CODEX 6.3
Please make your selection from the above CODEX menu options for Episode 6.3
KEY-TEXT A
Plīnius in perīculō
Plīnius, vir doctissimus, hās rēs vīdit et in tabulā scrīpsit:
diēs incēpit sīcut omnēs aliī diēs: calidus erat et aprīcus. eram Mīsēnī cum familiā meā et cum classe meā. subitō, procul, prope illum montem quem Vesuvium vocāmus, magnam nūbem ātram cōnspexī et sonitum magnum audīvī. nūbēs in caelum surrēxit sīcut pīnus ingēns: prīmum ūnus truncus, deinde multī rāmī. tālem rem numquam vīderam. mox nūbēs sōlem cēlāvit, et omnia frīgida ātraque erant.
cōnstituī nāvigāre Stabiās, quod amīcōs meōs adiuvāre volēbam. nautae meī territī erant, sed dīxī: "fortēs fortūna iuvat!" tum omnēs mēcum vēnērunt. nāvēs in nūbem ātram nāvigāvērunt. ubi terrae appropinquābāmus, cinis in nāvēs cadēbat, calidus et dēnsus.
in portū Stabiārum clādēs erat. magnī lapidēs dē caelō cadēbant. perīculōsum erat manēre; ergō cōnstituimus ad nāvēs fugere. in domō amīcī cervīcālia in capitibus posuimus et līneīs ligāvimus. tum dīxī: "venīte mēcum!" et ad lītus celerrimē cucurrimus.
hīc tabula Plīniī fīnem habet. Plīnius ad lītus vēnit, sed ad nāvēs nōn rediit. ex monte flammae veniēbant et odor malus. Plīnius spīrāre nōn poterat, et in lītore mortuus est.
Visual Walkthrough
KEY-TEXT B
Mors Pallantis
Turnus exercitum magnum collēgit et ad Diomēdēn nūntium mīsit. Diomēdēs erat hērōs Graecus et cum Trōiānīs in Bellō Trōiānō pugnāvit. Diomēdēs in Italiā nunc habitābat et Trōiānōs nōn amābat. in epistulā, Turnus scrīpsit, "fortasse vīs iterum bellum gerere cum Trōiānīs? sunt Trōiānī in Italiā. Aenēās, dux Trōiānōrum, uxōrem meam cēpit! adiuvā mē! cum Aenēā pugnā!"
Diomēdēs, fessus bellō, Turnō dīxit, "minimē. nōn iam cum Trōiānīs pugnāre volō."
Turnus erat trīstis sed ad exercitum suum rediit et ad Latium contendit.
Aenēās tum ad Evandrum iter fēcit. Evander erat rēx Graecus et urbem "Pallantium" condēbat. Pallantium erat prope flūmen Tiberim et posteā erit "Rōma". Evander ad Italiam deōs Graecōs, lēgēs Graecās, et litterās Graecās portābat. pater Evandrī patrem Aenēae nōverat et eum amīcē accēperat. ergo Evander quoque Aenēam in domum suam accēpit.
Evander exercitum Aenēae dedit. Evander quoque iussit fīlium suum Aenēam adiuvāre. fīlius Evandrī erat Pallās. Aenēās erat laetus quod nunc novōs comitēs habēbat. Venus Aenēam spectābat et ānxia erat. Aenēās arma optima nōn habēbat. Venus ergo ad marītum suum, Vulcānum, ambulāvit et iussit eum facere arma nova. Vulcānus uxōrem suam amābat et arma nova facere cōnstituit.
Vulcānus ad flammās ambulāvit et scūtum novum faciēbat. in scūtō erant multae pictūrae. pictūrae dīcēbant fābulās dē Rōmā. in pictūrīs sunt Lupa, Rōmulus, Remusque. in pictūrīs est Caesar. Caesar Galliam vīcit et habet tōtum imperium. in pictūrīs est proelium "Actium". prope Actium, Octāviānus Mārcum Antōnium Cleopātramque vīcit. Octāviānus tum tōtum imperium habuit et erat imperātor optimus. in pictūrīs Rōma glōriam multam habuit.
Aenēās bellum gerere parātus est. Iūnō, Aenēam vidēns, Īridem ad Turnum mīsit. Īris erat nūntia Iūnōnis. Īris ad Turnum per caelum iter fēcit. Īris dīxit, "Turne, tempus est. ī ad bellum!"
