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SCENE IN SCHOOL
fīliī,[1] discēbant. Nam saepe apud Rōmānōs mōs erat[2] nōn in lūdum fīliōs mittere sed domī per magistrum docēre. Cotidiē discipulī cum magistrō in peristȳlō[3] Marcī domūs sedēbant. Omnēs puerī bullam auream, orīginis honestae signum, in collō gerēbant, et omnēs togā praetextā amictī erant,[4] quod nōndum sēdecim annōs nātī sunt.[5]
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TABULA ET STILUS
SCENE IN SCHOOL • AN EXERCISE IN COMPOSITION
- Discipulī. Salvē, magister.
- Magister. Vōs quoque omnēs, salvēte. [6]Tabulāsne portāvistis et stilōs?
- D. Portāvimus.
- M. Iam fābulam Aesōpī[7] discēmus. Ego legam, vōs in tabulīs scrībite. Et tū, Pūblī, dā mihi ē capsā[8] Aesōpī volūmen.[9] Iam audīte omnēs: Vulpēs et Ūva.
- Vulpēs ōlim famē coācta ūvam dēpendentem vīdit. Ad ūvam saliēbat, sūmere cōnāns. Frūstrā diū cōnāta, tandem irāta erat et salīre cessāns dīxit: "Illa ūva est acerba; acerbam ūvam [10]nihil moror."
- Omnia'ne scrīpsistis, puerī?
- D. Omnia, magister.
- ↑ fīliī, in apposition with puerī.
- ↑ nōn … mittere. This infinitive clause is the subject of erat. Cf. § 216. The same construction is repeated in the next clause, domī … docere. The object of docēre is filiōs understood.
- ↑ The peristyle was an open court surrounded by a colonnade.
- ↑ At the age of sixteen a boy laid aside the bulla and the toga praetexta and assumed the toga virīlis or manly gown.
- ↑ annōs, § 501. 21. The expression nōndum sēdecim annōs nātī sunt means literally, they were born not yet sixteen years. This is the usual expression for age. What is the English equivalent?
- ↑ Tablets were thin boards of wood smeared with wax. The writing was done with a stylus, a pointed instrument like a pencil, made of bone or metal, with a knob at the other end. The knob was used to smooth over the wax in making erasures and corrections.
- ↑ Aesopi, the famous Greek to whom are ascribed most of the fables current in the ancient world.
- ↑ A cylindrical box for holding books and papers, shaped like a hatbox.
- ↑ Ancient books were written on rolls made of papyrus.
- ↑ nihil moror, I care nothing for.
