Wiley's Real Latin
Page 29
SINGULAR PLURAL
1st person vīderim vīderimus
2nd person vīderīs vīderītis
3rd person vīderit vīderint
Third Conjugation
SINGULAR PLURAL
1st person posuerim posuerimus
2nd person posuerīs posuerītis
3rd person posuerit posuerint
Fourth Conjugation
SINGULAR PLURAL
1st person invēnerim invēnerimus
2nd person invēnerīs invēnerītis
3rd person invēnerit invēnerint
Mixed Conjugation
SINGULAR PLURAL
1st person cēperim cēperimus
2nd person cēperīs cēperītis
3rd person cēperit cēperint
Pluperfect Subjunctive Active
First Conjugation
SINGULAR PLURAL
1st person amāvissem amāvissēmus
2nd person amāvissēs amāvissētis
3rd person amāvisset amāvissent
Second Conjugation
SINGULAR PLURAL
1st person vīdissem vīdissēmus
2nd person vīdissēs vīdissētis
3rd person vīdisset vīdissent
Third Conjugation
SINGULAR PLURAL
1st person posuissem posuissēmus
2nd person posuissēs posuissētis
3rd person posuisset posuissent
Fourth Conjugation
SINGULAR PLURAL
1st person invēnissem invēnissēmus
2nd person invēnissēs invēnissētis
3rd person invēnisset invēnissent
Mixed Conjugation
SINGULAR PLURAL
1st person cēpissem cēpissēmus
2nd person cēpissēs cēpissētis
3rd person cēpisset cēpissent
Appendix 6 Roman Nomenclature
Roman citizens in the Classical period had three names, the so-called tria nomina, e.g., Marcus Tullius Cicero, Gaius Iulius Caesar, Publius Vergilius Maro. These were: the first name or praenomen e.g., Marcus, Gaius, Publius; the family name (like our surname), nomen or gentilicium, giving the gens or family, the gens Tullia in the case of Cicero, the gens Iulia for Caesar, and the gens Vergilia for Virgil; finally the cognomen, or unofficial surname, designating a branch of a larger gens e.g., Cicero, Caesar, Maro. These often referred to physical peculiarities, so the third name of Publius Ovidius Naso would have come from a long-nosed ancestor; Cicero, literally “chickpea,” probably referred to a facial pimple in the form of a chickpea on one of the earlier Tullii. Only 18 praenomina were in general use and the most common of these were indicated by abbreviations: P. = Publius, M. = Marcus, Sex. = Sextus, etc. Girls did not have a praenomen in the Classical period, but were known simply by the feminine form of the gentile name, e.g., Cicero's daughter was known simply as Tullia M(arci) f(ilia), Tullia, daughter of Marcus. Women did not usually change their gentile name at marriage.
Biographies
Titus Maccius Plautus (c. 249–c. 184 bc)
The comedies of Plautus are the first works of Latin literature to survive intact. Plautus wrote up to 130 plays during his lifetime and they proved so popular at the box-office after his death that a number of plays of dubious authenticity were attributed to him in order to improve their sales potential. The 20 plays and fragments of a twenty-first which have come down to us are probably those which the late republican scholar Varro said were agreed by all to have been written by Plautus. All Plautus’ comedies were based loosely on Greek originals produced over a hundred years before his time. As we have only one fragment of one of these Greek originals which we can compare with Plautus’ adaptation (part of Menander's Double Deceiver, the model for Plautus’ Bacchides) we do not know in detail how he adapted these plays for his Roman audience. He was clearly influenced by native Italian drama and probably increased the amount of verse that was sung to musical accompaniment, made greater use of stock comic characters such as slaves and parasites, and introduced an element of Italian farce, including topical Roman allusions, which would have clashed intentionally with the ostensible Greek setting of his plays. The final result would have been altogether livelier with much more knock-about humor, music, and jokes. In this he differs from Terence, a Roman comic playwright of the following generation, who kept closer to the style and spirit of his Greek originals. Plautus is said to have come from the town of Sarsina in Umbria, to have made his money in some kind of theatrical work, to have lost it in a business venture, and to have been forced to work in a mill to recoup his fortunes. All this is probably fiction, based loosely on some of the plots of his plays.