Turnus ad exercitum suum vēnit et dīxit, "tempus est! īte ad bellum! necesse est nōbīs Aenēam necāre!"
exercitus Turnī laetus erat. Turnus laetus erat. Iūnō, omnia spectāns, quoque laeta erat.
mox duo exercitūs ad proelium contendērunt. Aenēās, Turnum spectāns, ad exercitum suum dīxit. Trōiānī et mīlitēs Evandrī Rutulōs Latīnōsque malīs verbīs vocābant. Rutulī et Latīnī Trōiānōs quoque malīs verbīs vocābant. Numānus, mīles Rutulus, ad Trōiānōs vēnit. dīxit, "Trōiānī! vōs nōn timeō! nōn estis virī Trōiānī! vōs estis fēminae Trōiānae!"
Ascanius, fīlius Aenēae, erat īrātus. dīxit, "Iuppiter, ōrō tē prō Trōiānīs. necesse est nōbīs Rutulōs vincere. necesse est nōbīs novam Trōiam condere." Iuppiter, glōriam Ascaniī posteā vidēns, Ascaniō auxilium dat.
Ascanius arcum magnum sagittamque sūmpsit. Ascanius sagittam ēmīsit et per caelum Iuppiter eam portābat. sagitta caput Numānī percussit et Numānus ad terram cecidit. Numānus erat mortuus. Rutulī valdē territī erant sed mox iterum fortēs erant. Aenēās, laetus prō glōriā Ascaniī, magnā vōce dīxit.
statim inter sē Trōiānī Rutulīque pugnābant. multī Trōiānī Rutulōs multōs necāvērunt. multī Rutulī quoque Trōiānōs necāvērunt. Lausus, quī erat Rutulus, Pallantem malīs verbīs vocābat. Lausus Pallantem necāre voluit quod Pallās multōs Rutulōs in proeliō necāverat. Lausus et Pallās inter sē pugnābant et Turnus ad Lausum veniēbat. Turnus Lausō auxilium dare voluit.
Turnus dīxit, "Pallās! tē necābō! fortasse tuus pater adest? necesse est sibi mortem tuam spectāre!"
Pallās Herculem ōrābat, "adiuvā mē, ō hērōs maxime!"
sed Herculēs Pallantem nōn adiūvit. Iuppiter Herculī dīxit, "fīlī optime, nōn potes Pallantem adiuvāre." Herculēs erat trīstis. Turnus hastam magnam mīsit et hasta per caelum iter fēcit. hasta in caelō magnam vōcem fēcit. hasta pectus Pallantis percussit. ad terram Pallās cecidit.
Turnus, quod vīcerat, ad corpus Pallantis ambulāvit et arma Pallantis cēpit.
Aenēās, omnia spectāns, nunc erat īrātissimus! Aenēās nunc Turnum necāre voluit.
Visual Walkthrough
KEY-TEXT C
Mors Turnī
postquam Turnus Pallantem necāvit, Fāma dē morte Pallantis Aenēae dīxit. Aenēās erat īrātissimus et statim per proelium ad Turnum cucurrit. īra Aenēam capiēbat et mox Aenēās Latīnōs multōs necābat. Turnus Aenēam timēbat sed tamen in proeliō manēbat.
Aenēās sacrificium Pallantī facere voluit itaque quattuor virōs cēpit. ūnus ex virīs prō vītā suā ōrābat. Aenēās ad virum spectāvit et statim gladiō eum interfēcit. vir mortuus ad terram cecidit et aliī erant territī. Aenēās adhūc Turnum interficere voluit.
Iūnō, īram Aenēae vidēns, Iovem ōrāvit, "ō Iuppiter, iubē Turnum vīvere parvum tempus." Iuppiter respondit, "ita vērō," et Iūnō statim ad proelium iit. imāginem Aenēae fēcit et Turnus imāginem vīdit. ad imāginem currēbat sed Turnus imāginem capere nōn poterat. imāgō Aenēae Turnum ad nāvem dūxit. Turnus in nāvem ascendit et tum Iūnō nāvem in mare mīsit. Turnus parvum tempus longē ā proeliō erat.
