Lectio tricesima

Mihi ōtium deest

I have no time

Ludovice! Nōbīscum veniās oportet1!

Louis! You must come with us (it-is-required you-should-come with-us)!

Quid accidit? Quid negōtiī2 vōs tantopere urget3?

What happens (of an incident)? What [business] (of-business) is pressing you so much?

Hodiē vespere apud avunculum Gregorium saltātiōnem4 īnstituēmus5.

[This] (today) evening at uncle Gregory's we will be holding a surprise party (dance we-will-set-up).

Cōnsōbrīnae nostrae Claudia et Caecilia adērunt. Multum oblectābimur6.

Our cousins Claudia and Cecilia will be there. [We will have great fun] (much we-will-be-amused).

Saltātiōnī nōn studeō7. Claudiam et Caeciliam ōdī8. Germānae9 sunt pestēs: omnēs et omnia semper rōdunt10.

I have no interest in dancing. I hate Claudia and Cecilia. They are real pests: they always [backbite about] (nibble) everyone and everything.

Saltāre nōn cōgeris, nec cum eīs colloquī.

You won't be forced to dance, nor to speak with them.

Exquīsītae mēnsae appōnentur in eīsque cibī et pōtiōnēs maximā varietāte: acipensērīs11 ōva, pernae, crustulārumque omne genus12.

[There will be a great buffet with the most varied foods and drinks] (Exquisite tables will be served up and on them foods and drinks in the greatest variety): [caviar] (sturgeon's eggs), hams, and every kind of cakes (cf. L 19, P 4).

Frūstrā mē tentābis. Nec bibāx nec edāx13 sum.

You (will) tempt me in vain. I'm neither very given to drink nor gluttonous.

Mūsicane dēlectāris?

[Do you enjoy music] (by-music are-you-pleased)?

Mūsica dēlector, sed ōtium mihi deest eī operam dandī.

I enjoy music, but [I have no time to pay attention to it] (leisure to-me is-lacking to-it attention of-giving).

Nīsī14 vēnerīs, concentus absurdus erit. Mārcellus tubā canit, ego tympanum pulsāre possum,

Unless [you come] (you-will-have-come), the symphony will be out of tune. Marcel [plays] the trumpet (with-trumpet sings); myself, I can beat the drum;

Sed nēminem15 praeter tē inveniō quī clavichordīō canere possit.

but [except for you I can find] nobody (except you I-find) who can play the piano.

Cūr hoc prīmum nōn dīxistī? Clavichordīō vestrī grātiā canam.

Why didn't you say this first? I'll play the piano [for your sake] (by-grace of-you[pl.]).

Pergrātum mihi est amīcīs ūtilem esse.

It is most agreeable for me to be useful to [my] friends.

Notes

  1. Oportet, an impersonal verb that we've already seen in the infinitive (oportere) in Lesson 13 (P. 9). It is construed with the conjunction ut and the subjunctive: oportet ut venias, it is required that you come. Ut can be omitted, as here in phrase 1, but the subjunctive is compulsory.

  2. Quid negotii, word for word what of the business. We could have said quod negotium, but this latter expression would have been less appropriate.

  3. Urgeo, -es, -ere, -ursi (2nd conjugation, no supine), to push forward, press (literally or figuratively); cf. English urgent. Tantopere, so much, adv., derived from an ablative tanto opere, literally by so much work.

  4. Saltatio, -onis, f., dance, from saltare, to dance. To jump (French sauter, cf. English somersault) is salire, a 4th-conjugation verb that we'll see again.

  5. Instituo, -is, -ere, -ui, -utum, to set up, to organize (future ind. instituam, institues, instituet, instituemus, instituetis, instituent).

  6. Oblectare (active voice), to amuse. Oblectari (passive voice), to be amused, to amuse oneself. The verbs of the 1st conjugation (active inf. in -are and passive in -ari) make the future in -bo, -bis, -bit, -bimus, -bitis, -bunt in the active; and in -bor, -beris, -bitur, -bimur, -bimini, -buntur in the passive; we'll come back to this.

  7. Studeo, -es, -ere, -ui + dat., to have a taste for; to study is a secondary meaning: studet algebrae, he studies algebra.

  8. Odi, I hate, I detest, just like memini, I remember, has a perfect form but a present meaning (I've taken a dislike to); you hate is thus odisti, he hates odit, they hate oderunt.

  9. Germanus, -a, -um, comes from germen, -inis, n., sprout. Frater germanus, full brother, whence figuratively true, real.

  10. Rodo, -is, -ere, rosi, rosum, to gnaw. Its derivatives erodere and corrodere have given us erode and erosion on the one hand, and corrode and corrosion on the other.

  11. Acipenser, -eris, m., sturgeon, from whose eggs caviar is made (you can forget this word if you wish).

  12. Genus, -eris, n., origin, race, sort: a word to retain!

  13. Bibax, -acis, adj. is derived from bibere, just as edax comes from edere, to eat. Adjectives in -ax indicate a propensity, generally excessive.

  14. Nisi = si non: if … not.

  15. Nemo (acc. neminem, dat. nemini, not used in other cases), nobody (m. and f.). [Long note excised on the difference between nemo and French personne, which requires an added negative particle ne]. In Latin, as in algebra and standard English, two negatives to cancel, yielding a positive sense. This is true in a first approach, for, if we go bit deeper, the double negative is not always the exact equivalent of an affirmation…

Attention! Using the translation, check that you understand well phrases 6 and 11 of the exercise. If you immediately put the various nouns in their proper place (direct object, possessive phrase) it means you already have the Latin spirit. If you are not there yet, do not forget often to repeat this sort of exercise: what seems to you still to be artificial will become completely natural little by little. Think of: consuetudinis magna vis (L 29, P 11).

Exercitatio

Quis mēcum saltātum venit?

Who is coming to dance with me?

Nēmō tēcum saltāre vult.

No one wants to dance with you.

Quae tam bene saltat?

Which one (female) dances so well?

Quis mūsica dēlectātur? — Nēmō mūsica nōn dēlectātur.

Who enjoys music? — No one does not enjoy music.

Cave canem! — Ubi est canis?

Beware [of] the dog! — Where is the dog?

Canis dominum nōn videō.

I don't see the dog's master.

Ā cane nunc mordētur. Ā cane heri morsus est.

Now he is bitten by a dog. Yesterday he was bitten by a dog.

Canis eum momordit.

A dog bit him.

Canī pernam dare nōlī.

[Don't give] ham to the dog (to-give do-not-want).

Canēs quī plūrimum lātrant, rārō mordent.

Dogs who bark the most, rarely bite.

Sīmius cānum cibum fūrātus est.

The monkey stole the dogs' food.

Ā multīs canibus morsae sunt.

They (f.) were bitten by many dogs.