Cornelius Nepos (c. 110–24 bc)
The first biographer whose works survive in Latin. He came from Cisalpine Gaul and was a friend of Catullus, who dedicated a collection of poems to him. He corresponded with Cicero and, like Cicero, was a friend of Atticus. Unlike Cicero, he kept well clear of politics. He published his De Viris Illustribus, “On famous men,” which contained some 400 lives, mostly of Romans, but including some prominent Greeks and foreigners, first in 34 bc and then in a second, expanded, edition in 27 bc. From this second edition we have his section De Excellentibus Ducibus Exterarum Gentium, “On eminent foreign leaders,” and from his section on Roman historians the lives of M. Porcius Cato and Atticus. His lost works include a universal history in three books, Chronica, five books of anecdotes, Exempla, a work on geography, and extended lives of Cicero and Cato.
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 bc)
FIGURE A.1 Bust of Marcus Tullius Cicero, 106–43 bc. Source: Musei Capitolini, Rome, Italy/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library
Rome's most famous orator. He was the son of a rich Roman knight from the small hill-town of Arpinum, the eldest of two sons, who were both given an excellent education in philosophy and rhetoric in Rome and later in Greece. After military service in 90/89 he trained as a lawyer and conducted his first case (Pro Quinctio) in 81. His successful defense of the actor Sextus Roscius on a charge of parricide in 80 won him an immediate reputation. From 77 to 79 he studied philosophy and oratory, first in Athens and then in Rhodes. On his return to Rome he took up a public career and was elected as quaestor in western Sicily in 75 and praetor in 66. By securing the conviction of C. Verres for extortion in Sicily he won a notable victory over the chief orator of the time, Q. Hortensius Hortalus, and eventually came to replace him as the leading Roman lawyer. He was elected consul in 63 and in the same year persuaded the senate of the danger of Catiline and his co-conspirators. Catiline fled to Etruria, but five prominent Roman conspirators were arrested and executed on December 5, 63. Cicero was subsequently threatened with prosecution for having Roman citizens executed without trial and in 58 fled the country for Macedonia before any prosecution could take place. He was declared an exile, his house in Rome was destroyed, and his country villa at Tusculum was badly damaged. With the support of Pompey and the tribune of the people, Milo, he was eventually recalled and was welcomed back to Rome in September 57. When Caesar renewed his political alliance with Pompey and Crassus in 56 Cicero reluctantly supported the triumvirate, despite his personal distaste for Caesar. He withdrew from public life and devoted himself to writing, but was forced by Pompey and Caesar to take on cases against his will. In 53 he was rewarded with the prestigious religious office of augur. He spent the year of summer 52 to summer 51 abroad as pro-consular governor of Cilicia (in modern Turkey). On his return the Civil War was well under way. He refused an offer from Caesar to join the senate in 49 and joined Pompey and the republicans in Greece. After the battle of Pharsalus he refused an offer to take over the command of the republican forces and returned instead to Rome where he was pardoned by Caesar. His political career was, however, by this stage at an end and he devoted himself to writing. He was not invited to take part in the assassination plot against Caesar in 44, but, after welcoming the murder, regained some political power under the influence
of Octavian and made a number of speeches in the senate against Antony (Philippicae). However, he was powerless to stop the formation of the triumvirate of Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus in 43. Octavian did not oppose Antony's nomination of Cicero as a victim of the proscriptions with which this new regime started and Cicero was murdered by Antony's troops while attempting to escape by sea on December 7, 43. His works include: 58 law-court speeches; several treatises on oratory, including De Oratore (55), Brutus and Orator (46); some early poems; letters in 16 books to his friends (Epistulae ad Familiares), 16 books to Atticus (Epistulae ad Atticum), and smaller collections to Brutus and to his brother Quintus; philosophical works including De Republica, De Legibus, De Natura Deorum, De Finibus, and the Tusculanae Disputationes.
