the end of episode 4 /  by Anthony Gibbins

Another month, another episode of Legonium. I hope that you continue to enjoy the story and will return December 1st to discover what is in the suitcase. Remember that the entire pars quinta will be published on the first of the month, and that the blogs will continue day by day after that. Until then, I hope your days are happy ones.

Do you want to know what is in the suitcase?

Without a doubt! But it is not yet time to tell you (literally, to make you more certain). If you want to know what is inside, it will be necessary for you to return. I will wait for you. Bye!

cinematography /  by Anthony Gibbins

It can be very hard (almost impossible) to get a camera inside some of these small spaces. But here I think it worked to my advantage.

The man and the woman enter the room and open the suitcase with great care. Surely you want to know what is inside?

Gaius Plinius Secundus on diamonds and mining /  by Anthony Gibbins

Gaius Plinius Secundus was born in AD 23 or 24. His great work, Historia Naturalis, is an encyclopedic account of the natural sciences, interspersed with essays and digressions on the achievements of humankind and contains, according to Pliny himself, 20 000 facts, taken from 2 000 works by 100 authors. In truth, however, the work quotes over 146 Roman and 327 non-Roman authors! I’m not sure that the facts have ever been recounted. Here, as our sailor obtains a gemstone in exchange for a suitcase, are Plinius’ thoughts on diamonds and mining;

on diamonds

The diamond, known for a long time only to kings, and even then to very few of them, has greater value than any other human possession, and not merely than any other gemstone.

on mining

In some places we dig for riches, when our life style requires gold, silver, electrum and copper; and in others out of sheer self-indulgence, when gems and pigments for wall-paintings are required; and yet in other places we dig with sheer recklessness when iron is needed – a metal even more welcome than gold amid the bloodsheds of war.

We search for riches deep within the bowels of the earth where the spirits of the dead have their abode, as though the part we walk upon is not sufficiently bountiful and productive.

But what the earth has hidden and kept underground – those things that cannot be found immediately – destroy us and drive us to our depths. As a result, the mind boggles at the thought of the long term effect of draining the earth’s resources and the full impact of greed. How innocent, how happy, indeed how comfortable, life might be if it coveted nothing from anywhere other than the surface of the earth – in brief, nothing except what is immediately available.  

The woman gives a precious gem, taken from out of her pocket, to the sailor. The sailor, once the suitcase has been given to the woman, departs without a word.

precious stones /  by Anthony Gibbins

Everything I know about cool I learnt in 1994. That was the year of Pulp Fiction. Nothing, I learnt, says cool like some rough looking dudes, a mysterious suitcase and an Uma Thurman haircut.

I can’t tell you what’s in that suitcase, but our sailor has just asked these homines for a gem. What kind of gem?

ruby                             carbunculus

amethyst                     amethystus

jet                                gagates

opal                             opalus

moonstone                  lapis lunae

aquamarine                beryllus aeroides

emerald                      smaragdus

sapphire                      sapphirus

topaz                           topazos

garnet                         carbunculus garamanticus

Just between you and me, my money is on a diamond, adamas.

When the door has opened, two people, a man and a woman, greet the sailor suspiciously. ‘Do you have the gem?’ the sailor asks them.

First Declension Masculine Nouns /  by Anthony Gibbins

The first thing a textbook will tell you about First Declension Nouns is that they all end in –a. The second thing is that they are nearly all Feminine. The exceptions usually given are the Masculine Nouns poeta poet agricola farmer and nauta sailor (hence the subject of this post). But there are many more than these. Just for fun, here are a few;

agripeta one who strives for the possession of land alipta master of a wresting school athleta athlete conviva a dinner guest coprea a low-class buffoon (I wonder what a high-class buffoon is called) faeniseca a resident of the countryside grammatista a teacher of grammar or languages hippotoxota an archer on horseback lanista owner or trainer in a gladiatorial school pirata a pirate umbraticola a lounger in the shade.

These words are all considered Masculine because in ancient Rome they were considered a man’s domain. I see no reason not to treat then as Common is Modern Latin i.e. the Gender is that of the actual individual. That would make a happy (female) lounger in the shade an umbraticola laeta while a happy (male) lounger in the shade would be an umbraticola laetus. Here are a few First Declension Nouns that the Romans did consider Common;

accola a resident advena a stranger amnicola a riverside dweller draconigena one born of a dragon (that’s pretty awesome) and incola a native inhabitant.

