North And Hillard Latin Prose Composition Preliminary Exercises

I don’t want to reinvent the wheel but I thought it might be a good idea to post a set of answers here to the Preliminary Exercises. It seems to me that there are some errors in those posted in the old thread http://discourse.textkit.com/t/n-h-prose-composition-preliminary-exercises/10973/1 and its best to start afresh.

Here are my answers to 1-10 for Exercise A. I don’t want to post all 20 in one go as it might put people off commenting. I would be grateful for corrections. ( I am uncertain about the macrons so if we have any experts here on these it would be good to hear from you.)

Particular questions I had are:

is “the enemy” usually singular or plural in Latin. So In 6. is it Ab hoste or hostibus. Does it matter?

is moenia better than mūrī for city walls?

patria seemed to me better than terra but I can see why others think differently. Again does it matter?

  1. The land was ruled by a good king.
    Patria ā regē bonō regēbātur.

  2. The soldier was killed by an arrow.
    Milēs sagittā occīsus est.

  3. The boy killed the bird with a stone.
    Puer avem lapide interfēcit.

  4. The Roman general was defeated by Hannibal.
    Dux rōmānus ā Hannibale victus est.

  5. The soldier killed the peasant with a sword.
    Milēs gladiō agricolam interfēcit.

  6. We have been conquered by the enemy.
    Ab hoste (hostibus) victī sumus.

  7. The walls were defended by the citizens.
    Mūrī ā cīvibus defensī sunt. (Moenia ā cīvibus defensa sunt.)

  8. Our city was built by Romulus.
    Urbs nostra ā Rōmulō aedificata est.

9.The Romans fortified their city with a wall.
Rōmānī urbem suam mūrō munivērunt. (Rōmānī urbem suam moenibus munivērunt.)

  1. Gaul is separated from Britain by the sea.
    Gallia ā Britanniā mari dividitur

patrīa (long i) is fatherland (terra patrīa). I would use terra, for land in general.

Thanks for this.

Here are the next 10.

  1. A high wall defends the camp.
    Mūrus altus castra defendit.

  2. We are loved by our friends, and we love them.
    Ab amicīs amāmur et eōs amāmus.

  3. We shall not be conquered by the enemy.
    Ab hoste (hostibus) nōn vincēmur.

  4. The camp is defended by a long wall.
    castra mūrō longō defenduntur.

  5. The citizens defended the city.
    Cīvēs urbem defendērunt

16.Cities are defended by the citizens.
Urbēs ā cīvibus defenduntur.

  1. We have taken the camp.
    Castra capimus.

  2. The camp has been taken by us.
    Castra ā nōbis capta sunt.

  3. They are teaching the boys.
    puerōs docent

  4. The boys are taught by books.
    Puerī librīs docentur

cēpimus

Thanks bedwere. Wrong tense of course. It should be perfect not present.

Welcome. How about creating a Google doc (or something similar) and then a pdf to upload to our repository on archive.org?

If that would be helpful I would happily carry on with this. Of course I will rely on comments from others to make sure we have an accurate set of solutions.

Once again bedwere thanks for your help.

Here are the first 10 of B.

B

  1. Give me this book.
    Dā mihi hunc librum.

  2. Do not give him a sword, but give him arrows.
    Nōlī eī dare gladium, sed (dā eī) sagittās. Nōlite eī dare gladium, sed (date eī) sagittās.

  3. Let us go, and let them remain here.
    Eāmus et maneant hīc.

  4. Do not go home, but return to us.
    Nōlī īre domum, sed ad nos redī. Nōlite īre domum, sed ad nos redite.

  5. Let him go away now, but come again.
    Nunc discēdat, sed rūrsus veniat.

  6. Keep these books. Do not lose them.
    Servā hōs librōs. Nōlī eōs perdere.

  7. Let us fortify the city with walls.
    Urbem moenibus mūniāmus.

8 Do not let us return to the city.
Nē ad urbem redierimus. (Gildersleeve 263. perfect subjunctive with nē)

  1. Boys, obey your masters.
    Puerī, magistrīs pārete.

  2. Let us spend the winter in the city.
    In urbe hiemem agāmus

Grateful for corrections. I wondered about 8 because Gildersleeve says elsewhere that nē plus perfect subjunctive is rare in elevated prose.

Looking at section 263 of Glildersleeve and Lodge, the usage of the perfect subjunctive negatively seems to be indicated for the second person (not the first or third persons).

Yes it is but if you look at 263 3 the note says the pf is very rare but quotes Tacitus. For a beginner’s exercise it’s best to use the present subjunctive. I think I misread something in another book. Thanks for your help.

