CAPÍTULO I: LA MUERTE DIGNA
1.1 Definición de vida y el derecho a vivir
Background
The vocative is used to address someone directly: Boys, come here!
Tom, what are you doing?
It is sometimes preceded by O in English: O my God, what have I done?
The locative is used to express location, with no movement involved. In English this is achieved via the prepositions in, on, or at: I am in the country.
You are on Crete. He’s at the house.
Latin structure
The vocative and locative are Latin’s two minor cases. Unique forms exist only for a subset of nouns.
Vocative
It is identical to the nominative for all declensions except for the singular of 2nd declension masculine nouns which end in -us.
• Nouns ending in -us replace this with -e
amīcus → amīce friend
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Vocative and locative
• Nouns endings in -ius replace this with -ī:
fīlius → fīlī friend
• Exceptionally, the masculine form of the adjective meus, -a, -um is mī in the vocative sg.
Mī fīlī, labōrā! Mea fīlia, labōrā!
My son, work! My daughter, work!
• The word deus god does not have a vocative singular.
Deus, auxilium mihi dā!
God, give me aid!
Locative
The preposition in in, on is used to express location for most nouns in Latin.
in Circō Maximō
in the Circus Maximus
in oppidō
in the town
In the following fi ve situations, however, a special locative case is used: • names of towns
• names of cities • names of small islands
• domus, -ūs (f.) home (for its declension, see Unit 36) • rūs, rūris (nt.) country
The endings are as follows:
Singular Plural 1st declension: -ae -īs 2nd declension: -ī -īs 3rd declension: -e ~ -ī -ibus
domus domī domibus
29 Vocative and locative 170 Examples: 1st declension
Rōma, -ae Rome Rōmae at Rome
Athēnae, -ārum Athens Athēnīs at Athens
2nd declension
Rhodus, -ī Rhodes (small island) Rhodī on Rhodes
Delphī, -ōrum Delphi Delphīs at Delphi
3rd declension
Carthāgō, Carthāginis (f.) Carthage Carthāgine ~ Carthāginī at Carthage
Gādēs, Gādium (f.) Cadiz Gādibus at Cadiz
Notes
• Some place names are always plural: Athēnae, Delphī, Gādēs • The locative plural is always identical to the ablative plural.
• The 1st and 2nd declension singulars are identical to genitive singulars. • domus, -ūs is a 4th declension noun (Unit 36) with some 2nd declension
forms, most notably domō (dat. sg.), domum (acc. sg.), and domōs (acc. pl.).
Advanced topics
Traces of locatives can occasionally be found in other simple nouns such as:
humī on the ground
domī mīlitiaeque in peace and war
literally: at home and in service [mīlitia, -ae military service]
bellī domīque in peace and war
literally: in war and at home [bellum, -ī war]
A noun which is in apposition with a noun in the locative is placed in the ablative.
Apposition is a further description of a noun, almost as an afterthought. It is usually set off by commas in English, as in the translation below:
Mīlitēs Albae cōnstitērunt in urbe opportūnā (Cicero Phil. IV 2.6)
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Vocative and locative Domī, however, is modifi ed by the genitive of the possessive adjective
Domī suae senex est mortuus.
The old man died at his own house.
Exercise 1
Translate the following. 1 Puer, ubi es tuus frāter? 2 Mīlitēs, venīte ad mē! 3 Serve mī, cūr nihil fēcistī? 4 Rūrī villa eius est.
5 Aedifi cābimus templum novum Rōmae. 6 Puellae, portāte mihi mītem cibum, quem volō.
7 Carthāgine potest vidēre multa sīdera, quae in caelīs fulgent. 8 Frātrēs, agite gregem ovium in nāvem!
9 Petimus auxilium bellī domīque ā deā pulchrā. 10 Veniēmus ad servum deī, quī est Rhodī. 11 Aquilam, quae humī fuit, invēnimus. 12 Agrī lātī sunt nōbīs Athēnīs.
13 Socī, cūr mē nōn vīs? 14 Domī meae mānserant amīcī. 15 Dūcite barbarum in carcerem, virī! 16 Tange, fīlī, portam sacrī templī! 17 Poēta, scrībe novum librum! 18 Audīte mē, animālia!
19 Frequēntia oppida inveniuntur Rhodī. 20 Mulier, ī mēcum perīculō ad illud antrum!
Exercise 2
Each of the following unedited Latin passages contains a vocative or locative. Match each passage with the English translation which follows. To assist you, try to think of English derivatives which stem from some of the Latin words.
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Vocative and locative
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1 fōrmam quidem ipsam, Marce fīlī, et tamquam
faciem honestī vīdēs (Cicero Off.)
2 habēs ā patre mūnus, Marce fīlī, meā quidem
sententiā magnum (Cicero Off.)
3 offi cia dūcerentur ab honestāte, Marce fīlī, atque
ab omnī genere virtūtis (Cicero Off.)
4 neque sōlum domī, sed etiam apud fīnitimās cīvitātēs (Caesar Gal.) 5 reliquī, quī domī mānsērunt, sē atque illōs alunt (Caesar Gal.) 6 summō locō nātus adulēscēns et summae
domī potentiae (Caesar Gal.)
7 Rōmae diērum vīgintī supplicātiō redditur (Caesar Gal.) 8 adeō ut et pānis Rōmae saepe dēfi ceret (Suetonius Cal.) 9 statuam eius Rōmae īnsignis aquila circumplexa (Suetonius Dom.) 10 nōn soleō, mī Brūte, quod tibi nōtum esse arbitror (Cicero Brut.) 11 quā rē omnī studiō ā tē, mī Brūte, contendō (Cicero Brut.) 12 mī Brūte, velim quam plūrimum tēcum habeās (Cicero Brut.)
(a) and not only at home but also among the neighbouring states (b) a distinguished eagle surrounded his statue at Rome
(c) the duties are led by integrity, Marcus my son, and from every kind of virtue
(d) I am not in the habit, my Brutus, as I think it is known to you (e) I would wish, my Brutus, that you may have (him) with
you as much as possible
(f ) because of which thing, I entreat you, my Brutus, with all my spirit (g) you have, Marcus my son, from your father a gift – indeed
a great one in my opinion
(h) the rest, who stayed at home, support themselves and those ones (i) so that bread was often lacking at Rome
( j) thanksgiving of twenty days is rendered at Rome (k) you see indeed the shape itself, Marcus my son,
as if the face of goodness
(l) a young man born into the highest rank and at home of the highest power
Reading: Cacus Steals the Oxen (Labor X), part 1
Herculēs bovēs Gēryonis per Hispāniam et Ītaliam ēgit. Cum eīs ad Tiberim vēnit. “Itinere dēfessus sum,” inquit. “Mihi diēs quiētī dantur. Hīc manēbō.” Haud procul ā fl ūmine erat antrum in quō Cācus, mōnstrum horribile, habitābat. Ex ōre ignem spīrābat. Hoc mōnstrum nocte, dum Herculēs dormiēbat, quattuor bovēs abripuit. Hōs caudīs in antrum trāxit. Posterō diē simul atque ē somnō excitātus est, Herculēs fūrtum animadvertit. Herculēs vestīgia eōrum nōn cōgnōscere poterat. Bovēs frūstrā quaerēbat, quod vestīgiīs falsīs dēceptus est.
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