Perfect Subjunctive and Pluperfect Subjunctive. These are used according to the "Sequence of Tenses" rules which you will see within two minutes. But before we proceed, please take a look at the following links to see how the Subjunctive Tenses look like:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation#Subjunctive_Present

http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation#Subjunctive_Imperfect

http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation#Subjunctive_Perfect

http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation#Subjunctive_Pluperfect

2.2. Sequence of Tenses in Indirect Commands

All Latin Indirect Commands have to be in Present or Imperfect Subjunctive following these rules:

2.2.1. if the verb introducing the Indirect Command is Present, Latin uses Present Subjunctive in the subordinate clause;

2.2.1. if the main verb is Past, Latin uses Imperfect Subjunctive in the subordinate clause.

English never varies, it uses always the Present Subjunctive. Let's see it on examples:

With the reporting verb in Present:

"I beg that Brutus come."

"Oro ut Brutus veniat."

With the reporting verb in Past:

"I begged that Brutus come."

"Oravi ut Brutus veniret." (Literally: "I begged that Brutus came/would come.")

3. Indirect Questions

An Indirect Question is a reported question, it reports what someone asks, or could have asked. English Indirect Questions follow the same Sequence of Tenses rules as in the case of Indirect Statements, but there's an additional change in the structure of the sentence:

"From where does Brutus come?"

"Cicero asks from where Brutus comes."

We can see that English changes word order and does not use the auxiliary verb "do/does" for Indirect Questions. In Latin you must use the Subjunctive to indicate Indirect Question. The Latin Sequence of Tenses for Indirect Questions is the following:

3.1. Sequence of Tenses in Indirect Questions

All Latin Indirect Questions have to be in the Subjunctive Mood following these rules:

3.1.1. If the time of the verb in the reported question is contemporaneous, simultaneous to the time the verb of asking that introduces the Indirect Question, you will use

a) Present Subjunctive: if the reporting verb is Present;

b) Imperfect Subjunctive: if the reporting verb is Past.

With the reporting verb in Present:

"I ask from where Brutus comes / is coming."

"Quaero unde Brutus veniat."

With the reporting verb in Past:

"I asked from where Brutus came / was coming."

"Quaesivi unde Brutus veniret."

3.1.1. If the time of the verb in the reported question is prior to the time of the reporting verb of asking that introduces the Indirect Question, you will use

a) Perfect Subjunctive: if the reporting verb is Present;

b) Pluperfect Subjunctive: if the reporting verb is Past.

With the reporting verb in Present:

"I ask from where Brutus came / has come / was coming."

"Quaero unde Brutus venerit."

With the reporting verb in Past:

"I asked from where Brutus had come."

"Quaesivi unde Brutus venisset."

II. QUESTION 5

You have to translate the following complex sentences about Augustus which contain Indirect Statements, Indirect Commands and Indirect Questions to Latin, using the Accusative with Infinitive construction where needed, and the Subjunctive Tenses according to the Sequence of Tenses, where they are needed. The sentences below are mostly slight alterations of all sentences we have translated so far, some of them taken from the Res Gestae Divi Augusti, so although it's 8 sentences, all of them were translated by you on the previous days. So don't be afraid, it's not as much as it seems. Your work will mostly consist of transforming the sentences we had translated so far into Indirect Speech. The Latin words needed to these translations are given below in their dictionary form. Use them.

Follow the guidelines here:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Declension
http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation
http://novaroma.org/nr/Latin_sentence

Be careful, and read ALL information on the pages!

"We know that Augustus as a ruler had the name Imperator Gaius Iulius Caesar Octavianus Augustus." (11 pts)

scio, -ire, -ivi, -itum (know)

Augustus, -i, m (Augustus)

princeps, -cipis m (ruler)

habeo, -ere, -bui, -bitum (have)

nomen, -inis, n (name)

Imperator, -oris, m (Imperator)

Gaius, -i, m (Gaius)

Iulius, -i, m (Iulius)

Caesar, -aris, m (Caesar)

Octavianus, -i, m (Octavianus)

• Comment: the word "as" does not need to be translated in such a context (it can be translated with "ut", but not needed here).

