Lectio vicesima sexta

Fābellae īnsānae (conclūduntur)

Crazy stories [end] (are concluded)

Īnsānus quīdam hortulānum1 frāga colentem īnspiciēbat.

A-(certain) madman was watching a gardener cultivating strawberries.

Quid, inquit2, in eā spargis3?

What do you sprinkle on them? says he.

Eā stercore4 sternō, respondit hortī cultor.

I cover them with manure, responded the cultivator of the garden.

At īnsānus: — Ergō sine ūllō dubiō īnsānus sum, nam eā saccharō cōnspersa ego comedō!

Then the madman (says): — Then I am crazy without any doubt, for I eat them sprinkled with sugar!

Īnsānōrum nosocomiī5 moderātor vīsitātōribus aedēs6 suās mōnstrat:

The director of a [mental] hospital (of-insane-people) is showing his [facilities] (houses) to [some] visitors:

Hīc omnia secundum mōrem recentissimum7 īnstrūcta sunt.

Here everything has been set up (all-things having-been-set-up are) according to the most modern practice (according-to latest fashion/manner).

Aegrōtī nostrī nūllō modō vītam trīstem agunt, sīcut in veteribus aedibus fīēbat, sed lībertāte ōtiōque maximō fruuntur8.

Our patients (sick people) don't lead a sad life in any way, as [happened] (was-done) in the old homes, but [instead] enjoy the greatest liberty and leisure.

Exemplī grātia, piscīnam natātōriam īnstrūximus, cum tabulātīs urinatōriīs plūribus, quōrum altissimum decem metra9 sē attollit.

For example, we built a swimming pool with several diving boards, the highest of which is ten meters high (raises itself ten meters).

Mehercule! Piscīnam īnsānīs īnstruere inaudīta vidētur audācia. Dīc mihi, quaesō, quot īnsānī summō tabulātō ūsī sint10?

My goodness (by Hercules)! To build a pool for the insane seems (of) an unheard-of audacity. Tell me, please, how many madmen have used the highest board?

Paucissimī... forte trēs aut quattuor...

Very few… perhaps three or four…

Sed multō plūrēs11 ūrīnābuntur12 postquam in piscīnam13 addūxerīmus14... aquam.

But many more will dive after we bring (we-shall-have-brought) into the pool… the water.

Notes

  1. Hortulanus, -i, m., gardener (derivative of hortus, -i, m., garden).

  2. Inquit, quoth he (says he); pl. inquiunt, they say. This verb is not used in all persons.

  3. Spargo, -is, -ere (perfect sparsi), to spread; sparsus, -a, -um, having been spread; derivative: conspergo, -is, -ere (perfect conspersi); p.p. conspersus, -a, -um (P. 4).

  4. Stercus, -oris, n., manure; abl. stercore (3rd declension).

  5. Nosocomium, -ii, n., hospital.

  6. Aedes, -is, f., house, edifice. This word is mainly used in the plural (aedes, gen. aedium). In the singular it means rather temple.

  7. Mos, moris, m., tradition; pl. mores, morum, the mores, morals. Recentissimus, -a, -um: superlative of recens, -entis, adj., new.

  8. Fruor, -eris, frui, (perfect fructus sum) + abl.: to benefit from..., has given us: fruit, fructose…

  9. Decem, 10, is indeclinable (always remains in the form decem). The complement of measure is here in the accusative, hence metra, plural of metrum, -i, n., measure, meter.

  10. Utor, -eris, -i (perfect usus sum), is a quite important verb, meaning to use, and also to associate (with someone); it governs the ablative.

  11. Multo, much, this adverb is used in front of the comparative (here plures, more numerous).

  12. Urinor, -aris, -ari, to plunge; future: urinabor.

  13. Piscina, which comes from piscis, -is, m., fish, means first of all fishpond.

  14. Adduxerimus: future perfect of adducere.

And now let us try to clear up the mysteries of the 3rd declension. It is very important, because it is the one that corresponds to the most general and most varied forms.

Let us take for instance cultor felix, the happy gardener:

Singular: Plural:

nom. CULTOR FELIX CULTORes FELICes

acc. CULTORem FELICem CULTORes FELICes

gen. CULTORis FELICis CULTORum FELICium

dat. CULTORi FELICi CULTORibus FELICibus

abl. CULTORe FELICi CULTORibus FELICibus

The difficulties of the third declension are:

1st The change of form, sometimes important, which takes place between the nominative and the other cases. The nominative is often a shortened from, and sometimes even very shortened. E.g.: iter, itineris, the way, the route. Of course, in the “dictionary” presentation, it is the genitive which indicates to us the form of the other cases.

2nd The fact that the ablative singular is sometimes in -i instead of -e and the genitive plural in -ium instead of -um. We shall return to this point.

The 3rd declension consists of masculine nouns like cultor, feminine nouns like soror, -oris; mater, -tris (vid. L 4), or aedes, -is, that we have just seen (P. 5 and N. 6).

It also includes neuters, which differ from the preceding by an accusative which is the same as the nominative, both cases being in -a or -ia in the plural.

E.g.: stercus (N. 4), acc. stercus (and not stercorem!), nom. and acc. pl. stercora. We have already seen corpus (L. 20, P. 2); its genitive singular is corporis; nominative and acc. pl. corpora.

It will be noted that the majority of these words have at least a syllable less in the nominative than in the other cases. They are called imparisyllabic (impar, imparis, unequal, odd). On the contrary, the words like aedes, aedis, which keep the same number of syllables in all cases (other than the gen., dat., and abl. pl.), are said to be parisyllabic (par, paris, means equal or even). The declension of the parisyllabics introduces little peculiarities which we shall discuss again later.

Exercitatio

Hortulānus hortī cultor est: frāga, mala variaque olera in hortō colit.

A gardener is the cultivator of a garden: he grows (cultivates) strawberries, apples and various vegetables in the garden

Opus hortī cultōris hortī cultūrā dīcī potest.

The job of a gardener (cultivator of a garden) can be-called horticulture (cultivation of the garden).

Similiter agrī cultōrēs, seu agricolae, frūmentum in agrīs colunt.

Similarly, cultivators of the field, or farmers, grow (cultivate) grain in the fields.

Dā vīnum agrī cultōrī.

Give wine to the cultivator of the field (farmer).

Date cerevisiam hortī cultōribus.

Give beer to the gardeners.

Ubi est domus agrī cultōrum fēlīcium?

Where is the house of the happy farmers?

Ūnam hirundinem vēr nōn efficere ab agrī cultōribus dīcitur.

[Farmers say that] one swallow (is said by farmers) doesn’t make (not to make) a summer (spring).