The Trojans Divided or The Wooden Horse Part 7 of 12 /  by Anthony Gibbins

The Wooden Horse. Part 7. As we await the October 1 arrival of Legonium pars tertia, here is some complete nonsense in 12 parts.

From the translation of The Aeneid, Book II by John Dryden

Thymoetes first ('t is doubtful whether hir'd,

Or so the Trojan destiny requir'd)

Mov'd that the ramparts might be broken down,

To lodge the monster fabric in the town.

But Capys, and the rest of sounder mind,

The fatal present to the flames designed,

Or to the wat'ry deep; at least to bore

The hollow sides, and hidden frauds explore.

The giddy vulgar, as their fancies guide,

With noise say nothing, and in parts divide.

 

nonnulli : nonnullus is an adjective made up of two words, non (not) and nullus (none). So, nonnullus means ‘not none’ and is best understood as ‘some’. We saw on the last page how an adjective can stand in for a noun, and that is exactly what is happening here. nonnulli is shorthand for nonnulli Troianorum, meaning ‘some of the Trojans’. It is nominative to indicate that it is the subject of the verb.

hunc : hic is the demonstrative adjective meaning ‘this’. hunc is the masculine, singular and accusative form. It is in this form to ‘agree with’ equum.

equum: equus means ‘horse’ and is in its singular and accusative form. It is a masculine noun. It is in the accusative to indicate that it is the object of the verb.

in : in is a preposition. You may remember from an earlier page that in can mean either ‘into/onto’ or ‘in/on’ depending on the case of the noun (or pronoun) that follows it. If it is followed by the accusative case – and it is here – it means ‘into/onto’.

arcem : arx is a feminine noun meaning ‘citadel’. It is in the singular accusative form to show that it is one citadel, and that it is forming a prepositional phrase with in, where in mean ‘onto’.  

trahere : trahere is a verb that means ‘to drag’. It is actually the root of the word ‘tractor’. It is here in its present infinitive form (the form that means ‘to drag’). Some verbs, such as velle, might require an infinitive verb to complete their meaning. trahere is doing that job here.

voluerunt : velle is a verb that means ‘to wish’ or ‘to be willing’. velle is a verb that often requires a second verb in its infinitive form to complete its meaning, in this case trahere. Here voluerunt is in the third person plural form because the subject nonnulli is also third person plural. It is in the perfect tense to indicate that the action was completed in the past.

Translation: Some wanted to drag this horse onto the citadel.

The Pile by Pallas Raised to Ruin Troy or The Wooden Horse Part 6 of 12 /  by Anthony Gibbins

The Wooden Horse. Part 6. As we await the October 1 arrival of Legonium pars tertia, here is some complete nonsense in 12 parts.

From the translation of The Aeneid, Book II by John Dryden

The Trojans, coop'd within their walls so long,

Unbar their gates, and issue in a throng,

Like swarming bees, and with delight survey

The camp deserted, where the Grecians lay:

There was their fleet conceal'd. We thought, for Greece

Their sails were hoisted, and our fears release.

Part on the pile their wond'ring eyes employ:

The pile by Pallas rais'd to ruin Troy.

 

mox : mox is another adverb. It means ‘soon’.

Troiani : Troianus is an adjective meaning ‘Trojan’, but in this sentence the adjective is playing the part of a noun. This is far more common in Latin than in English, but English does have its examples. Think of ‘Only the good die young.’ By being masculine and plural, Troiani shows itself to mean ‘Trojan men or people’. It is nominative to show itself to be the subject of the verb.

equum ligneum: equus ligneus means ‘wooden horse’. We have seen these words together a few times now, so let’s deal with equum ligneum as a single ‘noun phrase’. It is in the accusative case to indicate that it is the object of the verb and it means, of course, ‘wooden horse’.

ante : ante is a preposition, so we need to know both what it means and what case it is followed by. It means ‘before’ or ‘in front of’ and is followed by the accusative case.

moenia : moenia is one of a relatively small group of Latin nouns that only appears in the plural form. It means ‘the walls or fortifications of a city’. Here it is in the accusative case, to indicate that it forms a prepositional phrase together with ante.

vident : videre is a verb that means ‘to see’. It is third person plural because its subject Troiani is third person plural also. It is in the present tense to create a sense of excitement.

Translation: Soon the Trojans saw the wooden horse before the city’s walls.

Summer on Tenedos or The Wooden Horse Part 5 of 12 /  by Anthony Gibbins

The Wooden Horse. Part 5. As we await the October 1 arrival of Legonium pars tertia, here is some complete nonsense in 12 parts.

From the translation of The Aeneid, Book II by John Dryden

In sight of Troy lies Tenedos, an isle

(While Fortune did on Priam's empire smile)

Renown'd for wealth; but, since, a faithless bay,

Where ships expos'd to wind and weather lay.