"I have heard that Imperator Caesar Augustus occupied Pannonia and that he was defending the people of the empire." (9 pts)

audio, -ire, -ivi, -itum (hear)

occupo, -are, -avi, -atum (occupy)

Pannonia, -ae, f (Pannonia)

et (and)

defendo, -ere, -endi, -ensum (defend)

populus, -i, m (people)

imperium, -i, n (empire)

"The Roman men knew that Augustus had adopted Tiberius, but they suspected the emperor wished to have Gaius and Lucius as heirs." (13 pts)

vir, viri, m (man)

Romanus, -a, um (Roman)

adopto, -are, -avi, -atum (adopt)

Tiberius, -i, m (Tiberius)

sed (but)

suspecto, -are, -avi, -atum (suspect)

princeps, -cipis, m (emperor)

cupio, -ere, -ivi, -itum (wish)

Lucius -i, m (Lucius)

heres, -edis, m (heir)

"Do you know why the Nova Romans today honor the noble memory of Imperator Iulius Caesar Augustus, and why he was always working for the stability of the empire, and, by the way, do you believe that the Nova Romans restore the glory of Rome with such commemorations?" (21 pts)

Novus -a, -um Romanus, -a, -um (Nova Roman)

cur (why)

hodie (today)

honoro, -are, -avi, -atum (to honor)

nobilis, -e (noble)

memoria, -ae, f (memory)

semper (always)

laboro, -are, -avi, -atum (work)

pro + ablative (for)

firmitudo, -inis, f (stability)

ceterum (by the way, besides)

credo, -ere, credidi, creditum (believe)

restituo, -ere, -ui, -utum (restore)

gloria, -ae, f (glory)

Roma, -ae, f (Rome)

cum + ablative (with)

talis, -e (such)

commemoratio, -onis, f (commemoration)

"Nova Roma is working in order that Augustus (may) live in the memory of the peoples of the world." (8 pts)

ut (so that; in order that)

vivo, -ere, vixi, victum (live)

in + ablative (in)

mundus, -i, m (world)

"We doubt whether Augustus raised a big army." (5 pts)

dubito, -are, -avi, -atum (doubt)

an (whether)

comparo, -are, -avi, -atum (raise)

exercitus, -ús, m (army)

magnus, -a, -um (big, great)

"The people wished that Augustus free the Roman republic from the forceful domination of the evil faction." (10 pt)

libero, -are, -avi, -atum (to free)

res, -ei, f, publica, -ae, f (republic)

ab/a + ablative (from)

vehemens, -entis (vehement, forceful)

dominatio, -onis, f (domination)

factio, -onis, f (faction)

improbus, -a, -um (evil)

"Do they believe that the Roman senate has enrolled Augustus in its order?" (7 pts)

senatus, -ús, m (senate)

adlego, -ere, -legi, -lectum (enroll)

in + accusative (into, in)

suus, -a, -um (its/their)

ordo, -inis, m (order)

III. AN EXAMPLE HOW TO DO IT:

"We heard that the soldiers of Pompey had fought vehemently, but we don't know why Caesar won." (7 pts)

audio, -ire, -ivi, -itum (hear)

miles, -itis, m (soldier)

Pompeius, -i, m (Pompey)

bello, -are, -avi, -atum (fight)

vehemens, -entis (vehement)

nescio, -ire, -ivi, -itum (do/does not know)

cur (why)

Caesar, -aris, m (Caesar)

vinco, -ere, vici, victum (win)

- in the first part is an Indirect Statement, which means that we have to use the Accusative with Infinitive construction here. We see that the time of the reported statement's verb "had fought" is prior to the time of the reporting verb "heard", so "had fought" will be translated with a Perfect Infinitive: "bellavisse". (1 pt)
- We put "the soldiers" in accusative ("milites"), because that's the object of the construction "we heard the soldiers to have fought". (1pt)
- The second part is an Indirect Question (why Caesar won), thus we will use the Subjunctive. The time of the reported question's verb, "won" is prior to the time of the reporting verb "I don't know", which is a Present Tense. So, according to the rules of the Sequence of Tenses, after Present reporting verb if a verb of prior time follows, the repored verb shall be in Perfect Subjunctive. In this case it's "vicerit". (1 pt)
- After translating everything else (4 pts), which is not new grammar, we get the following result:

"Audivimus milites Pompei vehementer bellavisse, sed nescimus cur Caesar vicerit."

