rī, to urgetus (-a, -um) sum, I urged
rī, to confess
s (-a, -um) sum, I followed
lior, I work at
rī, to work attus (-a, -um) sum, I worked atLatin has a number of commonly used “deponent verbs,” verbs that have passive endings but active meanings. There are very few new forms to be learned in this chapter (only the imperatives); the most crucial matter is simply to recall which verbs are deponent, so that you remember to translate them in the active voice, and that can be managed through careful vocabulary study. There are a few exceptions to the rule of passive forms/active meanings, and those will also need to be carefully noted.
As you will see from the following examples, deponents regularly have only three principal parts, the passive equivalents of the first three principal parts of regular verbs (1. first pers. sg. pres. indic., 2. pres. infin., 3. first pers. sg. perf. indic.).
| Present Indic. | Present Infin. | Perfect Indic. |
| hórtor, I urge | hortrī, to urge |
horttus (-a, -um) sum, I urged |
| fáteor, I confess | fatrī, to confess |
fássus (-a, -um) sum, I confessed |
| séquor, I follow | séquī, to follow | secs (-a, -um) sum, I followed |
| mlior, I work at |
mōlrī, to work at |
mōltus (-a, -um) sum, I worked at |
| pátior, I suffer | pátī, to suffer | pássus (-a, -um) sum, I suffered |
Again, deponents are conjugated according to precisely the same rules as regular verbs in the passive voice; the following representative forms are provided for review, and full conjugations for each of the five examples given above are included in the Appendix (p. 455-57).
| PRESENT | |
| 1. hórtor, I urge | séquor, I follow |
| 2. hortris (-re), you urge |
séqueris (-re), you follow |
| 3. horttur, he urges |
séquitur, he follows |
| 1. hortmur, we urge |
séquimur, we follow |
| 2. hortminī, you urge |
sequíminī, you follow |
| 3. hortántur, they urge |
sequúntur, they follow |
| IMPERFECT | |
| 1. hortbar, I was urging |
sequbar, I was following |
| 2. hortābris (-re), you were urging |
sequēbris (-re), you were following, |
| etc. |
etc. |
| FUTURE | |
| 1. hortbor, I shall urge |
séquar, I shall follow |
| 2. hortberis (-re), you will urge |
sequris (-re), you will follow |
| 3. hortbitur, he will urge |
sequtur, he will follow |
| etc. |
etc. |
| PERFECT | |
| horttus, -a, -um sum, I urged |
sectus, -a, -um sum, I followed |
| etc. |
etc. |
| PLUPERFECT | |
| horttus, -a, -um éram, I had urged |
sectus, -a, -um éram, I had followed |
| etc. |
etc. |
| FUTURE PERFECT | |
| horttus, -a, -um érō, I shall have urged |
sectus, -a, -um érō, I shall have followed |
| etc. | etc. |
The following third person singular synopsis of fateor, fatērī, fassus sum should provide a useful overview of the conjugation of deponents; remember that all the English equivalents are active, i.e., he confesses, he will confess, etc.
The participles and infinitives of typical deponent verbs are here given in full not because of any actually new forms but because of certain discrepancies in the general rule of passive forms with active meanings.
| Pres. hórtāns, urging | séquēns, following |
| Perf. horttus, -a, -um, having urged |
sectus, -a, -um, having followed |
| Fut. hortātrus, -a, -um, about to urge |
secūtrus, -a, -um, about to follow |
| Ger. hortándus, -a, -um, to be urged | sequéndus, -a, -um, to be followed |
Exceptions: Deponents have the same four participles that regular verbs have, but only three infinitives, one for each tense. Three of the participles and one of the infinitives present exceptions to the basic rule that deponents are passive in form but active in meaning:
Present and future participles: active forms with active meanings.
Gerundive (future passive participle): passive form with passive meaning.
Future infinitive: active form with active meaning.
The present imperative of deponent verbs would naturally have the forms of the present “passive” imperative. These forms have not been given before because they are found only in deponent verbs, but they are easy to learn.
1. The second person singular has the same spelling as that of the alternate second person singular of the present indicative, e.g., sequere! (Note that this is also the same form as the non-existent present active infinitive: be especially careful not to mistake this characteristic deponent imperative form for an infinitive.)
