* Voc. Peleu.

ENGLISH TO BE TURNED INTO LATIN.

Ah! what art thou doing? O wretched (countrymen cives), what (great tanta) madness [is this]? (Alas heu)! he says, what land, what seas can now receive me? Oh! cries he, my (fruitless frustrà suscepti) labours! [my] fallacious hopes! my empty schemes. (O proh!) Jupiter! man, thou drivest me to madness. (O proh! the help fidem) of gods and of men! Ah miserable me (acc.)! Ah unhappy virgin (voc.)! (Woe hei) to me, he exclaims, and transfixed (through the middle in medio) of his breast (abl.) he bears the dart (plur.), and having dropped the reins (abl. abs.) [from his] dying hand, sinks (by degrees paulatim on in) [one] side (acc.) from [his horse's] right (shoulder armo).

Recapitulatory Exercise.

They were ordered by the king to burn the bodies of the dead, rather than to bury them [in] the ground. Demosthenes, the Athenian orator, being banished his country, (for ob) the crime of having accepted gold from Harpalus, (was in exile exulabat) at Megâra (plur. noun.). He had come either to besiege (sup.) thy house, or had laid snares for the senate. [We] should take care (ger.) that the appetites may obey reason, neither (should they run before it eamque præcurrant), nor, on account of sloth and heaviness, disregard it, and the mind (plur.) should be (pres. subj.) tranquil, and free from all disturbance. How many express pictures of the bravest men have the Greek and Latin writers left to us, not only to contemplate (ger.), but also to imitate (ger.). Cæsar draws back his forces to the next hill; and he sent his horse to sustain (qui with the subj.) the attack of the enemies. Cæsar, having commanded all things necessary, ran about to encourage the soldiers, (wheresoever quam in partem) fortune carried [him], and came down to the tenth legion. Conon lived very much at Cyprus, Iphicrătes in Thrace, Timotheus at Lesbos, Chares in Sigæum. He, unwilling to return [to] Sparta, had betaken himself [to] Colonæ, which place is in the territory of Troas (abl.). Lo! shall that day ever arrive (when I shall be permitted mihi cùm liceat) to sing thy deeds. I am indeed ashamed and sorry about my brother.

She, offended with me (gen.) and (hating perōsa) all the race of men, wandered in the mountains, employed in the exercises of Diana. Whilst we are speaking these [things], we come in the meantime to the market, where the confectioners, fishmongers, butchers, cooks, all glad, run to meet me. Let them therefore either depart or be at rest; or, if they continue in the city, or in the same mind, let them expect those [punishments] which they deserve. O folly (acc.), folly, shall I say, or unparalleled impudence? Do ye dare to make mention of these men? Dost thou not now see, brute, dost thou not now perceive what the complaint of men is (subj.) of thy (impudence frontis)? The Lacedemonians desisted from their long dispute, and, of their own accord, yielded up (the command at sea imperii maritimi) to the Athenians. For (O prò) sacred Jupiter (voc)! what greater action was ever performed, not only in this city, but in all lands?

15*.

IDIOMATIC EXERCISES.

OF THE CHOICE AND ELEGANCE OF PARTICULAR WORDS*.

Elegance, according to the derivation of the word (eligere), consists in the choice of the most appropriate words and expressions, and in their composition, and clear and perspicuous order. It depends chiefly on the usage of the best Latin writers. When, therefore, the scholar has selected those words, which are appropriate in their meaning to the sense of the subject, the next thing will be, to consider whether they have been used by the best writers of antiquity.

But let it be premised, that no word can be elegant or beautiful in itself in its disjoined state, but merely as far as it strengthens, connects or illustrates the subject; or at least as far as the Latin word conveys, in its true meaning, the full force of the English expression. It would be absurd, therefore, to use at random the first word which presents itself, without considering whether it is appropriate to the sense. In investigating the true and proper signification of words, it will be necessary to understand each different sense, in which they are used; and if the scholar acquaints himself as much as he can with their etymology and original meaning, he will be enabled to write purer Latin, and to avoid many Græcisms, obsolete and barbarous words, and those which have too great an affinity to the English, introduced into use by several modern and inelegant writers, as, recommendare, to recommend, &c.

* Altered from Valpy's Elegantiæ Latinæ.

Should the Latin, however, not furnish a word sufficiently elegant, or fully expressive of the English idea, or if the force or dignity of the subject requires it, it may be necessary to vary an expression by means of a short periphrasis, or of a phrase, instead of a simple word. But, in the choice of phrases, care must be taken that they do not convey more meaning than we wish to express.

Nothing, indeed, will be more conducive to the purity and elegance of the Latin language, than a happy contexture of elegant Roman phrases, or forms of speaking, used by the best and purest writers. With these, therefore, the learner should be directed to store his memory, and be taught how to use them in his own composition.

It will also be necessary to observe, that there are many peculiar modes of expression or idioms in the English, which can only be rendered by adopting some Latin phrase, or using such a variation as will best suit the Latin style. For instance

Send me word by letter:

To use a literal, or, rather, barbarous expression, we should say, mitte mihi verbum: to speak true or elegant Latin, we should say, fac me per literas certiorem.

I am short of money:

Barbarously or literally, brevis sum pecunia; elegantly, deficit me pecunia.

I would be loath to make thee to be beaten : ·

I will make them friends :

He made as though he wept :

Such expressions, on the very first view, carry with them the appearance of English idioms. It would be, therefore, absurd, carelessly to say, essem invitus facere te vapulare, &c.; but, with a little care and judgment, and by considering their real meaning, it will be easy to give them a turn which may answer that meaning, and to find out a corresponding Latin expression. Thus we shall say:

I would be loath to make thee be beaten: non lubens committerem ut vapulares, that is, I would not willingly give cause that...

.....

I will make them friends: redigam eos in gratiam.

He made as though he wept: simulavit quasi fleret, or se flere.

And so on of phrases in general: thus again,