Today is a catch-up day to review any lesson(s) you missed this past week and/or to work on whatever kind of practice is most useful to you, reviewing the 1st-conjugation imperatives. (Next week, we'll start working on the imperatives from other conjugations.)
Meanwhile, here are the lessons from this week, plus previous weeks, and you'll find the review slideshow before:
And here's a slideshow with all the sayings from the week... and their cats! Read them out loud while you watch. Even better: read them out loud twice: once with the English prompt, and then one more time with the cat.
I also made a printable crossword PDF with this week's sayings as the prompts; screenshots below.
The focus for today's lesson is more practice with imperatives from the 1st conjugation, and then next week we'll start working on the imperatives from other conjugations.
To get ready for today's sayings, here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:
And here are today's sayings:
1. Canta et ambula.
Sing and walk.
canta et AM-bula.
You have not seen the verb canta before, but you have seen the verbal noun cantus. You can see this root in English "chant."
The words come from a famous Easter sermon of Saint Augustine, sometimes called his "Alleluia" sermon, part of which is included in the Catholic liturgy. You can see the entire sermon here in Latin if you are curious: Sermo 256. The idea is to keep on singing and keep on walking, connecting with the divine through your song and doing your work on earth as you walk.
2. Ruit hora: labora.
Time is-running: work.
ruit hora: la-BO-ra.
You've seen all the words in this saying before! You've even seen the phrase ruit hora before, but in reverse order: Hora ruit; venit mors.
The key to the success of this saying is the rhyme: ora-labora.
3. Finem vitae specta.
Consider (the) end of-life.
finem vitae specta.
You haven't seen the verb specta before, "watch! see! consider!" but you have seen the compound verb exspectat, and you have also seen the related noun speculum.
This saying is associated with the famous legend of Solon, one of the Seven Sages of ancient Greece, and King Croesus of Lydia. When King Croesus boasted of his good fortune, Solon advised him to consider the end of life, judging no one to be happy until his life ended. And sure enough, shortly after his dialogue with Solon, Croesus's good fortune turned bad, marked by one disaster after another. You can read about Solon and Croesus at Wikipedia.
You've seen all the words in this saying already too.
The idea is that opportunity may appear for a brief moment only; you need to be ready to seize that moment of opportunity by being on the lookout for it.
5. Hic Rhodus, hic salta.
Here (is) Rhodes; jump here.
hic Rhodus, hic salta.
The adverb hic means "here, in this place."
The word Rhodus is the name of the island we now call "Rhodes" in English.
This saying is associated with an Aesop's fable, and it only makes sense if you know the fable (as is the case with other sayings such as "sour grapes" or "the lion's share"). Here is the story: A man returned home after a long journey, boasting about the great deeds he had accomplished. In Rhodes, the man said, he had jumped such a long jump that no man alive could equal it. A bystander then said: Hic Rhodus, hic salta.
The focus for today's lesson is another set of 1st-conjugation imperative verbs ending in -a.
You're also going to see an example of a negative imperative using the word ne. Previously, you've seen verbs negated with non. You cannot use non with an imperative, though. Instead, you use ne.
So, excita means "wake!" and ne excita means "don't wake!"
There are other ways to create negative imperatives that you will learn later, and you will also learn other uses of the word ne. For now, though, suffice to say that you can create a negative imperative with ne plus the imperative.
And here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:
And here are today's proverbs:
1. Lauda finem.
Praise (the) end.
lauda finem.
You haven't seen the verb lauda before, but you have seen this noun: laudator. You also know this root from the Latin phrase we use in English summa cum laude (the form laude is a noun in the ablative case; you'll be learning more about that later).
The word finem is the accusative of finis, and it is the object of the imperative verb.
The idea is that you should wait until the end of something to declare that it is good. Praise the end, not the beginning of the middle. Compare a saying that you saw earlier: Finis coronat opus. You can also compare the English saying, "Don't count your chickens until they're hatched."
2. Vigila et ora.
Keep-awake and pray.