There was their fleet conceal'd. We thought, for Greece

Their sails were hoisted, and our fears release.

 

tum : tum is another adverb, so – again – it does not have case or number or anything of that kind. tum, like deinde, means ‘next’ or ‘then’. Although you may remember that deinde could also mean ‘from that place’, which tum cannot.

reliqui : reliquus is an adjective meaning ‘left behind’ or ‘remaining’. Here it is masculine, plural and nominative in order to agree with ‘Graeci’.

Graeci : Graecus, as we have seen, is a masculine noun meaning ‘a Greek’. Here it is plural because there are more than one of them and nominative, because it is the subject of the verb.

ad : ad is a preposition. We have seen that prepositions do not alter their form, although we do need to learn the case of the noun (or pronoun) that follows them. ad is always followed by the accusative case. It means ‘to’ or ‘towards’ with a verb that implies motion and ‘at’ with a verb that doesn’t. For example, ‘she walks to the table’ vs ‘she sits at the table’.

insulam : insula is a feminine noun meaning ‘island’. The island in question is Tenedos, just off the coast of Troy. Here it is accusative to indicate that it forms a prepositional phrase along with ad. It is singular because there is just the one of them.

propinquam : propinquus is an adjective meaning ‘near’ or ‘neighbouring’. Its form is feminine, singular and accusative to 'agree with' insulam.

se : se is the reflexive pronoun referring back to the subject. On the previous page we saw the less usual form sese. It is accusative to indicate that the Graeci did something to themselves. Or, to put it another way, that it is the object.

recipiunt : recipere is a verb meaning, among other things, ‘to take back’. It is often used, as here, with the reflexive pronoun to mean ‘retreat’. recipiunt is third person plural, because we have a third person plural subject. It is present tense. Literally it means ‘they are taking themselves back’. There is no way, however, that it is actually describing an action occurring in the present, so the author must be doing this to create a sense of excitement. We will understand recipiunt as ‘they retreated’.

Translation: Then the left over Greeks retreated to a neighbouring island.

Watch Your Elbow! or The Wooden Horse Part 4 of 12 /  by Anthony Gibbins

The Wooden Horse. Part 4. As we await the October 1 arrival of Legonium pars tertia, here is some complete nonsense in 12 parts.

From the translation of The Aeneid, Book II by John Dryden

Thus they pretend, but in the hollow side

Selected numbers of their soldiers hide:

With inward arms the dire machine they load,

And iron bowels stuff the dark abode.

 

in : in is a preposition. Prepositions never change their form, but you do need to learn the case of the noun that follows them. Prepositions are followed by a noun (or pronoun) in the accusative or ablative case. in is one of the rare prepositions that can be followed by either. Followed by an accusative it means ‘into’ or ‘onto’. Followed by an ablative it means ‘in’ or ‘on’.

hoc : hic is the demonstrative adjective that means ‘this’. Like all adjectives, hic can decline (change its form) to indicate its gender (masculine, feminine or neuter), number (singular or plural) and case (nominative, vocative, accusative, genitive, dative or ablative). hoc is masculine, singular and ablative to ‘agree with’ equo.

equo : equus, as we have seen, is a masculine noun meaning ‘horse’. Here it is ablative in case to indicate that it is part of a prepositional phrase with in. It also shows that in should be read as ‘in’ (not into). Hence, the entire prepositional phrase in hoc equo means ‘in this horse’.

viri : vir is a masculine noun meaning ‘man’. Here it is nominative, to indicate that it is the subject of the verb, and plural, to indicate that there are more than one of them.

fortissimi : fortis is an adjective meaning brave. fortissimus is its superlative form, meaning ‘very brave’. Here it is masculine, plural and nominative to ‘agree with’ viri.

sese : sese is the reflexive pronoun in Latin, although it is more often written just se. Here it is accusative because it is the object of the verb. The reflexive pronoun refers back to the subject of the verb, in this case the viri fortissimi. To put it simply, it means that the ‘very brave men’ did something ‘to themselves’.

celaverunt : celare is a verb that means ‘to hide’. Here the verb is third person and plural, because we have a third person plural subject viri. It is also in the perfect tense, because it describes an action that was completed in the past.

Translation: Very brave men hid themselves in this horse.

Master Builders or The Wooden Horse Part 3 of 12 /  by Anthony Gibbins

The Wooden Horse. Part 3. As we await the October 1 arrival of Legonium pars tertia, here is some complete nonsense in 12 parts.

From the translation of The Aeneid, Book II by John Dryden

And by Minerva's aid a fabric rear'd,

Which like a steed of monstrous height appear'd:

The sides were plank'd with pine; they feign'd it made

For their return, and this the vow they paid.

