CHAPTER XVI

Orbilius barbam longam habebat et vultum severum ·

. '
m manii ferulam gerebat.

--~-
' 'l~ -~ .'
.

,, l_

Orbilius multos versus recitavit; Quintus Orbilius Quintum in medium diixit.

e6s in tabula scripsit. 'ecce, pueri,' inquit, 'novum discipulum
v6bis commend6; nomen ei est Quintus
Horatius Flaccus.'

LUDUS ORBILII
postridie Flaccus Quintum mane excitavit. Quintus se mane early
lavit et novam togam induit. pater filiusque in viam
descenderunt. Flaccus capsulam QuintI portabat et
partes paedag6gi agebat. multI homines per vias iam partes paedagogi the part of a
tutor
festinabant. Flaccus Quintusque per turbam turbam crowd
pr6cedebant et ante liicem ad liidum Orbilii
advenerunt.
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 ianua aperta erat. itaque intraverunt et Orbilium
quaesiverunt. invenerunt eum in aula sedentem. vir aula courtyard
gravis erat; barbam longam habebat et vultum sedentem sitting
severum; in manii ferulam gereba\. Flaccus accessit et barbam beard
sevcrum severe ; ferulam cane
'ecce!' inquit, 'magister, filium meum Quintum ad ~e
diico.' ille Quintum inspexit et 'veni hue, Quinte,' inspexit looked at
inquit, 'et pauca mihi responde.'
non pauca sed multa Quintum rogavit, ptimum de de rebus Romanis about
rebus Romanis. Quintus ad omnia respondere poterat , ~oman history
nam pat~r ei multa de rebus Romanis ~arraverat.
'euge!' inquit Orbilius; 'age, potes-ne legere litteras?' euge! well done!; age come
librum Quinto tradidit et iussit eum legere. Quintus now
librum facile legere poterat. Orbilius patri 'puer bene
legere potest,' inquit. 'age, Quinte, iam scribe hos hos versus these verses
versus.' Quintus tabulam stilumque paravit et Orbilium tabulam writing-tablet
<\_lldivit ille versus r~citavit, quos Quintus seripsit in, stilum pen
tabula. recitavit recited; quos which
ubi litteras inspexit, Quintum mathematiea mathematica mathematical
q~aedam rogavit de triangulis et cireulis. Quintus questions
haesitabat; non poterat intellegere. Orbilius iratus erat; haesitabat hesitated
feru]am vibrabat. 'puer de mathematicis,' inquit, 'nihil vibrabat brandished
seit: age,p~oteS-E€?_Graeee dicere?' Graece (in) Greek
Flaeeiis, qui iam anxius erat, proeessit. 'magister ,'
inquit, 'filiu~ meus Graece nee dieere nee seribere
potest. propter hane eausam eum ad te diico, quod tu propter bane causam for this
linguam Graeeam bene doeere potes.' Orbilius valde reason
iratus erat. 'quid?' inquit, 'quid? puer Graece nee linguam language
dicere nee legere potest? mirum est. de bet statim mirum extraordinary
litteras Graeeas diseere. plane barbarus est.' librum plane totally
Graeee scriptum Quinto tradidit et iussit eum omnes barbarus barbarian
~ ras diseere. scriptum written
1am- celeffpueri advenerant( Quintus eos audire
poterat inter se eolloquentes. Orbilius Quinto dixit: colloquentes talking
'veni, puer. tempus est studere.' Quintum patremque·
in seholam duxit. ubi seholam intraverunt, omnes pueri scholam school room \
surrexerunt et magistrum salutaverunt. Flaeeus ad (
extremam partem seholae iit, ubi eeteri paedagogi ,extremam back
sedebant post pueros. (
Orbilius Quintum in medium diixit et 'eeee pueri ' (
inquit, 'novum discipulum vobis eommendo. nomen ' ei' commendo introduce; ei his
Quintus Horatius Flaeeus est. barbarus est; Graeee nee (
g!c,ere nee seribere potest.' pueri~debant. ill~ 't~eete,
pueri. Quinte, ad angulum i et litteras Graeeas disee.' angulum corner
itaque Quintus in angulo seholae misere sedebat et
litteris Graeeis studebat.
'