2. The second person plural imperative has the same spelling as that of the second person plural of the present indicative, e.g., sequiminī!
Take careful note of the following examples:
Semi-deponent (“half-deponent”) is the name given to a few verbs which are normal in the present system but are deponent in the perfect system, as is clearly demonstrated by the principal parts. For example:
| aúdeō, I dare | audre, to dare |
aúsus sum, I dared |
| gaúdeō, I rejoice | gaudre, to rejoice |
gāvsus sum, I rejoiced
|
The ablative of means is used idiomatically with a few deponent verbs, of which ūtor (and its compounds) is by far the most common (the others, fruor, to enjoy, fungor, to perform, potior, to possess, and vēscor, to eat, are not employed in this book, but you will likely encounter them in your later reading). Ūtor, to use, enjoy, is in fact a reflexive verb and means literally to benefit oneself by means of something.1
Ūtitur stilō,
he is benefiting himself by means of a pencil (literally).
he is using a pencil (idiomatically).
Nōn audent ūtī nāvibus, they do not dare to use the ships.
Nōn ausī sunt ūtī nāvibus, they did not dare to use the ships.
Eum patientem haec mala hortātī sunt,
they encouraged him (as he was) suffering these evils.
Eum passūrum haec mala hortātī sunt,
they encouraged him (as he was) about to suffer these evils.
Is, haec mala passus, hortandus est,
this man, having suffered these evils, ought to be encouraged.
Is haec mala fortiter patiētur,
he will suffer these evils bravely.
Eum sequere et haec mōlīre,
follow him and work at these things.
Eum sequī et haec mōlīrī nōn ausus es,
you did not dare to follow him and work at these things.
Eum sequeris/sequēris,
you are following/will follow him.
Eum hortēmur et sequāmur,
let us encourage and follow him.
Cicerō Graecīs litterīs ūtēbātur,
Cicero used to enjoy Greek literature.
ánima, -ae, f., soul, spirit (anima, animism, animatism, animation, animated, inanimate, etc.; cp. animal, animus)
remíssiō, remissinis, f., letting go, release; relaxation (remiss, remission; from re + mittō)
vōx, vcis, f., voice, word (vocal, vocalic, vocalize, vociferous, vowel; vox angelica, vox humana, vox populi; cp. vocō)
advérsus, -a, -um, opposite, adverse (adversary, adversative, adversely, adversity; cp. vertō)
tlis, tle, such, of such a sort (cp. quālis, of what sort, what kind of)
vae, interj., often + dat., alas, woe to
árbitror, arbitrrī, arbitrs sum, to judge, think (arbiter, arbitress, arbitration, arbitrator, arbitrary, arbitrarily)
cnor, cōnrī, cōns sum, to try, attempt (conation, conative)
crscō, crscere, crvī, crm, to increase (crescent, crescendo, crescive, concrescence, concrete, decrease, excrescence, increment, accretion, accrue, crew, recruit)
ēgrédior, gredī, ēgréssus sum, to go out (aggression, congress, degrade, digress, egress, grade, gradient, gradual, graduate, ingredient, ingress, progress, regress, retrogress, transgress)
fáteor, fatrī, fássus sum, to confess, admit (confess, confession, profess, profession, professor; cp. fābula, fāma, fātum, also for, fārī, fātus sum, Ch. 40)
hórtor, hortrī, horts sum, to encourage, urge (hortatory, exhort, exhortation)
lóquor, lóquī, locs sum, to say, speak, tell (loquacious, circumlocution, colloquial, elocution, eloquent, obloquy, soliloquy, ventriloquist)
mlior, mōlrī, mōls sum, to work at, build, undertake, plan (demolish, demolition; cp. mōlēs, a large mass, massive structure)
mórior, mórī, mórtuus sum, fut. act. part. moritrus, to die (moribund, mortuary; cp. mors, mortālis, immortālis)
nscor, nscī, ns sum, to be born; spring forth, arise (agnate, cognate, innate, nascent, natal, nation, nature, naive; cp. nāta, nātūra)
pátior, pátī, pássus sum, to suffer, endure; permit (passion, passive, patient, compassion, compatible, incompatibility, impatient, impassioned, impassive, dispassionate)
proficscor, -ficscī, -féctus sum, to set out, start (profit and proficient from the related verb prōficiō, to make headway, gain results)
rsticor, rūsticrī, rūstics sum, to live in the country (rusticate, rustic, rural, cp. rūsticus, rural, rūs, Ch. 37)
sédeō, sedre, sdī, séssum, to sit (sedan, sedate, sedentary, sediment, sessile, session, assess, assiduous, president, siege, subsidy)
séquor, séquī, secs sum, to follow (consequent, consecutive, sequence, sequel, subsequent; see Etymology below)
spéctō (1), to look at, see (spectate, spectator, spectacle, speculate, aspect, circumspect, inspect, prospect, respect, suspect; cp. speculum)
tor, tī, sus sum + abl., to use; enjoy, experience (abuse, disuse, peruse, usual, usurp, usury, utensil, utilize, utility, utilitarian; cp. ūtilis)
Nisi quis plēbī opem celeriter referet auxiliumve prōmissum praebēbit, mīlia virōrum morientur.