VI-gila et ora.
The verb vigila means "stay awake! keep watch!" You can see this same root in English "vigilant."
This phrase is a popular motto; you can see it here on the Bourne city crest.
3. Longa via est: propera.
(The) way is long: hurry.
longa via est: PRO-pera.
The verb propera means "hurry!"
This saying can apply to a literally way: if you have a long journey, you need to make haste to get to your journey's end. Metaphorically, it can refer to a task that will take a long time.
The words come from Ovid's Tristia, the poetry that he wrote when exiled to distant Tomis (in what is now Romania). Ovid is speaking to the book of poetry that he is writing, sending the book to Rome, and telling it to hurry; the journey is long... around 1500 miles from Tomis back to Rome.
4. Rem omnem considera.
Inspect (the) whole thing.
Rem omnem con-SI-dera.
The word rem is the accusative form of res, and omnem is the accusative form of omnis. This accusative noun phrase is the object of the verb.
The imperative considera gives us English "consider."
The idea is that you must based your judgments on a full understanding of any situation, rem omnem. Don't rush to judgment; consider the whole situation.
5. Canem sopitum ne excita.
Don't awake (a) sleeping dog.
Canem so-PI-tum ne EX-cita.
The word canem is the accusative form of canis.
The adjective sopitum literally means "lulled to sleep, put to sleep." This noun phrase, canem sopitum, is the object of the verb. You can see this same root in English "soporific."
The little word ne creates a negative imperative: ne excita, "don't wake!"
Compare the English saying "Let sleeping dogs lie."
You may also know the English phrase "a sop to Cerberus." This refers to the way that the Sibyl in Vergil's Aeneid quieted the hound of Hades, Cerberus, by making him go to sleep by giving him a lump of bread that was infused with sleep-inducing honey and herbs.
Here is this week's vocabulary review: the slides have the English translations, plus links back to the original posts if you want to review the notes... along with the cats!
These are the instructions for how to use the slideshow as a quiz, and here's a link to the full-size show. You can treat this as a quiz, filling in the blank and then checking your answer, or you can just use it as a way to read out loud, sometimes with the English prompt and sometimes without. The key thing is just to repeat, reading out loud, learning new words by reading and hearing yourself read.
If you want to do even more reviewing, here's are the review slideshows from Week 20, Week 19, and Week 18. The more you review, the better!
The focus for today's lesson is more imperatives. Just to review, here are yesterday's sayings with imperative verb forms, and I've put the normal present-tense form of the verb in parentheses:
Diu delibera. (deliberat)
Festina lente. (festinat)
Minime iudica. (iudicat)
Ora et labora. (orat, laborat)
Separa et impera. (separat, imperat)
And to get ready for today's new sayings, here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:
And now here are today's proverbs; like yesterday, they all feature imperative verbs from the 1st conjugation, ending in -a.
1. Ama proximum.
Love (your) neighbor.
ama PROX-imum.
You know the verb ama already, but proximus, "nearest, next," is new. You can see this Latin root in English "proximity" and "approximate."
The word proximum is the accusative form of the adjective, which is being used as a noun, "neighbor," in the sense of the person "(the man) next (door)" to you.
You can find the sentiment "Love thy neighbor" in the Biblical Book of Leviticus, and repeatedly in the writings of the New Testament: diliges proximum tuum sicut teipsum, "you will cherish (diliges) your neighbor as yourself."
2. Fugit hora: ora.
Time is-fleeing: pray.
fugit hora: ora.
You know all the words in this saying!
The phrase fugit hora is similar to a saying you saw earlier: fugit tempus. The word hora can mean "hour," but it can also mean "time" in general.
Note the rhyme: hora-ora. This motto is associated with sun-dial art. The idea is that life is short, so you better pray now, before it is too late.
3. Festina: mox nox.
Hurry: (it will be) night soon.
fes-TI-na: mox nox.
You also know all the words in this saying already, and once again, it relies on rhyme: mox nox.