 

deinde : deinde is an adverb, so no messing about with case, number, gender, tense or any of that nonsense. deinde can refer to time, ‘then, thereafter, afterwards’ or to space, ‘from that place’. Here it is referring to time.

equum : equus, as we have seen, is a masculine noun that means ‘horse’. Here it is in its accusative form (equum not equus) to indicate that it is the object of the verb.

ligneum : ligneus, as we have also seen, is an adjective meaning ‘made of wood’. Here it is in its masculine, singular, accusative form so that it can ‘agree with’ equum, which is the noun it is describing.

ingentis : ingens is an adjective meaning ‘monstrous’, ‘vast’, ‘enormous’. It is in its feminine, singular, genitive form so that it can ‘agree with’ magnitudinis, the noun that it is describing.

magnitudo : magnitudinis is a feminine noun meaning ‘size’ or ‘magnitude’. It is written here in the genitive case. The prime job of the genitive case is to indicate possession, a bit like an 's in English. Here, however, the genitive is doing one of its ‘lesser’ jobs; together with the adjective ingentis it is making a ‘genitive of quality or description’. Together they describe the horse and mean ‘of vast size’.

faciunt : facere is a very common verb that means ‘to make’ or ‘to do’. Here it is in the present tense, indicating that the action is happening right now. We know this isn't true, but we also know that sometimes Latin authors do this to make an action seem more immediate and exciting. This verb does not have a stated subject, but that is okay because the third person, plural ending tells us that that the subject is ‘they’, the same ‘they’ as the previous sentence. We have already seen that the object is equum.

Translation: Then they (the Greeks) made a wooden horse of vast size.

Stormtroopers! or The Wooden Horse Part 2 of 12 /  by Anthony Gibbins

The Wooden Horse. Part 2. As we await the October 1 arrival of Legonium pars tertia, here is some complete nonsense in 12 parts.

From the translation of The Aeneid, Book II by John Dryden

But, since you take such int'rest in our woe,

And Troy's disastrous end desire to know,

I will restrain my tears, and briefly tell

What in our last and fatal night befell.

By destiny compell'd, and in despair,

The Greeks grew weary of the tedious war.

 

Graeci : Graecus is a noun that means 'a Greek’. Here the noun is in the nominative plural form. Nominative because the Greeks are the subject of the verb, plural because there are more than one of them.

decem : decem is the number 10. It is in the masculine accusative plural ‘form’ because it is describing annos, so they have to ‘agree’. I say ‘form’, but the truth is that numbers over 10 don’t change their form, they always look the same despite of case and gender.

annos : annus is a masculine noun that means ‘year’. It is in the accusative case, because one of the jobs that the accusative case can do is express ‘duration of time’. It is also plural. So, together, decem annos means ‘for ten years’.

Troiam : Troia is a noun. It is the Latin name for the city of Troy. Troiam is in the accusative case. Here the accusative case is doing its most important job, which is indicating that the word is the ‘object of the verb’.

frustra : frustra is an adverb. Adverbs don’t have troubling things like cases and numbers. frustra means ‘in vain’.

obsederant : obsidere means ‘to besiege’. The verb is made by putting the prefix ‘ob’ (in front of) with the verb sedere (to sit). Here it is in the pluperfect tense, indicating that this had already happened when our story began. It is third person and plural in form, to match our third person plural subject, Graeci. We already know that Troiam is its object.

Translation: For ten years the Greeks had besieged Troy in vain.

Waiting for Pico or The Wooden Horse Part 1 of 12 /  by Anthony Gibbins

As we await the October 1 arrival of Legonium pars tertia, here is some complete nonsense in 12 parts. The Wooden Horse. Part 1

From the translation of The Aeneid, Book II by John Dryden

All were attentive to the godlike man,

When from his lofty couch he thus began:

‘Great queen, what you command me to relate

Renews the sad remembrance of our fate:

An empire from its old foundations rent,

And ev'ry woe the Trojans underwent.’

 

equus equus is a noun that means 'horse'. It is here written in the nominative case, because that is the case used to indicate the subject of a sentence - which is also appropriate for a title like this one.

ligneus ligneus is an adjective meaning 'made of wood'. Here it is in the masculine, singular, nominative form because that is the form needed to 'agree with' equus, the noun that it is describing.

Translation: The Wooden Horse

pars fabulae secunda perlecta est /  by Anthony Gibbins

A huge thank you to everyone who has read through the second episode of Legonium with me. I am thrilled to see the Legonium community building. There are now more than 200 members on FaceBook, and twitter is nearing 500. Last week I discovered a delightful piece of Gilbo ‘fanfiction’ created way back in 2013 (although you may not want to watch it if you have recently lost a pet). I wonder if ‘Legonium’ will ever get ‘fanfiction’… magistri?

Alas! I hope that Marcellus finds the money. Perhaps he will sell the picture. Soon I will return in order to continue. Be well!