Question 6 (March 12th)

I. INTRODUCTION 6 - Full Text Composition

My Latinist friends, contestants! I call you my Latinist friends because all of you who reached this point can be considered a person who knows Latin, even if his studies are not yet finished, anyone who is attempting today's exercise, that person is a honorary Latinist! We have learned all the most important facets of Latin grammar, we will not go beyond that in this Certamen. But we want to make our knowledge a reality, and after having translated single sentences, today you will be challenged to translate a full Latin composition. That's to become Roman in practice! From now on, you are conversing with Cicerones and Livii, with Caesares and Catulli, with the Romans themselves. Latinist friends, Nova Romans, countrymen! We arrived: we are at home.

II. QUESTION 6

You have to translate the following continuous composition, written mostly by Augustus, or inspired by his autobiography, the Res Gestae Divi Augusti (Chapter 34). You don't have to emulate to recreate the original text, although if you wish to use the same words Augustus used, you may, of course, search for the original Latin text (Res Gestae, Chapter 34) and use the words Augustus used. However, don't forget that the text to be translated is not the same text, it is a modified version of it where numbers, cases, tenses may be different from what Augustus wrote, it includes phrases or words he did not use; so you can not simply copy Augustus' original, but you have to reshape it completely in some places, to change some of his words, and to add some words he didn't use.

This also means that you don't get a vocabulary list to these translations. You may use any words you choose. If you don't have Latin dictionary, I recommend the following on-line dictionaries where you can search for the English words' Latin translations:

http://perseus.uchicago.edu/Reference/lewisandshort.html

or

http://www.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wordes.exe

or

http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/showcase/wordsonline.html

One important rule: you have to translate the text following closely and strictly the English text word by word. Don't use various grammatical constructions we did not exercise so far (like the ablative absolute, participles or gerundive). Translate the text literally, word by word, as you did with all previous sentences of the Certamen.

The composition contains ALL GRAMMAR we exercised do far, and you don't have to use any additional information or don't need to rely on any other knowledge except the one we discussed during the last 5 questions-exercises. It is very important that you review all previous grammar, declensions, conjugations, adjectives and the indirect speech. You can find all information on the Certamen's website:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Ludi_Novi_Romani/MMDCCLXVII/Certamen_Latinum_Augusteum

Or here:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Declension
http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation
http://novaroma.org/nr/Latin_sentence

THE TEXT TO BE TRANSLATED

In his sixth and seventh consulships, Augustus, when he had extinguished the last civil war between Roman citizens, and when with universal consent he was governing our republic with supreme power, gave back all powers to the Roman senate, but we don't know whether the republic got out from his power to the dominion of the Roman people. We read in his Res Gestae that, for his service to the republic, the senators named our honorable man "Augustus" by a solemn decree, and they adorned his house with a public wreath, but we don't find many words why the senate fixed a civic crown over his door. We only find that, upon the order of the people, the senators set a golden shield in the Curia Iulia because of his various virtues. After these times he excelled all in authority, although he possessed power equal to his colleagues'. Augustus knew where the Romans had lost the customs of the ancestors, and he lived in order that he might restore the good customs and might expel the bad (ones).

III. AN EXAMPLE HOW TO DO IT:

Here I only repeat the method described in the previous exercise since there is no new grammar in today's question.