Cum urbs plēna custōdiārum esset, nōn ausī estis suscipere scelera tam gravia quam voluerātis.
Dīc nunc cūr velīs tē ad istam dīvitem et candidam cōnferre. Vērē ac līberē loquere; nōlī recūsāre!
Dīvitiīs trāditīs, heu, illī philosophī eādem nocte subitō profectī sunt in exsilium, unde numquam ēgredī potuērunt.
Nē patiāmur hanc antīquissimam scientiam āmittī.
Fateor mē vīnō merō apud mē ūsūrum esse.
Ab initiō nōn comprehendistī quantus exercitus nōs sequerētur et quot elephantōs istī mīlitēs sēcum dūcerent.
Prīmō respondit sē nōlle sequī ducem mediocris virtūtis sapienti-aeve, cum cīvitās in līmine bellī stāret.
Ex urbe subitō ēgressus, ferrō suō morī semel cōnātus est.
Cum Aristotelēs hortārētur hominēs ad virtūtem, tamen arbitrābātur virtūtem in hominibus nōn nāscī.
Māter paterque nunc rūsticantur ut ā labōribus remissiōone suāvī ūtantur.
Dā mihi, amābō tē, multum salis et vīnum aquamve, ut cēnā maximē ūtar.
They did not permit me to speak with him at that time.
We kept thinking (arbitror) that he would use the office more wisely.
If any one should use this water even once, he would die.
If those four soldiers had followed us, we would not have dared to put the weapons on the ships.
This dinner will be good, provided that you use salt.
Cēdāmus Phoebō et, monitī, meliōra sequamur. (*Virgil.—Phoebus Apollo was god of prophecy.)
Nam nēmō sine vitiīs nāscitur; optimus ille est quī minima habet. (Horace.)
Mundus est commūnis urbs deōrum atque hominum; hī enim sōlī, ratiōne ūtentēs, iūre ac lēge vīvunt. (Cicero.)
Tardē sed graviter vir sapiēns īrāscitur. (*Publilius Syrus.—tardus, -a, -um, slow, late.—īrāscor, īrāscī, īrātus sum, to become angry.)
Quae cum ita sint, Catilīna, ēgredere ex urbe; patent portae; proficiscere; nōbīscum versārī iam diūtius nōn potes; id nōn feram, nōn patiar. (Cicero.—Quae cum = Cum haec.—versor, versārī, versātus sum, to stay.)
Cūra pecūniam crēiscentem sequitur et dīves male dormit. (Horace.)
Sī in Britanniam profectus essēs, nēmō in illā tantā īnsulā iūre perītior fuisset. (Cicero.—Britannia, -ae, Britain.—perītus, -a, -um + abl., skilled in.)
Nisi laus nova nāiscitur etiam vetus laus in incertō iacet ac saepe āimittitur. (Publilius Syrus.)—vetus, gen. veteris, old.)
Spērō autem mē sécūtum esse in libellīs meīs tālem temperantiam ut nēmō bonus dē illīs querī possit. (Martial.—temperantia, -ae. — queror, querī, questus sum, to complain.)