Meanwhile the sailor is approaching that room situated on the roof. Holding his suitcase with his right hand he gently knocks on the door.

cui bono? and the Double Dative /  by Anthony Gibbins

At the age of 26, that great Roman patron, politician, and self-promoter, Marcus Tullius Cicero, made a name for himself defending Sextus Roscius against a charge of parricide. Cicero said this;

L. Cassius ille quem populus Romanus verissimum et sapientissimum iudicem putabat identidem in causis quaerere solebat "cui bono" fuisset. 

The famous Lucius Cassius, whom the Roman people used to regard as a very honest and wise judge, was in the habit of asking, time and again, "To whose benefit?"

He then went on to argue that as it was the prosecution themselves who had benefitted from the death of Sextus’ father, that they were the more likely murderers. QED.

cui bono? is arguably the most famous example of Latin’s Double Dative construction, so called because both cui and bono (a Pronoun and Noun respectively) are in what is called the Dative Case.

The first Dative (cui) refers to the person or thing concerned. The second (bono) to the role something serves. Here are some examples. canis est auxilio colono. The dog is a help to the farmer. Both auxilio help and colono farmer are Dative. haec sententia est exemplo discipulae. This sentence is an example for the student. Both exemplo example and disciplae student are Dative. cui bono? cui To whom [was it] bono a benefit?

On today’s page, Marcellus receives $100 from the sale of his painting. pecunia maximo adlevamento est Marcello. The money is a huge relief to Marcellus. Both maximo adlevamento huge relief and Marcello are Dative.

The money is a huge relief to Marcellus. He places it immediately in an envelope (involucro). Tomorrow he will carry the envelope to the bank.

doors, janitors, Janus and January /  by Anthony Gibbins

The word ianua means door. I have a very worn t-shirt adorned with a picture of Jim Morrison and co, and the word ianuae printed in that iconic Doors font. It’s now way too old to make out the image, but I’m loathe to throw it away.

The slave who stood by the door, both guard and greeter of guests, was a ianitor (the root of our janitor), or, if female, a ianitrix.

The god of doorways was Ianus. He was depicted with two faces, one turned in each direction, and he presided over the beginnings and endings of endeavors. He had a special relationship to war, and the twin gates of his temple would be opened at the beginning of aggressions and closed again at the return of, so called, peace. It is telling that at the time of Augustus the gates were said to have been closed twice in Rome’s more than 700 year history!

Finally, there is an adjective Ianuarius that means concerning Ianus. The month sacred to him, situated at the beginning and ending of the year, was the mensis Ianuarius, our January.

Claudia hurries straight to the home of Marcellus. She knocks on the door. The door having been opened, she hands over the money to the very happy Marcellus.

sinus problems /  by Anthony Gibbins

The sailor buys the picture and gives the money to Claudia. Claudia puts the money in her pocket. Simple. Except that the Romans didn’t have pockets, nor a word for them.  From what I can determine, the first pockets made their way into garments in the 13th Century.  The word ‘pocket’ comes from the French poket(e) which means ‘a little poke’, a poke being a ‘pouch’.

So what to do about pockets? Smith’s A Copious and Critical English-Latin Dictionary (1874) says for pocket, ‘no exact word : perhaps sacculus vestimento assutus’.  This translates as ‘a small sack sewn into the clothing’. Accurate, but hardly convenient. A modern German-Latin dictionary suggests funda vestis. But a funda is a sling, used to hurl stones and shot in battle. So, while there may be similarities of shape, there are certainly none of usage. Cassell’s Latin Dictionary begins like this: ‘Render,’ it says, ‘by sacculus (=small bag) or crumena (=purse).’ But then it gets interesting; ‘Or render by sinus, since the ancients had no pockets in their garments, but used the folds in their toga.’

A sinus (pronounce the i like pin) is a bending, curve or fold. Cicero uses it to describe curls of hair and Ovid to describe the windings of a snake. It is used by Virgil for the belly of a sail swollen by the wind. A sinus maritimus is a curving of the coastline, a bay or gulf. And, sure enough, a number of authors use sinus to describe folds in clothing. (Finally, in the 15th Century, it entered medical terminology as a cavity of the body, especially those within the nose.)

But what evidence exists that the folds of a garment were used as pockets? Enough. Ovid speaks of filling the folds with flowers. Both Cicero and Livy have them carrying letters. Marcus Fabius Quintilianus even suggests that they be used for holding money. Hence Cassell’s advice that sinus be used for pocket. I like this line of reasoning, and so I, too, shall ‘render by sinus.’ 

The sailor is very happy. He immediately takes the picture and hands over one hundred dollars to Claudia. Claudia places the money in her pocket.