Capitulum XII

Mīles Rōmānus

The dēclīnātiō quārta, on the model of exercitus -ūs: sg. -us, -um, -ūs, -uī, -ū; pl. -ūs, -ūs, -uum, -ibus, -ibus · The macron does all the work: exercitus (short u) is the nominative singular, exercitūs (long ū) is genitive singular, nominative plural AND accusative plural · The masculines the book itself lists — arcus, passus, equitātus, impetus, metus, versus — and the one feminine, manus (already met in cap. XI); the neuter genū waits for cap. XXI · The accusative trap: exercitum looks like a 2nd-declension servum, but the genitive exercitūs says otherwise — it is the genitive, never the nominative, that gives the declension · The FIRST full tabulation of the 1st-class adjective: altus -a -um declined in all three genders like servus / fēmina / oppidum — the adjective finally gets its table, and its Latin name (adiectīvum) · The -er -ra -rum sub-type with SYNCOPATED stem, listed by the book: pulcher, aeger, niger, ruber, noster, vester — one -e- in the masculine nominative, never elsewhere · The two-ending 3rd-declension adjective, on the model brevis -e: masc./fem. like ovis, neuter like mare — the book's list: brevis, fortis, gravis, levis, tenuis, trīstis · This positive is a FULL i-stem, and that is what sets it apart from the noun ovis: abl. sg. brevī (not brevē), gen. pl. brevium, nom./acc. pl. n. brevia, acc. pl. m/f brevēs · The comparātīvus: stem + -ior for masculine and feminine, + -ius for the neuter — altior/altius, brevior/brevius, fortior/fortius, gravior, levior, longior, pulchrior · THE CHAPTER'S CONTRAST: the comparative declines as a CONSONANT stem — abl. sg. -iōre, gen. pl. -iōrum, nom./acc. pl. n. -iōra — against the i-stem positive (-ī, -ium, -ia) · One form for masculine AND feminine alike: hasta longior, gladius longior — the comparative has only two nominative singular forms, -ior and -ius · Comparison: comparative + quam + second term IN THE SAME CASE — gladius brevior est quam hasta (two nominatives) · Equality and its negation with tam… quam / nōn tam… quam (cap. VI); and the superlative does NOT yet exist: it arrives in cap. XIII · The datīvus possessīvus: dative of the person + esse — Cornēliō duo līberī sunt = Cornēlius duōs līberōs habet; the thing possessed is the SUBJECT · Its commonest use, naming: Quod nōmen est puerō? — Puerō nōmen est Titus (dative of the person, name in the NOMINATIVE) · Two verbs from cap. IV finally get their case: pārēre + DATIVE and imperāre + DATIVE — mīlitēs ducī pārent, dux mīlitibus imperat · The partitive genitive: pars exercitūs, caput imperiī — and, with a numeral, mīlia passuum, mīlia pedum, duo mīlia mīlitum · mīlia -ium n pl, the suppletive plural of mīlle: mīlle hominēs (numeral adjective) but duo mīlia hominum (noun + genitive plural) · The accusative of extent with adjectives of dimension: fossa trēs pedēs lāta est, castra mīlle passūs absunt — question Quam longus / altus / lātus est…? · contrā + accusative, the only new preposition — and the HOSTILE sense of in + accusative, glossed by the book “in (+acc) = contrā”: impetum facere in hostem, pīla iacere in hostēs · The ablative of means without a preposition, systematised on weapons: gladiīs, pīlīs, hastīs, sagittīs, armīs, pugnīs — and on the camp's works: fossā et vāllō · The passive of cap. VI returns in force with the ablative of AGENT ā/ab + ablative of a person: castra ā mīlitibus dēfenduntur, oppida ā Rōmānīs expugnantur · The irregular verb ferre, introduced IN PIECES: fert, ferunt, fertur, feruntur and the infinitive ferre — the full paradigm is deferred to cap. XXII · Two more MIXED verbs, flagged in the margin by the notation “-it -iunt”: iacere (iacit, iaciunt, passive iacitur, passive infinitive iacī) and fugere (fugit, fugiunt) · The 2nd-person PLURAL possessive, vester -tra -trum, glossed “= tuus et tuus”: the system meus / tuus / suus / noster / vester is now complete · Three plūrālia tantum at once — castra -ōrum, arma -ōrum, mīlia -ium — and the book itself names the category: “vocābulum plūrāle tantum” · Consolidation of the 3rd declension through the genitive plural: -um for mīlitum, peditum, equitum, ducum, frātrum, sorōrum, nōminum; -ium for hostium, partium, fīnium · The Roman naming system, the cultural fact that opens the chapter: praenōmen (the first name, abbreviated A., C., D., L., M., P., Q., Sex., T.), nōmen (the gēns), cognōmen (the branch) · An explicit rule of pronunciation and spelling, the only one in the first twelve chapters: atque before a, e, i, o, u, h; ac (or atque) before every other letter · Roman measures, given by the book: I passus = V pedēs [1.48 m]; mīlle passūs = quīnque mīlia pedum; and the numerals M, MM/ĪĪ, CL

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