Hōrae quidem et diēs et annī discēdunt; nec praeteritum tempus umquam revertitur, nec quid sequātur potest scīrī. (Cicero.—praeteri-tus, -a, -um, past. —revertor, revertī, reversus sum, to return.)
Nōvistī mōrēs mulierum: dum mōliuntur, dum cōnantur, dum in speculum spectant, annus lābitur. (Terence.—mulier, -eris, woman. — lābor, lābī, lāpsus sum, to slip, glide.)
Amīcitia rēs plūrimās continet; nōn aquā, nōn igne in plūribus locīs ūtimur quam amīcitiā. (Cicero.)
Homō stultus! Postquam dīvitiās habēre coepit, mortuus est! (Cicero.—postquam, conj., after.)
Ō passī graviōra, dabit deus hīs quoque finem. (*Virgil.—Ō passī, voc. pl., O you who have ….—hīs = hīs rēbus gravibus.)
Et ille quidem animam ēbulliit, et ex eō dēsiit vīvere vidērī. Exspīrāvit autem dum comoedōs audit, ut sciās mē nōn sine causā illōs timēre. Ultima vōx eius haec inter hominēs audīta est, cum maiōrem sonitum ēmisisset illā parte quā facilius loquēbātur: “Vae mē, putō, concacāvī.” Quod an fēcerit, nesciō—omnia certē concacāvit!
(*Seneca, Apocolocyntōsis 4; a satirical farce on the emperor Claudius’ death and deification.—ēbulliō,-īre, ēbulliī, to bubble out, + animam, comic for he died. — ex eō, sc. tempore.—dēsinō, -sinere, -siī, -situm, to cease. —exspīrare, to breathe out, die. — comoedus, -ī, comic actor.—sonitus, -ūs, sound. —ē + mittere.—illā parte, sc. ex, i.e., his bottom.—concacāre, to defecate upon.—quod = id.—an, whether, introducing an ind. quest.)
Mentītur quī tē vitiōsum, Zōile, dīcit:
nōn vitiōsus homō es, Zōile, sed vitium!
(*Martial 11.92; meter: elegiac couplet.—mentior, mentīrī, mentītus sum, to lie, deceive.—-vitiōsus, adj. from vitium.—-tē vitiōsum, sc. esse, and remember that the verb sum, esse is often omitted in both prose and verse when it is readily understood from the context.—Zōilus, a Greek name.)
Bella es, nōvimus, et puella, vērum est,
et dīves—quis enim potest negāre?
Sed cum tē nimium, Fabulla, laudās,
nec dīves neque bella nec puella es!
(*Martial 1.64; meter: hendecasyllabic.)
Ille mī pār esse deō vidētur,
ille, sī fās est, superāre dīvōs,
quī, sedēns adversus, identidem tē
spectat et audit
dulce rīdentem, miserō quod omnīs
ēripit sēnsūs mihi: nam simul tē,
Lesbia, aspexī, nihil est super mī,
[Lesbia, vōcis,]
lingua sed torpet, tenuis sub artūss
flamma dēmānat, sonitū suōpte
tintinant aurēs, geminā teguntur
lūimina nocte.
Ōtium, Catulle, tibi molestum est;
ōtiō exsultās nimiumque gestīs;
ōtium et rēgēis prius et beātās
perdidit urbēis.
(*Catullus 51; meter: Sapphic***stanza.—mī= mihi.—fās est, it is right.— dīvōs = deōs.—identidem, adv., again and again.—dulce, adv. of dulcis.—miserō … mihi, dat. of separation; the prose order would be quod omnīs (= omnēs) sēnsūs mihi miserō ēripit.—quod, a circumstance which; the entire preceding clause is the antecedent.— simul, adv., as soon as.— aspexī = spectāvī. —nihil, with vōcis, gen. of the whole, no voice; est super = superest, remains.—Lesbia, vōcis is an editorial suggestion for a verse missing in the manuscripts.—torpēre, to grow numb.—tenuis, with flamma, from tenuis, -e, thin, slender.—artus, -ūs, joint, limb (of the body).—flamma, -ae, flame.— dēmānāre, to flow through.— sonitus, -ūs, sound.—suōpte, intensive for suō.—tintināre, to ring.—tegō, -ere, to cover.— lūmen, -minis, light; eye.—molestus, -a, -um, troublesome.—exsultāre, to celebrate, exult (in), + ōtiō.—gestīre, to act without restraint, be elated or triumphant.—perdō, -ere, perdidī, perditum, to destroy.)
