Lectio vicesima tertia

Tibi optō bonum vīsum

I wish you good eyesight

Operārius quīdam in fabricā lignāriā¹ opus suum faciēbat.

A certain worker was doing his job (work) in a carpenter’s (wood-related) workshop.

Ita īnscītus² is erat ut quōdam diē sibi nāsum serrā mēchanicā³ stupidē secuerit⁴.

He was so clumsy (lacking in expertise) that one day (on a certain day) he foolishily cut off his nose with a mechanical saw.

Ā medicō⁵ cūrātus, domō⁶ tamen exīre nōlēbat: sine nāsō sē rīdiculum vidērī arbitrābātur⁷.

Having been cured by the doctor, he still (however) didn’t want [to leave his house] (to go out from house): without a nose, he thought [he looked] (himself to look) ridiculous.

Amīcus bonus nocte domum ejus advēnit, eīque dīxit:

A good friend came to his house at night and said to him:

Vēnī mēcum! Ūna ambulābimus⁸. Tē āërem pūrum respīrāre oportet. Nocte nēmō dēfōrmitātem tuam vidēre poterit.

Come with me! We shall take a stroll (we-shall-walk) together. You need to breathe (it-is-required you to-breathe) fresh (pure) air. At night no one will be able to see your deformity.

Post⁹ ambulātiōnem, amīcus amīcō dīxit¹⁰:

After the walk, the friend said to his friend:

Tibi optō¹¹ bonam noctem, bonam valētūdinem, bonum vīsum!

I wish you good night, good health, and good sight.

Alter respondit: — Propter¹² bonam noctem bonamque valētūdinem tibi grātiās agō. Sed cūr mihi bonum optēs¹³ vīsum nōn intellegō.

The other replied: — I thank you on account of the ‘good night’and the ‘good health’. But I don’t understand why you wish (should wish) me (to me) good sight.

Tunc amīcus: — Sī bonum vīsum perdās et, exemplī grātia, myops fīās, quōnam oculāria impōnās¹⁴?

Then the friend [said]: — If you should loose your good eyesight and, for example, become short-sighted, upon what would you then rest your spectacles?

Secō, secās, secat, secant, secāre.

I cut, you cut, he/she/it cuts, they cut, to cut.

Secuī, secuistī, secuit, secuērunt, secuisse; secuerim, secuerīs, sectus, secta, sectum.

I cut (past), you cut, he/she/it cut, they cut, to have cut; may I have cut (subj.), may you have cut, having been cut (masc. sing.), having been cut (fem. sing.), having been cut (neut. sing.).

Notes

Lignarius, a, um, adj., relating to wood; wood itself is lignum, -i, n.
Inscitus, -a, -um, ignorant, skilless. Derived from scio, -is, -ire, to know.
Serrá mechanicá: ablative, complement of means; note that there is no preposition.
Stupidé is an adverb, formed from stupidus, -a, -um. Secuerit is a perfect subjunctive (of secare, to cut), required by the conjunction ut; we shall come back to this later.
A medico: it is an ablative, complement of agent (vid. sup. N 3). But this time we are dealing a person and no longer with a thing: in this case we put in the prepopition a (by).
Domo: unde exis, from where do you come out? Exeo domo, I come out of the house. Redeo Massiliá, I return from Marseilles. The answer to the question unde?, from where?, is put in the ablative without a preposition when we are dealing with a city or with the word domus.
Se ridiculum videri, infinitive clause: subject, se (himself), in the accusative; verb, videri, passive infinitive of video, -es, -ere; predicative attribute, ridiculum, also in the accusative since it agrees with the subject se; and the whole is governed in parallel by the main verb arbitrabatur (imperfect of arbitrari, to think). One can say that the subordinate clause is the direct object of this verb (arbitrari), hence the accusative.
Ambulabo, ambulabis, ambulabit, ambulabimus, ambulabitis, ambulabunt, future of ambulare (ambulo, -as, -are, to walk); uná ablative of una (one), means together.
Post, after (is constructed with the accusative).
Dixi, dixisti, dixit: perfect of dicere (dico, -is, -ere), to say.
Optare (opto, -as, -are), to wish.
Propter (+acc.), alongside, because of.
Optem, optes, etc., optent is the present subjunctive of optare (ind.: opto, optas, etc., optant; cf. N 11).

In a direct question we normally use the indicative: cur optas?, why do you wish? But in the indirect question, we always use the subjunctive. This is the reason for non intellego cur optes of P 8.
Imponas, as much as perdas and fias are subjunctives having the role of the conditional. This is not a departure from the preceding rule, because the sense requires the subjunctive in this direct question.

Exercitatio

Jūlius bonus erat, itaque māter eī crustulum dedit.

Julius was (was being) good, and so his mother gave him a pastry.

Jūlius ita bonus erat ut māter eī crustulum dederit.

Julius was so good that his mother gave him a pastry.

Operārius serram mēchanicam īnscītē dūcēbat, itaque nāsus ejus sectus est.

The worker was running (was leading) the mechanical saw ineptly (in an unskilled manner), and so his nose was cut off.

Serra nāsum illīus secuit.

The mechanical saw cut off that one’s nose (the nose of that one).

Marius in domum suam nōs invītāvit, sed īnscrīptiōnem scrībere neglēxit.

Marius invited us to his house, but neglected to write the address.

Unde venīs? — Lutetiā veniō, dē vīcō latīnō.

Where are you coming from (“whence comest thou”)? — I am coming from Paris, from the Latin quarter.

Quō vadīs? — Id tibi jam in lēctiōne octāvā dīxī: Rōmam vādō.

Where are you going to (“whither goest thou”)? — I already told you that in the eighth lesson: I am going to Rome.

Cūr nōbīscum nōn veniās?

Why shouldn’t you come with us?