Aenēās, īrātus quod Turnum invenīre nōn poterat, sacerdōtem prope eum vīdit. sacerdōs Latīnus arma nōn habēbat sed tamen Aenēās eum interfēcit. Aenēās in proeliō multōs Rutulōs Latīnōsque interfēcit. mīles, quī equōs dūcēbat, erat prope Aenēam. Aenēās hastam sūmpsit et hastam ad mīlitem mīsit. hasta per caelum volāvit et pectus mīlitis percussit. mīles magnā vōce dīxit et ā currū ad terram cecidit.
Mezentius, quī erat rēx Tuscus, Aenēam spectābat. erat īrātus quod Aenēās fīlium suum, Lausum, necāverat et nunc Lausus erat mortuus. in equō, cui nōmen erat Rhaebus, Mezentius ad Aenēam contendit. Mezentius pugnābat sed Aenēās equum Mezentiī interfēcit et equus mortuus in Mezentium cecidit. sub equō, Mezentius sē movēre nōn poterat. nōn prō vītā ōrāvit. Aenēās tum Mezentium interfēcit.
Turnus tandem ad proelium rediit et Aenēam quaerēbat. dīxit, "Aenēās, pugnā cum mē!" Iuppiter, ā caelō spectāns, fāta Aenēae et Turnī spectābat. Aenēās vincet.
Turnus gladium sūmpsit et scūtum Aenēae gladiō percussit. ecce! sed gladius Turnī Aenēam vincere nōn poterat. Turnus erat valdē territus quod gladius erat optimus. Aenēās Turnum petīvit quod Turnus fugiēbat.
Iūnō iterum Iovem ōrābat, "Turnus erit mortuus. hoc sciō. sed, ō marīte optime, iubē Latīnōs Latīnōs manēre. nōlī vocāre eōs 'Trōiānōs.' vocā eōs 'Latīnōs.' iubē eōs in linguā Latīnā dīcere, nōn in linguā Graecā. Trōia nōn iam est. iubē Trōiam nōn iam esse."
Iuppiter respondit, "ita vērō," sed Turnus magnum saxum sūmpsit. mīsit saxum ad Aenēam sed saxum cecidit ad terram ante pedēs Aenēae. Aenēās laetus erat et hastam magnam sūmpsit. mīsit hastam per caelum et hasta Turnum percussit. Turnus nōn iam pugnāre poterat et Aenēam ōrābat.
"nōlī interficere mē, ōrō tē. tū vīcistī mē. nunc habēs Lavīniam et Latium. es hērōs maximus," Turnus dīxit.
Aenēās ā gladiō manum remōvit sed tum arma Pallantis vīdit. Aenēās erat īrātissimus!
"MINIMĒ! tū gerās arma amīcī meī! Pallās tē nunc interficit!" dīxit Aenēās.
gladius Aenēae pectus Turnī percussit. imāgō Turnī ad rēgnum Plūtōnis iit. Aenēās victor erat.
Visual Walkthrough
Informational Text A
Plīnius Māior
C. Plīnius Secundus, quī "Plīnius Māior" appellātur, eques Rōmānus et scrīptor nōtissimus erat. annō 776 AUC (23 CE) nātus est. prīmum in exercitū Rōmānō mīles erat; posteā imperātor Vespasiānus eum praefectum classis Rōmānae fēcit. haec classis apud Mīsēnum, prope Neāpolim, stābat.
Plīnius numquam ōtiōsus erat. per diem prō imperātōre labōrābat, sed noctū et prīmā lūce semper legēbat et scrībēbat. semper cum eō erat servus: servus enim librōs legēbat, Plīnius verba nova scrībēbat. opus eius maximum "Nātūrālis Historia" vocātur. hoc opus XXXVII librōs habet. in hīs librīs Plīnius dē multīs rēbus scrīpsit: dē astrīs et terrīs, dē herbīs et animālibus, dē medicīnā et metallīs, dē statuīs et pictūrīs et lapidibus pretiōsīs. multa mīrābilia per imperium Rōmānum invēnit et rettulit. Plīnius etiam dē bellīs Rōmānōrum scrīpsit, sed illī librī nōn manent: sōla "Nātūrālis Historia" hodiē manet.
annō 832 AUC (79 CE) Plīnius Mīsēnī erat cum sorōre suā et fīliō sorōris. hic iuvenis, quī posteā "Plīnius Minor" appellātus est, tum XVII annōs nātus erat. subitō soror nūbem magnam et ātram in caelō vīdit. haec nūbēs ā monte Vesuviō ascendēbat. mōns ērumpēbat! Plīnius rem mīrābilem propius spectāre volēbat. tum epistula quoque vēnit. Rēctīna, fēmina quae sub monte habitābat, fugere nōn poterat et auxilium rogābat. iam cinerēs et saxa ē caelō cadēbant, sed Plīnius amīcōs iuvāre cōnstituit. nāvēs magnās parāvit et dīxit: "fortēs fortūna iuvat!"
