LESSONS IN LATIN. 



inflected. Bat you are not to suppose that a similar rcg.i 



'i other tongues ; nor arc yoa to think that the order 

 . hit-It eiiKues U tho natural order. Misconceiving it 

 to bo tho natural order, grammarians hayo spoken of a 

 i order regulated by tho sense rather tlmi: 

 sound : for example, that observed by tho Romans, as an ii 



young students are apt to regard tho inverted <! 

 .->rde as unnatural. In truth, tho order required by 



: ml tho order required by tho construction are equally ; 

 iialu was natural to tho Romans, the latter in ! 



;ih; nor when tho student of Latin shall ' 

 mo to think in Latin, and to read and understand Latin 

 .: putting it into English, will ho find anything either 

 ral or difficult in tho Latin arrangement of words ; on 

 tho contrary, ho will by practice bo lod to tho feeling that the 

 order, following as it does tho sequence of thought, is 

 rate moro philosophical, if not moro natural, than tho 

 Lab. 

 v Let us now put tho sentence given above into Latin. 



Johannes Jacobo librum dodit; 



i s a & * 

 John to Jamet a book gave. 



Hero there is no doubt that John is the subject and James one 

 of the objects to the verb dedit, for such they appear to be by 

 their form. Equally clear is it that book is the direct object to 

 tho verb dedit, for it is in the accusative case. The inflections, 

 then, of these three nouns clearly indicate their relations. 

 Consequently, so far as tho sense is concerned, their position is 

 of small moment. Equally obvious is it that Johannes and 

 ho subject and tho verb, go together. Consequently you 

 gain a latitude as to their position. Now tho Romans were 

 fond of throwing the verb to tho end : to the end, then, tho 

 verb may bo thrown without any detriment to tho sense. By 

 this arrangement, a sentence is seen to be, as it was originally 

 called, a period, or circle ; tho thought is enclosed within itself : 

 of tho two principal words in a sentence namely, the subject and 

 tho verb tho ono opens, tho other closes the period, and so the 

 beginning and tho end unite to make a complete whole. As 

 now tho sense is to a great extent independent of tho colloca- 

 tion, so you may vary tho relative position of the words ; thus 



1. Jacobo Johannes librum dedit. 2. Jacobo Johannes dedit librum. 

 3. Johannes librum Jacobo dedit, etc. 



These variations, however, are not capriciously produced. 

 That regard to tho order of the thoughts, which is the prevail- 

 ing law in Latin collocation, determines tho changes for the 

 most part, though euphony also has its rights. Thus, if you 

 wanted to make it clear that it was to James and not to Thomas 

 that John gave the book, you would employ the arrangement 

 No. 1. But if you wished to declare that it was a book and 

 not a coat that John gave to James, then you would givo prefer- 

 ence to the form No. 2, or 'you might set forth tho fact with 

 still moro emphasis by this arrangement : 



Librum Johannes Jacobo dedit. 



A great deal of what we in English do by accent and intona- 

 tion, tho ancient Romans did by position. According to their 

 general usage, there were two places of chief emphasis, the 

 beginning and tho end of the sentence. Tho first word is tho 

 most emphatic, tho last word is second in emphasis. Hence you 

 must put your most important word first, and tho word next 

 in importance last. The middle of a sentence is tho place of 

 least emphasis. 



These aro general principles. These general principles were 

 moro or less modified by a regard to euphony. And usages, 

 tho origin of which cannot bo always traced, exert a control- 

 ling power of a general kind. Usage in a measure varies with 

 individuals, being greater in this author and less in that. It 

 also varies in tho same person with states of mind ; and an 

 arrangement sometimes has no other explanation than that 

 such was tho order in which tho thoughts and the feelings of a 

 speaker or a writer stood at the moment. 



To these general observations may bo appended ono or two 

 particular observations. I have spoken of the proneness of tho 

 Romans to throw the verb to tho end of tho sentence; tho 

 verb may, however, be placed at tho beginning, by tho sense, 

 by tho sound, or by usage ; for example : 



an U qul profolt nobto, si postoa MM***. MS < 

 It u tif/n.-red wktUu, kt ml* MA m tU, * m Jrttfnm Mifttitm 

 a/lenearde injuring m. 