Gaius Iulius Caesar (100–44 bc)
FIGURE A.2 Bust of Julius Caesar, 100–44 bc. Source: Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy/Alinari/The Bridgeman Art Library
Caesar was born of an aristocratic family which traced its descent from Venus and Aeneas. He married the daughter of the influential L. Cornelius Cinna (consul of 87) and was elected by his father-in-law to a prestigious priesthood, the flamen Dialis. This appointment was annulled by Cinna's enemy, Sulla, when he became dictator in 84. Caesar spent most of the next decade in Asia, studying philosophy and winning military distinction. In 73 he returned to Rome to take up a further religious appointment as pontifex. He next became military tribune and then as quaestor in 69 he spent a year in the province of Further Spain. In this year both his aunt Iulia and his wife died. On his return he married Pompeia, the granddaughter of Sulla, and made an alliance with M. Licinius Crassus, with whose financial support he was able to spend vast sums on the improvement of the Appian Way as aedile in 65. In 63 he won election to the chief pontificate, through bribery, and his power and importance in the state were further enhanced by his election to the praetorship in 62. Initially a supporter of Catiline, he withdrew this support when Catiline turned to conspiracy. Nevertheless he spoke against the death penalty for the conspirators proposed by Cicero in 63. In 62 he divorced his second wife, who, as priestess of the rites of the Bona Dea, had become involved in a scandal when P. Clodius Pulcher gained admittance to the rites, from which men were excluded, by dressing as a woman. As governor of Further Spain in 61/60 he made enough booty out of attacking the local tribes to clear his personal debts and to pay huge sums into the Roman treasury. With the support of Pompey, Crassus, and the senate he was elected consul for the year 59. In 58 Caesar married Calpurnia, whose father, L. Calpurnius Piso was elected consul in 58. Caesar was in this year voted a five-year command in Illyricum and Gaul. He started a major war against the Helvetii and this eventually led to his conquest of the whole of Gaul. In 56 Caesar renewed his compact with Pompey and Crassus and received a renewal of his command in Gaul for a further five years. After the disintegration of the alliance Caesar secured authorization to stand for the consulship in absence in 49, but the legality of this move was challenged and in the same year Caesar invaded Italy and started a civil war in order to escape conviction and exile. His campaigns in Italy (against Ahenobarbus), Spain (against Pompey's legates), and Greece and Egypt (against Pompey) are described in his work Bellum Civile (The Civil War). Having established Cleopatra VII (with whom he had a son, Ptolemy Caesar) on the throne in Egypt and having reorganized the eastern provinces, he returned to Italy in 47, where he had to settle serious social unrest and a mutiny in the army. He then traveled to North Africa, where he defeated the republican leaders, including Scipio and Cato and returned to Rome in the autumn of 46 to celebrate four separate triumphs. Soon after this he had to move against Pompeian forces in Spain, whom he defeated at the battle of Munda, with great loss of life on both sides. After reorganizing Spain and introducing massive colonization there he returned to Rome in 45 to celebrate a triumph over Spain. In the last decade of his life he had been given unprecedented powers by the senate. He had been dictator on four occasions between 49 and 45 before being voted a perpetual dictatorship in 44 and had repeated consulships in the years 48, 46, 45, and 44. He always refused the hated title of “king,” but in the last year of his life had accepted divine honors. It is hardly surprising that the leading families of Rome began to be suspicious of the accumulation of such power in the hands of one man. An assassination plot was carefully planned and resulted in the murder of Caesar in the theater of Pompey on the Ides (15th) of March 44 bc. In his writings he favored a plain and simple style. His memoirs on the Gallic War, De Bello Gallico, in seven books and the Civil War, Bellum Civile, in three have survived. Some of his speeches and a grammatical treatise were also published in his lifetime but have not come down to us.
Sallust (Gaius Sallustius Crispus) (86–35 bc)
FIGURE A.3 Bust of Pompey, 106–48 bc. c. 60 bc. Source: Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, Denmark/The Bridgeman Art Library
Sallust was born of a local aristocratic family in the Sabine town of Amiternum. He initially followed a public career in Rome, becoming tribune of the people in 52 bc. He was expelled from the senate in 50, probably because of his opposition to Cicero in 52, and joined Caesar, who put him in charge of a legion in 49. As praetor in 46 he took part in the African campaign and was made first governor of the province of Africa Nova. When he returned to Rome he was charged with malpractice as governor and only escaped with help from Caesar. Deciding that his political career was now at an end he withdrew from public life and dedicated himself to writing history. His first work Bellum Catilinae (The War of Catiline), completed in 42–41 bc, dealt with the conspiracy of Catiline. He sees this conspiracy as symptomatic of the moral decline of Rome, which began after the fall of Carthage. His second work, Bellum Iugurthinum (The War of Jugurtha), completed 41–40 bc, deals with Rome's battles against Jugurtha, a prince of Numidia in North Africa, between 112 and 104 bc. The moral is again the decline of the Roman nobility and all the Roman generals involved in the campaign, including Marius and Sulla, come in for considerable criticism. Sallust's last work, The Histories, survives only in fragments and continues the story of the decline of the Roman state from 78 bc, perhaps down to the mid sixties or later. Sallust's approach to history may have been somewhat unsubtle, but he was much praised as a stylist, particularly for the rhetoric of his speeches, where many have noted the influence of the Greek historian Thucydides.
