Latin for Beginners

PART III (continued 2)

Reading edition

LXVI. LENTULUS ENGAGES A TUTOR FOR HIS SON

Ā prīmīs annīs quidem Iūlia ipsa fīlium suum docuerat, et Pūblius nōn sōlum 1pūrē et Latīnē loquī poterat sed etiam commodē legēbat et scrībēbat. Iam Ennium2 aliōsque poētās lēgerat. Nunc vērō Pūblius 3duodecim annōs habēbat; itaque eī pater bonum magistrum, 4virum omnī doctrīnā et virtūte ōrnātissimum, parāvit, 5quī Graeca, mūsicam, aliāsque artīs docēret. 6Namque illīs temporibus omnēs ferē gentēs Graecē loquēbantur. Cum Pūbliō aliī puerī, Lentulī amīcōrum fīliī,7 discēbant. Nam saepe apud Rōmānōs mōs erat 8nōn in lūdum fīliōs mittere sed domī per magistrum docēre. Cotīdiē discipulī cum magistrō in peristȳlō9 Mārcī domūs sedēbant. Omnēs puerī bullam auream, orīginis honestae signum, in collō gerēbant, et omnēs togā praetextā amictī erant, 10quod nōndum sēdecim annōs11 nātī sunt.

Notes in this chapter

Note 1 · 10. At the age of sixteen a boy laid aside the bulla and the toga praetexta and assumed toga virīlis or manly gown. 11. annōs, § 501. 21. Th Note 2 · pūrē ... poterat, freely, could speak Latin well. What is the literal translation?Note 3 · Ennium, the father of Latin poetry.Note 4 · duodecim ... habēbat, cf. p. 206, l. 8, and note.Note 5 · virum, etc., a very well-educated and worthy man. Observe the Latin equivalent.Note 6 · quī ... docēret, a relative clause of purpose. Cf. §§ 349, 350.Note 7 · In Cæsar’s time Greek was spoken more widely in the Roman world than any other language.Note 8 · fīliī, in apposition with puerī.Note 9 · nōn ... mittere. This infinitive clause is the subject of erat. Cf. § 216. The same construction is repeated in the next clause, domī ... do Note 10 · The peristyle was an open court surrounded by a colonnade.