The "night" here is literally the night that comes at the end of every day, but metaphorically, it refers to the night that is the end of life, so this saying has the same meaning as the previous saying.
The word aeternitatem is the accusative of aeternitas, which gives us English "eternity."
You might know the verb cogita from the famous saying of Descartes, Cogito, ergo sum, "I think, therefore I am."
Notice that, as often in Latin, the accusative object comes before the verb, the opposite of English, where the object regularly comes after the verb.
This saying is part of the labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral. While life is short, death is forever, so this saying echoes the previous sayings, but this time from the perspective of the eternity that is death as opposed to the brevity that is life.
The word tigridis is the genitive of the 3rd-declension noun tigris, which gives us English "tiger."
The word sodalitatem is the accusative of the 3rd-declension noun sodalitas, which means "association" or "friendship." This is the root of English "sodality."
The verb evita means "avoid, shun." You can see this root in English "inevitable."
Notice how the noun phrase, tigridis...sodalitatem, wraps around the imperative verb.
The idea is that a tiger, even when a friend, is dangerous. It may seem desirable to have powerful friends, but this saying advises that such friendships themselves are dangerous.
The focus for today's lesson is something new: the imperative form of the verb. The imperative form is a command, and you can see that the word "imperative" itself comes from a Latin root, as the verb imperat means "commands."
The imperative is usually the shortest, simplest form of the verb (I personally like to think that is because the imperatives were the original verbs: language was invented to boss other people around!). This week, the focus will all be on imperative verbs in the first conjugation, ending in -a.
For example, you know the verb dat, "gives." The imperative form would be da! "Give!"
The imperative just the stem of the verb, ending in its theme vowel. For the first conjugation, that theme vowel is -a.
To get ready for today's lesson, here is a little slideshow with some first conjugation sayings that you have seen earlier. For practice, try changing each first conjugation form into an imperative. If the saying says vorat, "devours," then you would say vora! "devour!"
So, here are today's proverbs:
1. Diu delibera. Ponder a-long-time.
diu de-LI-bera.
You already know the adverb diu, and the verb delibera gives us English "deliberate!" The verb is a compound de-libera, "about-weigh." You can see the root of Latin libra, "scales, balance" (the device used for weighing something) in the astrological sign, Libra.
The idea here is that you should not act rashly; instead, take a long time to consider your options.
The charm of this saying lies in the alliteration: D... d...
2. Festina lente. Hurry slowly.
fes-TI-na lente.
The verb festina means "hurry!"
The adverb lente, "slowly," is from the adjective lent- with the adverbial ending -e. You've already seen some other adverbs form in this same way, such as bene, male and impune.
Compare the English saying, "More haste, less speed." The idea is that if you must hurry, don't hurry too much; if you hurry too much, you are likely to make mistakes.
3. Minime iudica. Judge as-little-as-possible.
MI-nime IU-dica.
The adverb minime means "as little as possible." This is another adverb form with -e. You can see this root in the English word "minimum," which is itself a Latin neuter adjective, "the littlest possible (thing)."
The verb iudica, "judge!" is the root of English words like "adjudicate" and "judicial." You've already seen the related Latin word iudex.
The use of minime here is a way of expressing a negative imperative: "Judge as little as possible," i.e. "Don't just at all!" The saying is from an ancient collection known as the Dictichs of Cato.
4. Ora et labora. Pray and work.
ora et la-BO-ra.
The verb ora has a range of meanings, including "give a speech" (as in the noun you already know, oratio) and also "beg, entreat." In Christian Latin, it came to have the special meaning of "pray," which is the meaning here. Rhyming proverbs like this one are medieval in origin, and thus often feature Christian Latin vocabulary.
You do not know the verb labora, but you do know the noun: labor.
This motto is especially associated with monastic Rule of Saint Benedict. You can find out more at Wikipedia: Ora et labora.
5. Separa et impera. Divide and rule.
SE-para et IM-pera.
The verb separa means "divide," and it gives us English "separate."
You already know impera, which is also the root of English "imperative."
