V. Our Schoolmaster.
§15.
| magister noster | our schoolmaster, teacher |
| vir doctus | a learned man |
| perītus lūdōrum | skilled in (lit. of) games |
| cārus (with Dat.) | dear (to) |
| dextra | right-hand |
| magistrī nostrī | our schoolmaster's |
| (dextra) valida | (a) strong (right hand) |
| puerī pigrī | lazy boys |
| nec...nec | neither...nor |
| magistrum amant | love the master |
| Sabidī | o Sabidius (see note below) |
| possum | I can, I am able |
| dīcere (3rd Conj.) | (to) say |
| quārē | why |
| hōc tantum | this only |
| quia | because |
| librōs amant | they love books |
| (librōs) Graecōs | Greek (books) |
| (librōs) Latinōs | Latin (books) |
| discipulus | pupil [disciple] |
| scholae nostrae | of our school |
| atque | and also |
| scientiae mathēmaticae | mathematical sciences |
| magistrō nostrō | to our master |
| librōrum pulchrōrum | of fine books |
| schola nostra | our school |
| (schola) clāra | (a) famous (school) |
| librīs | to books |
| in vīcō nostrō | in our village |
| lūdus litterārius | an elementary school (litterārius = where pupils are taught ‘litterae,’ cf. §11). ‘Schola’ means a more advanced kind of school |
| crēber puerīs[1] et puellīs | crowded (filled) with boys and girls |
| (crēber) līberīs | with children (Plural of the adjective līber, free: literally free ones, i.e. children of free-born parents) |
| cum Alexandrō | with Alexander |
| (cum) amicīs meīs | (with) my friends |
| ad Ventam Belgārum | at (or near) Winchester (Venta of the Belgae in Hampshire) |
The lines quoted above (from the poet Martial, about a Roman called Sabidius) are the original of the following English verses:
I do not like you, Dr. Fell;
The reason why I cannot tell.
But this one thing I know full well,
I do not like you, Dr. Fell.
| Nouns and Adjectives like ‘magister.’ | ||||
| SINGULAR. | PLURAL. | |||
| 1 | magister, a master | magistrī, masters | ||
| 2 | magister, o master | magistrī, o masters | ||
| 3 | magistrum, a master | magistrōs, masters | ||
| 4 | magistrī, a master’s | magistrōrum, masters’ | ||
| 5 | magistrō, to a master | magistrīs, to masters | ||
| 6 | cum | magistrō, with a master | cum | magistrīs, with masters |
Most nouns and adjectives of the 2nd Declension in er are
declined like ‘magister’: liber, book; Alexander, Alexander;
noster, our; piger, lazy; crēber, crowded; and many others.
These words differ from ‘puer’ only in dropping the e in all the Cases except the Nominative and the Vocative.
Uses of the Forms of Adjectives.
It will have been seen that the form of the adjective depends on the form of the noun to which it belongs. Thus we have had:
| magnus numerus, §7 | magna audācia, §2 | magnum castellum, §10 |
| scopulus albus, §8 | casa alba, §3 | vēlum album, §11 |
| nummus antīquus, §9 | specula antīqua, §10 | oppidum antīquum, §9 |
| patruus meus, §6 | amita mea, §1 | |
| vir doctus, §15 | ||
| liber Latīnus, §15 | ||
| ventus asper, §13 | fortūna aspera, §14 |
It is clear, then, that there are many more forms of the adjective than of the noun; for each of the above adjectives has three forms of the Nominative Case:
| -us | -a | -um |
| (omitted in some adjectives like ‘asper’) |
Similarly we may arrange nouns in three classes:
| Nouns which take adjectives in -us (or those like ‘asper’) | Nouns which take adjectives in -a | Nouns which take adjectives in -um |
| numerus | audācia | castellum |
| nummus | casa | velum |
| patruus | specula | oppidum |
| vir* | amita | etc. |
| liber* | fortūna | |
| etc. | etc. |
- Note that in these cases the ending of the noun is not the same as that of the adjective which goes with it.
To these three classes of nouns it is convenient to give names, nouns of the first class are called masculine, those of the second class are called feminine, those of the third class are called neuter. And the forms of the adjective taken by the different classes of nouns are called by the same names.
In order to know to which class a noun belongs (and therefore which form of the adjective it takes), observe the following rules:-
Nouns of the 1st Declension are feminine, except those denoting male persons, which are masculine: thus insula, casa, ōra, amita, are feminine; agricola, nauta, poēta, incola, are masculine.
Nouns of the 2nd Declension ending in us or r are masculine: e.g. numerus, scopulus, patruus, liber, vir. Some exceptions will be found later.
Nouns of the 2nd Declension ending in um are neuter.
| SINGULAR. | PLURAL. | ||||||
| masc. | fem. | neut. | masc. | fem. | neut. | ||
| 1 | magnus | magna | magnum | magnī | magnae | magna | |
| 2 | magne | magna | magnum | magnī | magnae | magna | |
| 3 | magnum | magnam | magnum | magnōs | magnās | magna | |
| 4 | magnī | magnae | magnī | magnōrum | magnārum | magnōrum | |
| 5 | magnō | magnae | magnō | } | magnīs | magnīs | magnīs |
| 6 | magnō | magnā | magnō | ||||
| 1, 2 | asper | aspera | asperum | asperī | asperae | aspera | |
| 3 | asperum | asperam | asperum | asperōs | asperās | aspera | |
| 4 | asperī | asperae | asperī | asperōrum | asperārum | asperōrum | |
| 5 | asperō | asperae | asperō | } | asperīs | asperīs | asperīs |
| 6 | asperō | asperā | asperō | ||||
| 1, 2 | noster | nostra | nostrum | nostrī | nostrae | nostra | |
| 3 | nostrum | nostram | nostrum | nostrōs | nostrās | nostra | |
| 4 | nostrī | nostrae | nostrī | nostrōrum | nostrārum | nostrōrum | |
| 5 | nostrō | nostrae | nostrō | } | nostrīs | nostrīs | nostrīs |
| 6 | nostrō | nostrā | nostrō | ||||
Prepositions Hitherto Found with the Ablative.
ab ōrā maritimā, §1.
cum nautīs, §2.
dē vitā, §10; dē scopulō, §14.
ex fenestrīs, §3.
in (=in): in Āfricā, §6.
(=on): in arēnā, §2.
sub (=under): sub umbrā, §1.
Prepositions Hitherto Found with the Accusative.
ad silvam, §5.
ante iānuam, §1.
apud amitam meam, §5.
circum villam, §6.
in (=into or to): in Āfricam, §11.
inter fēriās, §2.
post cēnam, §3.
prope silvam, §3.
super ōceanum, §7.
- ↑ Note the Ablative without a Preposition, here meaning ‘with.’