A fragment from Lucilius

Latin Learning Latin
1

I came across this short fragment from the satirist Lucilius:

Deficit alma Ceres, nec plebes pane potitur.

“The nourishing grain runs short, and the people cannot obtain bread.”

Plebes is plural and potitur singular. Why so? I suspect it is because plebes is treated as a singular form in Latin even though it is plural. Therefor the verb agrees with it as the singular potitur instead of the plural potiuntur.

2

Lewis and Short says it is an archaic form of plebs

3

Thanks, that explains it.