Plīnius ad Stabiās nāvigāvit, ubi amīcus eius Pompōniānus in perīculō erat. quamquam diēs erat, caelum ātrum erat sīcut nox. flammae undique in monte appārēbant. saxa et cinerēs ē caelō cadēbant. Plīnius, postquam ad amīcōs pervēnit, cibum cēpit et dormīvit, quod amīcīs territīs animum dare volēbat. sed āēr malus plēnus cinerum erat, et Plīnius spīritum dūcere nōn poterat. in lītore cecidit nec posteā surrēxit. amīcī corpus eius post duōs diēs invēnērunt: integrum erat et nūllum vulnus habēbat. ita Plīnius Māior, dum aliōs servāre temptat, ipse periit.
Plīnius Minor posteā duās epistulās ad Tacitum dē hāc rē scrīpsit. ex hīs epistulīs hodiē dē morte Plīniī Māiōris et dē monte Vesuviō multa scīmus.
Informational Text B
Plīnius Minor
C. Plīnius Caecilius Secundus, quī "Plīnius Minor" appellātur, eques Rōmānus erat. annō 814 AUC (61 CE) in oppidō Cōmō nātus est. Cōmum in Italiā, prope Alpēs, est. pater eius mox mortuus est. itaque avunculus puerī, quī "Plīnius Māior" appellātur, puerum cūrāvit et bonōs magistrōs eī dedit. avunculus annō 832 AUC (79 CE) apud montem Vesuvium periit; in testāmentō suō Plīnium fīlium suum fēcerat. ita iuvenis nōmen avunculī accēpit.
Plīnius, ubi iuvenis erat, Rōmae causās in iūdiciō ēgit. ōrātor clārus erat et multōs hominēs dēfendit. per multōs annōs per "cursum honōrum" prōcessit: tribūnus, quaestor, praetor, et tandem cōnsul factus est annō 853 AUC (100 CE). posteā imperātor Trāiānus eum ad prōvinciam Bīthȳniam et Pontum mīsit. haec prōvincia in Āsiā Minōre erat; ibi Plīnius prō imperātōre prōvinciam regēbat.
Plīnius multās epistulās scrīpsit, et CCXLVII epistulae ad nostra tempora mānsērunt. in IX librīs sunt epistulae ad amīcōs; liber X epistulās ad Trāiānum imperātōrem continet. in hīs librīs Plīnius dē vītā Rōmānā multa nārrat: dē iūdiciīs et dē pecūniā pūblicā, dē servīs et lībertīs, dē agrīs et dē librīs et dē amīcīs.
duae epistulae ad Tacitum missae nōtissimae sunt. Tacitus enim amīcus Plīniī et scrīptor magnus erat, et dē monte Vesuviō scīre volēbat. in hīs epistulīs Plīnius dē igne montis et dē morte avunculī nārrat: avunculus, dum aliōs servāre temptat, apud Stabiās periit.
epistula dē Chrīstiānīs quoque nōtissima est. dum Plīnius in Bīthȳniā est, aliī hominēs Chrīstiānōs ad eum dūxērunt, quod Chrīstiānī deōs Rōmānōs colere nōlēbant. Plīnius tamen rem novam nōn intellegēbat: nesciēbat enim quid facere dēbēbat. itaque epistulam ad Trāiānum scrīpsit et cōnsilium rogāvit. Trāiānus rescrīpsit: "Chrīstiānōs quaerere nōn dēbēs. sed sī quis Chrīstiānus ad tē ductus est et deōs Rōmānōs colere nōn vult, poenam dare dēbet."
Plīnius ipse in prōvinciā mortuus est. epistulae eius tamen manent, et nōs multa dē imperiō Rōmānō et dē iūre Rōmānō docent.
