EXERCISES IN

LATIN PROSE COMPOSITION.

PART I.

EXERCISES ON SYNTAX.

See the Public School Latin Primer, §§ 87-147, and Bradley's edition of T. K. Arnold's Latin Prose Composition, Exercises xxv. to xliv. and liii.

The following Exercises, from I. to XVII., will be found to follow the order of the Primer.

I.

(The Concords, Apposition, etc. See L. P., §§ 87 to 92.)

1. Romulus divided the citizens into three tribes, which he called the Ramnes, Tities, and Luceres.

2. The united people, when assembled in their assemblies, were styled Populus Romanus Quirites or Quiritium.

3. Each tribe, again, was subdivided into ten curiae, each one of which had a name of its own.

4. The curiae were composed of a certain number of families, whilst each family was made up of individual members.

A

5. All the families of one gens were held to derive their origin from a common ancestor; hence they were called gentiles, and bore a common name.

6. Every true Roman had three names, of which the second indicated the gens to which he belonged, the third his family, whilst the first distinguished him as an individual.

II.

(The same, continued. The Accusative; use of Prepositions, etc.)

1. When a Roman was adopted into another gens, he assumed in full the name of the man who had adopted him.

2. To this name he added that of the gens which he had left, writing it, however, with the termination in anus instead of that in us.

3. Thus when C. Octavius Caepias was adopted by the will of C. Julius Caesar his great-uncle, he became a Julius instead of an Octavius, and bore the name of Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus.

4. There was attached to every patrician house a body of dependents called clients: these termed the patricians to whom they belonged their patrons.

5. The client had the right of asking his patron for aid in any emergency: the patron was bound to protect his client, and to expound for him the laws.

6. The client on the other hand had to aid and obey his patron, and was bound to furnish him with money when called upon.

III.

(The same, continued.)

1. Distinct both from the patricians and their clients were the Plebs or Commons of Rome.

2. The Plebs were composed of the inhabitants of conquered cities who were first transported to Rome, it is believed, by Tullus Hostilius.

3. As long as the patricians and plebeians remained politically distinct, the former alone, with their clients, were designated as the Populus.

4. According to the judgment of the consul Appius Claudius, a tribune of the Plebs had no jurisdiction over any except plebeians.

5. The plebeians originally had no political rights: neither the right of voting nor that of being eligible to public offices.

6. It was with great difficulty, and only after many years' struggle, that they gained for themselves the right of appeal against the decision of the consuls.

7. The former right-that of voting-was given them by Servius Tullius, when they were included in the classes; the right of appeal they first acquired in the consulship of P. Valerius Publicola.

IV.

(Verbs Transitive and Intransitive.)

1. The plebeians were not admitted to the right of intermarriage with the patricians until the passing of the Canuleian Law in the year B.C. 445.

4

2. They had long desired to obtain the privilege, but not until that year had the tribunes been able to persuade the people to pass the law.

3. Highly pleased by the concession, the plebeians obeyed the tribunes who advised them to abstain from further violence against the patricians.

4. The patricians on their part forgave those who had favoured the new laws, and spared those whom they might have injured.

5. Those who had favoured the new law were forgiven by the patricians, and those whom they might have injured were spared.

6. Thus their leaders taught the people patience, and to believe that right was better than might.

V.

(Motion, Place, Time, and Distance.)

1. The messenger who came to Rome with the news of the battle of Cannae had ridden over a hundred miles in about eight hours.

2. The whole city was seized with panic: when the extent of the calamity was known, the Senate was kept sitting by the praetors for two whole days without intermission.

3. Upon the return of Varro to the city, the magistrates publicly thanked him for not having despaired of the commonwealth.

4. The consul Aemilius had lived a long life and had fought many successful battles: ashamed to fly or to ask an enemy for his life, he preferred to perish gloriously, and was cut to pieces by a Numidian horseman.