Gaius Valerius Catullus (c. 84–54 bc)
Born of a wealthy family in Verona, Catullus was sent to Rome as a young man to be educated in preparation for a political career. Apart from serving on the staff of Gaius Memmius, pro-praetor in Bithynia in 57–56 bc, he seems to have taken no further part in public life and, except for occasional criticism of Caesar, his poetry concerns itself little with the turbulent politics of the late republic. He lived in a circle of wealthy young aristocrats who turned their backs on traditional Roman values and embraced Hellenistic Greek culture. In literature, too, he was one of a whole circle of young poets, referred to as the “neoterics,” who looked to Hellenistic poetry to provide them with new forms and content. The central theme of his poetry is the ups and downs of his relationship with a married aristocratic lady, whom he calls Lesbia. Apuleius tells us that her real name was Clodia. The Clodia in question has since been identified with the sister of P. Clodius Pulcher and the wife of the consul of 60 bc, Q. Caecilius Metallus Celer. His love poetry addressed to Lesbia is more serious in tone than the light-hearted love poems of the Hellenistic Greek Anthology. It concerns his longing for a meaningful lifetime relationship which eventually ends in disillusion. Catullus died young, at around the age of 30, and left behind only one slim volume of some 116 poems. These are arranged on metrical grounds. Sixty short poems in a variety of lyric meters are followed by eight longer poems in a variety of meters. The final section 69–116 contains shorter epigrams in elegiac meter. Both the initial mixed lyric section and the final epigrammatic section contain cycles of Lesbia poems (2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 11 and 70–87) which trace the affai
r from its beginnings, through the height of passion to final disillusion and break up. Further cycles deal with his friends Furius and Aurelius (15–26) and Gellius (74–91 and 116). Other themes, including his love for the boy Iuventus, invectives against Caesar, and his trip to Bithynia are distributed throughout the work. In general the short “social poetry” of 1–60 reflect the careful craftsmanship of the shorter Hellenistic forms; the longer poems include two wedding poems (61–2), a poem about a youth who castrates himself as a devotee of Cybele (63), an epyllion on the loves of Peleus and Thetis and Ariadne and Theseus (64), a translation of a poem by Callimachus on the Lock of Berenice (66), with its introductory poem 65, and poem 68 (often split into two), a combination of mythological love themes with Catullus’ own personal experience, often seen a precursor of the Latin love elegy of Tibullus, Propertius, and Ovid. The epigrams in elegiac meter with which the collection ends (69–116) deal with similar personal and social themes as the opening mixed meter poems, but in a more serious and reflective analytical style.
Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro) (70–19 bc)
FIGURE A.4 Virgil mosaic, 3rd century ad. Source: Museo della Civiltà Romana, Rome, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library
Virgil was the greatest poet of the Augustan age. He was born in a village near Mantua in 70 bc. He is said to have been educated in Cremona and Milan before being sent to complete his education in Rome. It can be assumed his parents were relatively well-to-do. He may have later studied Epicurean philosophy in the Greek influenced schools of Naples. Like that of Propertius and Ovid his family suffered in Octavian's land confiscations of 41–40 bc. His first collection of poems, in which this event was hinted at, was the Eclogues, ten pastoral poems influenced by the Idylls of Theocritus, published in 39–38 bc. At some time after their appearance he entered the literary circle of the influential Maecenas, later to become a firm supporter of Augustus. Virgil's second work, the Georgics (Farming Poems), a didactic poem on the subject of agriculture influenced by Hesiod's Works and Days, appeared around 29 bc. His greatest work, the Aeneid, an epic on the foundation of Rome by Aeneas, a fugitive from the Trojan War, was begun in the late twenties. When Virgil died in 19 bc he had apparently left it unfinished. It was edited and published posthumously by Varius Rufus and Plotius Tuca. Virgil's epic was to become the Roman equivalent of Homer and was taught to schoolboys for centuries to come. In the Middle Ages Virgil began to be seen as a divine genius, and was so portrayed in Dante's Inferno.