“Sympathy” derives from Gk. syn (with) + pathos (suffering). What Latin-rooted word is the exact equivalent of “sympathy”?
Further words associated with sequor: execute, executive, executor, obsequious, prosecute, persecute, pursue, ensue, sue, suit, suite, sect, second. Related to sequor, besides secundus, is socius (a follower, ally), whence: social, society, associate, dissociate.
4. irate, irascible, irascibility. 5. Versārī literally means to turn (oneself) around: versatile, converse, conversant, conversation. 8. veteran, inveterate. 9. intemperance.—querulous, quarrel. 10. preterit, preterition, praeteritio.—revert, reverse, reversible, reversion. “Claudius”: ebullient.—expire, expiration, expiratory, expiry.—cp. sonus, -ī, sound: sonic, sonar, resonate. “Lesbia”: divine.—aspect.—tenuous, tenuity.—flammable, inflame, inflammatory, inflammation.—tintinnabulation.—luminary, lumination, illuminate.—molest, molestation.—exultant, exultation.—perdition.
Salvēte, meī discipulī discipulaeque! Quid agitis? (Spērō vōs valēre.) Now that you’ve begun to read more real, unadapted Latin literature (like the above selections from Martial, Seneca, and Catullus), you might appreciate the following remark: “Looking back on school, I really liked Latin. In my case, a little bit stuck: I ended up with a feeling for literature.”—Paul McCartney. So, how much Latin is enough?—quantum placeat, as much as gives one pleasure (close to quantum vīs, Ch. 32, and more, one hopes, than quantum satis, Ch. 30!).
Here are some Latin phrases that are by no means moribund: first, an unfortunate (and fortunately overstated!) old proverb, quem dī dīligunt, adulēscēns moritur; a reminder of one’s mortality is a mementō morī, freely “remember that you must die” (the -tō form is a relatively rare future imperative not formally introduced in this book but used not infrequently in ancient legal and religious texts); on sacrificing one’s life for one’s country, Horace wrote dulce et decōrum (from decōrus, -a, -um, fitting, proper) est prō patriā morī; another bleak proverb (but essential here, as it offers two deponents!) is the astronomer Manilius’ dictum, nascentēs morimur (even as we are) being born, we (begin to) die; and then there is Seneca’s version of “eat, drink, and be merry,” complete with a passive periphrastic, bibāmus, moriendum est, and the words addressed to the emperor by gladiators entering the arena, avē, Caesar: moritūrī tē salutāmus, hail, Caesar: we (who are) about to die salute you! To any who have suffered, not death, but defeat, one might proclaim vae, victīs, woe to the conquered, a famous line from Livy’s account of the Gallic sack of Rome in 390 B.C.
Well, enough morbidity. Hīc sunt alia miscellānea ex vocābulāriō novō: vōx populī; vōx clamantis in dēsertō, the voice of one calling out in the wilderness (from the gospel of Matthew); crēscit amor nummī quantum ipsa pecūnia crēvit, love of the coin grows as much as one’s wealth itself has grown (Juvenal 14.139); sedente animō, with a calm mind. And here are some other deponents: Maryland’s state motto is crēscite et multiplicāminī (can you figure that one out?); loquitur is a note in a dramatic text; and the legal phrase rēs ipsa loquitur, the matter speaks for itself, we have seen before, but now you understand the verb form. And how about this sequence: seq. is an abbreviation for sequēns/sequentēs, the following, once common in footnotes; a nōn sequitur is a remark that does not follow logically from a prior statement (a sequitur, of course, does!); sequor nōn īnferior, I follow (but am) not inferior. Will this exciting chapter have a sequel in the subsequent chapter? And, if not, what will be the consequences? Stay tuned … et valēte!