It is November 1st, and Legonium pars quarta can now be read on the Legonium.com website. I really hope that you’ll not only check it out, but also let me know what you think of the story so far. If you have any ideas, I’d love to hear them.
For those of you who know the Cambridge Latin Course, I hope the visit to the tonstrina will give you a laugh. tonsor est occupatus. senex in sella sedet.
I’ll be back in a few days to start daily blogging.
Thanks for reading!
Anthony
The is a picture of the REAL Pico, taken on lazy Sunday afternoon. You can almost make out his eyes rolling.
In memory of our Pico, both an excellent cat and companion.
And with the return of our narrator, we reach the end of Legonium pars tertia. Well, almost. On the next page, the back cover if you will, you will see a picture of the real Pico. Such an awesome cat. in pace requiescat.
Like the narrator, I hope that you have enjoyed Legonium pars tertia. And I hope that you will continue the journey with Legonium pars quarta, which will be released on the Kalends of November. Bell well!
I hope that it pleased you to hear about a day in the life of Pico. But who are those people conversing in that room? Soon I will return to narrate more of the story to you. Be well!
While we are on the subject of dragons, you may be familiar with the Hogwarts School Motto, DRACO DORMIENS NUNQUAM TITILLANDUS. It means, as many a Harry Potter fan can tell you, ‘Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon’. Let’s take a look at the grammar.
The easy part is DRACO DORMIENS, ‘a sleeping dragon’. We have seen quite a few Participles like dormiens as we have read through Pico, and here is another. It is a form of the verb dormio, dormire, dormivi, dormitum, to sleep.
TITILLANDUS is a wonderful example of a grammatical feature with a wonderful name; a Gerundive. This particular Gerundive is a Gerundive of Obligation, meaning it expresses a need to do (or not do). We use a handful of Gerundives of Obligation that have snuck into English, perhaps without even realising it. For example;
femina amanda est. The woman [is] ought to be loved. From amare, to love.
officia agenda sunt. The duties [are] ought to be done. From agere, to do.
consilia propaganda sunt. The plans [are] ought to be propagated or we should spread the plans. From propagare, to propagate.
So, DRACO DORMIENS TITILLANDUS EST means The sleeping dragon [is] ought to be tickled. From titillare, to tickle or titillate. We can drop the EST of the end without anybody really minding - especially in a motto.
Finally, NUNQUAM is an adverb meaning ‘never’. And so we end up where we began - A sleeping dragon is never to be tickled OR Never tickle a sleeping dragon.
And, if I may, I should like to give a huge shout out to my god-daughter Rosie, who lent me the dragon you'll see below. tibi maximas gratias ago, Rosalina. You are awesome.
This evening our Pico imagines himself to be a huge dragon, the protector of his town. For Pico loves his town very-much (valde).
The word fingere is a one-word celebration of creativity. Take a look at the meanings suggested by the Oxford Classical Dictionary; to make by shaping (from clay, wax, molten metal, etc.), to mold or knead (materials) into shape, to form out of original matter, to create, to make a likeness of, to arrange or tidy (the hair), to transform (one’s self), to modify (one’s expression), to guide or influence (a person’s character or behavior), to compose (literary works), to coin (a word or phrase), to contrive (a plan of action), to invent or fabricate (a story, excuse or accusation), to utter (an insincerity), to forge (a will).
Or to form a mental picture of, to conjure up in the mind, to visualize.
Is it this last that Pico does every evening as he stands* upon the roof of Marcellus’ cenaculum. He conjures up in his mind (in animo) something (aliquid) pleasing or delightful (iucundum).
On the very next page we will discover what fictum he is conjuring today.
Every day in the evening it pleases Pico to stand here and conjure something delightful in his mind. Perhaps you are asking what Pico is conjuring today.
* that little plastic figure refuses to sit
Let’s begin with a simple statement. femina homines spectat. ‘The woman is watching the people’. Now, let’s rework this with a Passive Verb. homines a femina spectantur. ‘The people are being watched by the woman’. Each of these sentences is a Statement.
Now, let’s make the first sentence into an Indirect Statement. In English, we might write something like ‘The woman knows THAT she is watching the people’. But in Latin the grammar is something more like ‘The woman knows (scit) herself (se) to-be-watching the people.’ Did you notice the absence of 'THAT' and the change to the Infinitive Verb ‘to-be-watching’? It will be easier once we see it written in Latin; femina scit se homines spectare.
Now, let’s make the second sentence into an Indirect Statement. In English, we might write something like ‘The people know THAT they are being watched by the woman.’ In Latin, however, the grammar is more like ‘The people know (sciunt) themselves (se) to-be-being-watched by the woman. Did you notice that this time the change was to a Passive Infinitive, ‘to-be-being-watched)? Now, let’s see the whole sentence in Latin; homines sciunt se a femina spectari.
Look! This room is occupied. Two people are secretly (clam) conversing among themselves. The people do not know that they are being watched.
Passive Verbs are fairly straight forward in Latin. In the three Tenses formed around the Present Stem, it is only a matter of changing the Verb’s ending. porto, for example, means ‘I am carrying’, whereas portor means ‘I am being carried’. ducit means ‘she is leading’, whereas ducitur means ‘she is being led’.
The difference is a little more pronounced in the three Tenses based around the Perfect Stem. portavi, for example, means ‘I carried’, whereas portatus sum means ‘I was carried.’ duxit means ‘she led’, whereas ducta est means ‘she was led’. This might be a good time to recall to mind the Four Principal Parts of the Verb that make this manipulation possible. For example, porto, portare, portavi, portatum.
The verb video, videre, vidi, visum pulls off a pretty neat trick in the Passive Voice. videt means ‘she sees’, but the Passive videtur can mean either ‘she is seen’ or ‘she seems’. On this page we see femina videtur aliquid spectare, ‘the woman seems to be watching something.’
In my opinion, the woman seems to be watching something. Unless I am mistaken, the woman is intently watching that small room situated on the roof.
nisi fallor is another must-have expression. fallor is the Passive, First Person, Singular form of the verb fallo, fallere, fefelli, falsum. fallere means ‘to deceive’, ‘to lead astray’, ‘to cause to be mistaken’. Hence the passive fallor means something like ‘I am deceived’. And from there we have the very useful, nisi fallor, with which a Latin speaker can indicate their uncertainty about the statement that follows; ‘Unless I am mistaken….’.
I am quite certain, however, that this IS the same (eadem) woman that we saw on the roof of the bank.
Unless I am mistaken, she is the same woman that (ac) we saw on the roof of the bank. Without a doubt you are asking what she is doing on the roof of this building.