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 Orbilius ceteras lliadem Homeri docebat; omnes
recte correctly
dis~ipuli Graece legere poterant; omnes Hom~rum
interdum from time to time
facile intellegebant; omnes versus Graec6s recte
puerorum quidam one of the
recitabant. Quintus nihil intellegebat. interdum boys
puer~~~ quidam s e ~ et nares fastidiose nares fastidiose corriigavit
corrugavn. Quintus valde miser erat; domum redire turned up his nose scornfully
cupiebat. omnes pueri magni et lauti erant, filii lauti elegant, smart
senat6rum equitumque. ,s equites equites, knights
interdum Onus puerorum se vertit et nares fastidiose corrugavit

meridie Orbilius eos dimisit et iussit in aula meridie at midday

paulisper ludere.omnes e schola festinaverunt. Quintus paulisper for a little
ultimus exiit et in angulo aulae solus stabat. nemo cum ultimus last
eo Iudebat, nemo ei quicquam dixit. -- quicquam anything
tandem, ubi Orbilius eos in scholam revocavit,
puerorum quidam ad eum accessit; ridebat et 'noli
desperare. Quinte,' inquit; 'non mali pueri sunt. et
Orbilius severus est, sed doctus. malos pueros saeve doctus, learned ____ _
punit sed, si diligenter studes, comis est. nos eum - . k"m d ; p 1-agosum
comlS - t he'\£
,,,- ' . ::. :s...:
'
plagosum Orbilium appellamus.' flogger { ' :, - ' • -
appellamus we call -: ,·-··•.:. c. ;v·"·
Quintus ei respondere cupiebat sed Orbilius eos
iterum in scholam revocavit.

\\
intellego, intellegere, intellexi I understand
0 piinio, piinire, piinivi I punish
rideo, ridere, risi I laugh, smile
studeo, studere, studui + dat. I study, I am keen on
studium, studii, n. study; keenness
scio, scire, scivi I know
littera, litterae, f. letter
liber, libri, m. book

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 senator, senatoris, m. senator
manus, maniis,/. hand Some English abbreviations
nemo no one
a.m. ante meridlem
facilis, facile easy p.m. post merldJem
facile easily N.B. noUI bene
difficills, difficile difficult i.e. id est
gravis, grave heavy; serious e.g. exempll gritlA
pauci,paucae,pauca few etc. et cetera

8 The fourth declension

singular plural
Nouns of this declension have stems in nom. gradus gradus
-u; they decline very like the third acc. gradum gradus
declension, but u predominates in all gen. gradus graduum
cases except the dative and ablative daf.. . gradui gradibus
plural abi: gradu gradibus

You have so far met the following nouns in th~declension

.,¥
exercitus, exercitiis, m. an army versus, versus, m. a verse
gradus, gradiis, m. a step vultus, vultiis, m. face, expression
cursusf cursiis, m. course, race manus, maniis, f. hand

NB I Nearly all nouns of this declension are masculine;

manus is feminine.
2 Nominative and genitive singular and nominative
and accusative plural all end in -us; in the
nominative singular u sounds short, but in the
other three cases long: ii.
3 Second declension nouns like filius end in -us in
the nominative singular and so do fourth
declension nouns, but their genitives are
different. So in vocabulary lists you know which
declension they belong to by their genitive; so
dominus, dominI-second declension; versus,
versus- fourth declension.

0 Revision

Revise verbs nosco to desero from the Grammar Section,

page· 183, and learn the perfect stems carefully.
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Exercise 16.1
Exercise 16.2

Put th e nouns in brackets into the right
case and then translate
1 puer multos (versus) recitavit.
2 Troiani ( curs us) ad I tali am dirigun t.
3 magister ferulam in (manus) gerebat
sed ( vultus) mitem ha be bat.
4 rex in (gradus) templi stabat.
dirigunt steer
ferulam cane
mitem gentle
Analyse the following sentences and then
translate
1 Quintus paterque multos gradus
descenderunt et in viam exierunt.
2 pater capsulam Quinti in manu
portabat.
3 ante lucem ad 111dum advenerunt;
Quintus tantum ludum numquam
viderat.
4 magister vultum severum habebat sed
eos comiter salutavit.
comiter kindly

Exercise 16.3 6 Quintus had not learnt Greek letters;

the other boys could read and write
Translate into Latin in Greek.
1 All the boys had arrived; Quintus 7 We had already left school and were
could hear them talking. walking home.
2 His father led Quintus to the master; 8 When we reached the forum. we
he had a serious expression and climbed the steps of the temple.
carried a book in his hand. 9 The general led the army back to
3 He handed over the book to Quintus camp and sent a messa~e to the king. _
and told the boy to read it. f
10 They boarded the ships nd held
4 He recited verses and soon asked: course to the open sea.
'Have you written all the verses?'
talking loquentes
5 'I wrote the verses and gave you back recite recito
the book.' in Greek Graece