Is that really so? I don’t see the long i in the linked dictionary entry. And since vocalis ante vocalem corripitur (with some exceptions), I would expect there to be a good reason for a long vowel here?

Yes it is but if you look at 263 3 the note says the pf is very rare but quotes Tacitus

But the title of 263.3 is “In the Third Person Present (regularly)”. So I took the note referring to Tacitus as applying only to the third person.

Considerations on the usage in the first person plural seem to have been placed only in 263.1, which has no mention at all of a possible use of the perfect subjunctive.

In any case, I agree with you that it does seem extremely unlikely that the perfect subjunctive would have been the expected answer.

Sorry, it is a software bug. The macron appears on the i at normal size, but when I enlarge the page it disappears and shows a breve!

@ katalogon thanks I seem to be having a bad day reading English!

Any other comments from anyone on these first 10?

Ok here are the next 10 of B.

  1. Do not remain at home.
    Nōlī domi manere.

  2. Let them build ships. Let them not be afraid of the sea.
    Nāves aedificent. Ne mare timeant.

  3. Do not give me the book.
    Nōli librum mihi dare.

  4. This is Caius’s book–give it to him.
    Hic liber Caiī est, eī dā.

  5. Do not let us remain here.
    Ne hīc maneāmus.

  6. Let him be killed.
    Interficiātur.

  7. Do not be afraid of the sea.
    Nōlī mare timēre.

  8. Citizens, defend the city with your arms.
    Civēs urbem armīs defendite.

  9. Give me the letter.
    Dā mihi epistulam.

  10. Let all return to the city.
    Omnes ad urbem redeant.

Grateful for corrections.

It is taking more time for me to check the macrons than to do the exercises so I would be grateful if someone could check them for me. Especially on the previous posts. I will post corrected versions in due course.

Meanwhile here is 1-10 of the next exercise:

Exercise C.
APPOSITION; COMPOSITE SUBJECT.

  1. Romulus, son of Mars, was the first king of the Romans.
    Rōmulus, fīlius Martis, rex prīmus Rōmānōrum erat.

  2. Obey the king, the father of his country.
    Pārēte rēgī, patrī patriae.

  3. You and your brother will be killed by the enemy.
    Tū et fīlius tuus ab hostibus interficiēminī

  4. Caius and I are well.
    Cāius et ego valēmus.

  5. The youths were killed by their father, Brutus.
    iuvenēs ā patre Brutō interfectī sunt

  6. You and I and our friends will set out.
    Tū et ego et amīcī nostrī proficīscēmur.

7.The king and queen are dear to all of the citizens.
Rex et regina cārī omnibus cīvibus sunt.

  1. By good laws Numa, the second king of Rome, benefited his country.
    Numa, rex secundus Rōmae, lēgibus bonīs patriae prōfuit.

  2. Both men and women were killed by the soldiers.
    Et virī et fēminae ā mīlitibus interfectī sunt.

  3. All of us love life, the greatest gift of the gods.
    Omnes vītam, dōna deōrum maxima, amāmus.

In 10 why plural dona?

Thanks, not thinking. dōnum deōrum maximum.

Some macrons to change:

rēge

  1. The soldier was killed by an arrow.
    Milēs sagittā occīsus est.

  2. The soldier killed the peasant with a sword.
    Milēs gladiō agricolam interfēcit.

mīles

  1. The walls were defended by the citizens.
    Mūrī ā cīvibus defensī sunt. (Moenia ā cīvibus defensa sunt.)

dēfēnsī

  1. Our city was built by Romulus.
    Urbs nostra ā Rōmulō aedificata est.

aedificāta

9.The Romans fortified their city with a wall.
Rōmānī urbem suam mūrō munivērunt. (Rōmānī urbem suam moenibus munivērunt.)

mūnīvērunt

  1. Gaul is separated from Britain by the sea.
    Gallia ā Britanniā mari dividitur

marī dīviditur

dēfendit

  1. We are loved by our friends, and we love them.
    Ab amicīs amāmur et eōs amāmus.

amīcīs

  1. The camp is defended by a long wall.
    castra mūrō longō defenduntur.

dēfenduntur

  1. The citizens defended the city.
    Cīvēs urbem defendērunt

dēfendērunt

16.Cities are defended by the citizens.
Urbēs ā cīvibus defenduntur.

dēfenduntur

  1. The camp has been taken by us.
    Castra ā nōbis capta sunt.

nōbīs

nōs, nōs, redīte

  1. Boys, obey your masters.
    Puerī, magistrīs pārete.

pārēte

Thank you very much. A few of these I had noticed but many I hadn’t.