"We heard that the soldiers of Pompey had fought vehemently, but we don't know why Caesar won." (7 pts)

audio, -ire, -ivi, -itum (hear)

miles, -itis, m (soldier)

Pompeius, -i, m (Pompey)

bello, -are, -avi, -atum (fight)

vehemens, -entis (vehement)

nescio, -ire, -ivi, -itum (do/does not know)

cur (why)

Caesar, -aris, m (Caesar)

vinco, -ere, vici, victum (win)

- in the first part is an Indirect Statement, which means that we have to use the Accusative with Infinitive construction here. We see that the time of the reported statement's verb "had fought" is prior to the time of the reporting verb "heard", so "had fought" will be translated with a Perfect Infinitive: "bellavisse". (1 pt)
- We put "the soldiers" in accusative ("milites"), because that's the object of the construction "we heard the soldiers to have fought". (1pt)
- The second part is an Indirect Question (why Caesar won), thus we will use the Subjunctive. The time of the reported question's verb, "won" is prior to the time of the reporting verb "I don't know", which is a Present Tense. So, according to the rules of the Sequence of Tenses, after Present reporting verb if a verb of prior time follows, the repored verb shall be in Perfect Subjunctive. In this case it's "vicerit". (1 pt)
- After translating everything else (4 pts), which is not new grammar, we get the following result:

"Audivimus milites Pompei vehementer bellavisse, sed nescimus cur Caesar vicerit."

Question 7 (March 14th)

I. INTRODUCTION 7 - Writing Your Own Latin

Latinist friends, Nova Romans, countrymen! What else could I say to you? You know everything. You know all the fundamental grammar of Latin, you can write now about anything. Our last exercise will aim this goal: writing an own composition in Latin, using all the knowledge we practiced in these days. I don't say "good bye": I say welcome! Welcome to the world of Romans, welcome among the Catones, Caesares and Scipiones, welcome to the world of Augustus!

II. QUESTION 7

Augustus used a laconic, impressive, severe and ritualistically formal language to summarize very concisely his greatest achievements of his life, the highlights of his lifetime. This was the Res Gestae Divi Augusti.

Now you have to write your own Res Gestae in Latin, of course only a tiny one, which shall contain no more and no less than 100 words. If you write more, you will not get extra points for the words above 100, neither will you get the maximum points if you write less than 100.

Content requirement: your little Res Gestae shall highlight the "milestones" of your life, facts, events, achievements, episodes which you consider the most important. If you are a Nova Roman, your Nova Roman deeds, career and offices shall be also mentioned. The text shall be continuous, a coherent narrative told in singular first person like the Augustan Res Gestae.

You may use any words you choose. If you don't have Latin dictionary, I recommend the following on-line dictionaries where you can search for the English words' Latin translations:

http://perseus.uchicago.edu/Reference/lewisandshort.html

or

http://www.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wordes.exe

or

http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/showcase/wordsonline.html

It is very important that you review all previous grammar, declensions, conjugations, adjectives and the indirect speech. You can find all information on the Certamen's website:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Ludi_Novi_Romani/MMDCCLXVII/Certamen_Latinum_Augusteum

Or here:

http://novaroma.org/nr/Declension http://novaroma.org/nr/Conjugation http://novaroma.org/nr/Latin_sentence

III. AN EXAMPLE HOW TO DO IT:

At this high level of advanced Latin composition we can't give you any example. Review all previous exercises, and study the corrections you got for your exercises sent in.

Final Results

The final results for the Certamen Latinum Augusteum 2000 for Ludi Novi Romani 2767:

1st place: C. Claudius Quadratus -- 459/476 pts + 35/35 Speed pts = 494 pts (Answered 7 Qs)

2nd place: P. Annaeus Constantinus Placidus -- 432/476 pts + 35/35 Speed pts = 467 pts (Answered 7 Qs)

3rd place: C. Claudius Barbatus -- 369/476 pts + 30/35 Speed pts = 399 pts (Answered 7 Qs)

4th place: Christopher D. S. Hughes (foreigner) -- 135/476 + 15/35 Speed pts = 150 pts (Answered 3 Qs)