Need Help with Latin Vacation Bible School Speech
Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 10:49 pm
Salvēte omnes,
I'm the self-taught Latin teacher who joined recently and was helped with the Latin letter home to parents (audio CD project).
This coming Saturday, June 6, the church of which I'm a member will be having a Vacation Bible School with the theme "Rome: Paul and the Underground Church". I'm playing the role of a Senator Atticus who sets free one of his slaves, Tullius. I have agreed to say part of my lines in Latin and then one of the other members will "translate" into English.
Below are the English lines and my draft translation. If you could help me improve the Latin between now and Friday, June 5, when we have our rehearsal (5:00 pm CDT U.S. time), I would appreciate it very much. Here they are:
FREE!
(Senator Atticus steps forward, smiling, accepting the applause.)
SENATOR ATTICUS: Friends, Romans, countrymen! I come today not as a senator, which I am-one of the most powerful men in Rome. The most powerful man most of you will ever meet.
And I don't come as a man who is rich-though I am. I have enough money to buy this entire Marketplace a hundred times-and you with it.
And I don't come to you as a man who is above you-though I am. I'm important and you're ... not.
I come today because I wish to set free one of your own. For many years my slave, Tullius, has run a small shop here in this Marketplace. Being a generous master, I have allowed him to keep a bit of what he's earned, and now I find that he has raised enough money to buy his freedom. And since he's getting old and slow anyway, I will allow him to be free.
Where is Tullius?
Amīcī, Rōmānī, cīvēs! Veniō hodiē nōn sicut senātor, quod sum— inter potentissimi virīs Romā. Virum (ipse, eundem, hunc? illum?) potentissimum plūrimī vestrī aliquando noscētis.
Et nōn veniō sicut dīves—etsi sum. Satis pecūniae habeō ut hoc Forum totum centiens comparem—et vōs cum eō.
Et nōn veniō vōbīs sicut vir quī super vōs est— etsi sum. Ego magni momenti sum et vōs… nōn estis.
Veniō hodiē quod volō unum vestrum liberare. Ex multīs annīs servus meus, Tullius, tabernam parvam hic in hōc Forō negōtiēbat. Quia dominus bonus sum, permittēbam eum paulum lucrī condere, et nunc cōgnōscō quod auxit satis pecūniae ut libertatem eius comparet. Et cum senex et lentus sit, permittam eum liber esse.
Ubi est Tullius?
Gratias vōbis,
Persequor
I'm the self-taught Latin teacher who joined recently and was helped with the Latin letter home to parents (audio CD project).
This coming Saturday, June 6, the church of which I'm a member will be having a Vacation Bible School with the theme "Rome: Paul and the Underground Church". I'm playing the role of a Senator Atticus who sets free one of his slaves, Tullius. I have agreed to say part of my lines in Latin and then one of the other members will "translate" into English.
Below are the English lines and my draft translation. If you could help me improve the Latin between now and Friday, June 5, when we have our rehearsal (5:00 pm CDT U.S. time), I would appreciate it very much. Here they are:
FREE!
(Senator Atticus steps forward, smiling, accepting the applause.)
SENATOR ATTICUS: Friends, Romans, countrymen! I come today not as a senator, which I am-one of the most powerful men in Rome. The most powerful man most of you will ever meet.
And I don't come as a man who is rich-though I am. I have enough money to buy this entire Marketplace a hundred times-and you with it.
And I don't come to you as a man who is above you-though I am. I'm important and you're ... not.
I come today because I wish to set free one of your own. For many years my slave, Tullius, has run a small shop here in this Marketplace. Being a generous master, I have allowed him to keep a bit of what he's earned, and now I find that he has raised enough money to buy his freedom. And since he's getting old and slow anyway, I will allow him to be free.
Where is Tullius?
Amīcī, Rōmānī, cīvēs! Veniō hodiē nōn sicut senātor, quod sum— inter potentissimi virīs Romā. Virum (ipse, eundem, hunc? illum?) potentissimum plūrimī vestrī aliquando noscētis.
Et nōn veniō sicut dīves—etsi sum. Satis pecūniae habeō ut hoc Forum totum centiens comparem—et vōs cum eō.
Et nōn veniō vōbīs sicut vir quī super vōs est— etsi sum. Ego magni momenti sum et vōs… nōn estis.
Veniō hodiē quod volō unum vestrum liberare. Ex multīs annīs servus meus, Tullius, tabernam parvam hic in hōc Forō negōtiēbat. Quia dominus bonus sum, permittēbam eum paulum lucrī condere, et nunc cōgnōscō quod auxit satis pecūniae ut libertatem eius comparet. Et cum senex et lentus sit, permittam eum liber esse.
Ubi est Tullius?
Gratias vōbis,
Persequor