Page 43, Ex99 II 2.

[Torluath]

The exercise asks for the following to be translated from English to Latin:

"My son Sextus is carrying his booty to the Roman camp."

My try was:

"Sextus filius meus ad castram Romanam praedam suam portat."

The answer key says:

"Filius meus Sextus praedam suam in castra Romana portat."

What's the difference between in/ad here? I thought "ad" would give the sense of going toward, while "in" would be more along the lines of going through the door, or already being inside.

[timeodanaos]

'ad'+acc denotes movement toward something, but not into it.

'in'+acc denotes movement toward and into something.

'in'+abl denotes standing still or movement inside something, and is as such irrelevant here.


The most important thing to take note of, in this sentence, is that 'castra' in the answer key is in fact in the accusative case. 'castra' is one of the words that only appear in the plural, and is neuter plural of a hypothetical *castrum, -i - instead, you will find it in your dictionary under castra, -orum.
'ad castram', therefore, is incorrect.

[Torluath]

Many thanks. So "ad castra" would be ok, but would suggest our booty-carrying Sextus isn't going to enter the camp?

[timeodanaos]

Exactly.

With 'ad', it could also imply that he is walking around beneath he walls, such as when Caesar writes 'castra ad murum posui' - I placed the fortress against the wall, or near the wall.