Exercise 16.4

Translate
post meridiem Orbilius Latine d_~c~~at. pueri poetae Latine in Latin
veteri Latino studebant, Livia Andronico nomine.
poema frigidum erat et difficile, sed Quintus poema poem; frigidum dull
aliquantum intellegere poterat. tandem Orbilius pueros aliquantum some of it
dimisit. omnes laeti discesserunt et cum paedagogis paedagogis tutors
domum r,edierunt. ,
Quintus cum patre tristis ad regiones pauperum
ambulabat. '6 pater,' inquit; 'omnes alii .pueri magni et
lauti et ingeniosi sunt; ego parvus sum et pinguis. lauti elegant, smart
ingeniosi clever; pinguis fat

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 numquam potero cum eis contendere.' ille filio potert'> will I be able
respondit: 'noli desperare, care fili. tii et ingeniosus es contendere compete
et diligenter studere cupis. mox omnes alios superabis. superabis you will beat
bono animo esto.' bono anirno esto cheer up

f) Imagine that you are Quintus; describe your first day in Orbilius'
school.
f) The other boys all went off home 'laeti', but Quintus 'tristis'. Does
this surprise you?

SPOR (Senatus Populusque Romanus)

The new republic of Rome was governed by the Senate after the kings
had been driven out in 510 BC. The Senate was a council of elders
which numbered between 300 and 600. The chief magistrates were the
two consuls who were elected to hold office for a year. Because there
were two of them it made it unlikely that one consul would seize all
the power and become another king. They were able to veto each
other's proposals (i.e. stop them being carried out), but the Romans
were a practical people and the consuls usually worked out a way of
managing affairs in harmony.
The consul's attendants carry the fasces.

The consuls commanded Roman armies operating in;Italy. They

were accompanied when on official business by twelve attendants
carrying fasces, bundles of rods which were the emblems of their
authority. From the end of the first century BC men who had served as
consuls could be sent out to govern Rome's increasing number of
provinces abroad. Here the bundle of rods carried by their attendants
contained an axe, which signified their power to pass the death
sentence.
There were other officials, but one group had very different
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 powers from the rest. These were the ten tribunes of the people
(plebs), who were appointed to support the authority of the common
1 people against the upper classes. They could veto the Senate's
, measures and it was illegal to lay a finger on them. The Senate was a
conservative body- that is to say, it preferred to keep things as they
1
always had been-, so in the early days the tribunes of the people
1 proved a valuable force in winning justice for the lower classes of
Rome.
The common people had voting rights, but they had no real
1 influence on events. Elections were rigged and they were only allowed
to vote for members of the upper classes. The many conquests which
were expanding the empire brought more and more slaves to Rome
and they did more and more of the work. There was, therefore, an
increasing number of unemployed citizens who had to be supported
by subsidized or free com. There was no good reason for voting for
one candidate rather than another except for their short-term
promises, so the common people's vote tended to go to those who
gave them the most com or put on the best shows in the theatre. A
Roman poet was to remark, with considerable truth, that the only
things that interested the plebs were 'bread and circuses' ('panem et
circenses').
A middle class, between the senators and the plebs, but far closer
to the former, developed increasing power. This class consisted of the
equestrians or knights, the equites. These had to have a large sum of
money to qualify for membership. They tended to be the financiers of
Rome, the bankers, money-;lenders and collectors of taxes.
Marcus Tullius Cicero, the great statesman of the first century BC
whom Quintus meets in the next chapter, tried to bring about
harmony between knights and senators. But this was an unreal though
noble wish. At the time of our story, each class seemed only interested
in what appeared to be best for itself, and the most powerful class, the
Senate, was hopelessly divided. In the last decades of the republic a
succession of individuals set out to establish their own authority and
gain supreme power. The kings had been driven out in the sixth
century BC. Five hundred years later, it looked as if they were on the
way back.

After reading this section, see if you can answer the following
questions:
1 Who were the chief magistrates? What was the emblem of their
authority?
2 Who were the officials especially elected to protect the plebs?
3 Why were the plebs so powerless in a republic where every citizen
had the vote?
4 Who were the equites?
5 Why was unemployment so serious a problem in this period?
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