Some Questions (vocab and translation)

Latin Learning Latin
1

I’m working my way through Wheelock’s, and I just have a few questions about the meaning of certain words.

  1. What’s the difference between ‘otium’ and ‘pax’? Wheelock’s gives ‘peace’ as a definition for both. I’m guessing ‘pax’ is peace as an opposite to ‘bellum’, but what does ‘otium’ mean’?

  2. I’m having a bit of trouble understanding this sentence from Wheelock’s.
    Officia sapientiamque oculis animi possumus videre.
    We can see the duty and wisdom… I don’t get how ‘oculis animi’ fits into this.

Thanks

2

Otium does mean “peace”, but its main sense is “rest”, “relaxation”, “ease”, “lull” (The Oxford Latin Desk Dictonary). As an example, negotium (from nec otium) means “work” or “business”.

Do you have a Latin dictionary? You’ll need one if you want an idea of the deeper meanings of words.

  1. I’m having a bit of trouble understanding this sentence from Wheelock’s.
    Officia sapientiamque oculis animi possumus videre.
    We can see the duty and wisdom… I don’t get how ‘oculis animi’ fits into this.

Thanks

Oculis is an ablative of means:
We can see the duties and wisdom with our spirit’s eyes.

3

That makes sense more sense.

Ahhh. That was harsh, because that sentence was in chapter 7, and the ablative of means isn’t even mentioned until chapter 14. Thanks!

4

I wasn’t sure whether you’d had the ablative of means yet, but it’s easy to get confused by it at first, so I assumed you had.

You’re welcome.

Edit: Delete unecessary quote.

5

Wheelock translates “otium” as “peace”? As it’s only definition? That’s absurd. What a dreadful book. The core meaning is “leisure.”

6

No, the deffinition it gives is “leisure, peace”. I was just wondering how the “peace” part of the definition fit.

Another quick question, but this one is from the Sententiae Antiquae readings:
Nihil sine magno labore vita mortalibus dat.
Without great labour, life gives nothing to mortals? If “nihil” is the object, it seems odd that it would be the first word in the phrase, espescially since it doesn’t decline.

7

Nihil is the main idea of the sentence, so it comes first. Variations from normal word order usually communicate emphasis.

8

Ahh, tricky. Thanks

9

A few more questions. Perhaps I should have put this thread in the Wheelock’s forum. Ah well, it works here too.

  1. I’m having trouble understanding this sentence:
    Sextus Lucretiam, uxorem Collatini, rapuit, et femina bona, propter magnum amorem virtutis, se necavit.
    Because of his great love of virtue, Sextus raped Lucretia, wife of Collatinus and a good woman, and she killed herself.
    ??

  2. What exactly does ‘agere’ mean? Wheelock defines it as “to drive, lead, do, act; pass, spend”. That isn’t very helpful.

10

Keep propter magnum amorem virtutis after the et. “because of her great love for virtue” Does that help?

This verb does indeed have many meanings. I tend to think of it as a “wild-card” verb that can mean whatever makes the most sense in context. The meanings listed in Wheelock are a good starting point. Maybe someone else can offer you a better, more helpful explanation.

11

You’ve got all the right pieces, but you’re confusing the word order unnecessarily. et is joining two separate sentences and serves as a clause boundary here.
You’re right that femina bona refers to Lucretia, but it cannot be in apposition, because the case is wrong (it would need to be accusative).
Try taking propter magnum amorem virtutis with femina bona instead of Sextus, and I think you’ll find it makes sense.

12

Sextus Lucretiam, uxorem Collatini, rapuit, et femina bona, propter magnum amorem virtutis, se necavit.
Sextus raped Lucretia, wife of Collatinus, and the good woman killed herself because of her great love of virtue.

Yes? That seems to make much more sense. Thanks!

13

I think you got it!