Usage formed several combination* which ar* neper or 

 rarely departed from ; as, (Jim Itomanns (not Romaaos Civt) ; 

 aonatui populntqne Itomanan; Pontifex Maxima*; Jopitrr 

 optimuB maxima* ; Dii immorUles ; DU dessqae ; hoc stqao 

 iliac, etc. 



A difference of fence may b produced by change of place ; 

 thus, Alexander Majmus in Alaeander the Creat ; bat Bftgnns 

 Alexander is Alexander who it really great, whether the fsisos.* 

 king of Macedon or not. 



The object generally comes before the verb, an librum senbii, 

 he writes a book. 



Of two nouns, or a noun and an adjective depending on each 

 other, tho governing word follows the governed ; a* fwfpuMiev 

 est peritus, he is a good politician ; again 



Prudentia eat rerun expetendaram fugiendirumqao teitntio. 

 Prudence u the knowledge of object* to l to^jht "t * ** ikmuud. 



Related or contrasted words are put by the Roman* so u to 

 bring out their bearing on each other to the beet advantage; 

 for example : 



Quod non dedit fortuna non eripil. 



What fortune gives not, it toiee not away. 



Regard to emphasis may produce BO complete an invession 

 as to make the sentence unintelligible, if construed into English 

 according to its Latin order ; for example : 



Provocantibus ad proelium responsum Romano* nemo red'lebat. 

 To them challenging to battle reply Roman no returned; that is, M 

 Roman returned a reply to them challenging to battle. 



In sentences that contain a noun with its adjective governing 

 another noun, the governed noun is placed between the governing 

 noun and its adjective ; as 



AdmirabilLs benevolentv* magnitude*.' 

 The admirable greatness of benevolence. 



So with other governed words ; for example : 

 Brcvissimus tit Brifanniam trajectus. 

 The shortest passage to Britain. 



Words connected in sense and grammar are separated by 

 euphony ; for example : 



Admirabilis exardescit benevolentua tnaynitndo ; 

 An admirable greatness of benevolence burst* /art*. 



When I speak of euphony I mean that which was veil- 

 sounding to Roman ears. Alliteration, or the succession of 

 words beginning with tho same letter, is avoided by good English 

 writers, but instances may be found of evidently designed 

 alliteration in the best Roman classics. Nor waa it always 

 possible for a Latin writer to avoid collocations which to us, 

 at least, ore anything but harmonious, such as the recurrence 

 of words ending in urn, in is, in orum, to which the language is 

 very liable ; as, nullis satis certw mandati*. 



The Romans avoided ending a long sentence with a monosyl- 

 lable, or placing a short word immediately after a long one, 

 influenced in these and similar things by laws of euphony com* 

 mon to all languages. Let the student read the two following 

 sentences, and say which of the two sounds the better ; in 

 the second, vicit is taken from the usual place of the Yerb at 

 tho end of the sentence, and placed between words intimately 

 connected in form and in import ; the sentence is improved by 

 the change : 



1. OBS*T Gallon fortissimo* et omni rerum copil abaadaatei vicit. 



2. Cesar Gallos vicit fortissimos et omni rerum copii abundant**. 

 Ccuar conquered the Gaule, beinj very brave and abounding in U Uinj*. 



The verbs \nquit, opinor, quccso, spcro, censeo, etc., are inter* 

 posed in tho course of the sentence, and not placed at either 

 the commencement or tho termination. 



Nouns in the vocative are also generally interposed. 



Those prepositions whose usual place is before their nouns 

 are sometimes, especially in poetry, placed after or between tho 

 noun and its adjective. I finally warn the student that in all 

 things, and especially in idiomatic usages, he must read and 

 meditate the classics themselves with the utmost care. The 

 nraotioe of double translation would afford great aid. Select aa 