GRAMMATICA
The perfect, completed
Operative, you have been reading perfect verbs since Mission 3, but only in the third person: he did it, they did it. In Mission 4 you learned where the form comes from, the third principal part, the perfect stem. What you have not had is the rest of the persons, and this episode will not let you avoid them any longer. Sextus says librum invēnī, "I found a book." Sinistrus asks nōnne satis fēcistis?, "have you all not done enough?" The stones in the forum of Stabiae speak in the first person plural: invēnimus Lapidem in Aegyptō. The dying man on the shore says vēnī dē Mīsēnō, "I came from Misenum." The Demiurge judges it time to complete the table.
The endings
Take the perfect stem, the one you get from the third principal part (inveniō, invenīre, invēnī, so the stem is invēn-), and add these:
| Singular | Plural | |||
| 1st person (ego, nōs) | invēnī | I found | invēnimus | we found |
| 2nd person (tū, vōs) | invēnistī | you found | invēnistis | you all found |
| 3rd person | invēnit | s/he found | invēnērunt | they found |
Three things to notice.
First, these endings are not the ones you know. The present and imperfect share a family (-ō/-m, -s, -t, -mus, -tis, -nt); the perfect has a set of its own, and -ī, -istī, -istis, -ērunt belong to no other tense in Latin. When you see -istī or -istis or -ērunt, you are looking at a perfect and nothing else. That is a gift: four of the six forms identify themselves.
Second, the two that do not are worth care. Perfect invēnit looks like a present invenit, and perfect invēnimus looks like a present invenīmus. The stem is what tells you apart, and sometimes only a macron does: vēnimus is "we came," venīmus is "we come." Read the macrons. They are carrying meaning here, not decoration.
Third, the stem does the same work in every person. Once you know that dīcō gives dīx-, every perfect of that verb is built the same way: dīxī, dīxistī, dīxit, dīximus, dīxistis, dīxērunt. Learn stems, not forms.
Perfect against imperfect
The two past tenses are now complete, and this episode sets them against each other on purpose. In 6.3.a the mountain has been quiet for as long as anyone remembers, and the narration reaches for the ongoing past. Then things start happening once, and finish: nautae iam fūgērunt, "the sailors have already fled." Not a state, an event, over and done.
The sharpest instance is the shortest. Sinistrus, standing where Sextus cannot see him, says of Caecilius: Caeciliō dīxī: fuge. nōn fūgit. "I told Caecilius: run. He did not run." Two perfects, four words, and a man's whole death in them. The perfect is the tense of the thing that is finished, and Sinistrus chooses it because he is telling you that nothing more will happen to Caecilius now. Had he wanted to leave it open, the imperfect was available to him. He did not want to leave it open.
Now might be a good time for all operatives to view the following video briefing from latintutorial.com.
VERBA
| Latin | English | Part of Speech |
| audit | she/he hears | verb |
| dum | while, as long as | conjunction |
| parvus | small, little | adjective |
| populus | people | noun |
| semper | always | adverb |
CULTURALIA
Two words, not two parties
Operative, two words run through this episode: optimātēs and populārēs. A fast definition says the optimātēs were the well-born few who kept power close, and the populārēs were friends of the people who spread it wide. The fuller truth is more useful to you.
These were never political parties like the ones you know today: no Roman signed up as an optimās or a populāris the way an American might register as a Democrat or a Republican. There were no membership lists, no conventions, no party leaders. They were two methods of getting things done in the Republic. An optimās worked through the Senate, through family reputation, through the web of patrons and clients you have known since Mission 2. A populāris went around the Senate, straight to the assemblies of the people. Both methods were legal and both were Roman, and the same man might use either.
The argument between the methods turned deadly. Tiberius Gracchus proposed giving public land to poor citizens and was beaten to death by senators in 133 BCE; his brother Gaius died the same way twelve years later. Each round after that was settled less by votes and more by armies, until a century of civil war ended with Augustus ruling alone. By 79 CE the Senate still meets and the old words are still spoken, but the emperor decides. So when you learn that the Societās Potentium loves the optimātēs and hates the populārēs, ask what it means to pick a side in a fight that ended a hundred years ago. A group that wants the Lapis, and prefers power in few hands, is telling you something about its plans.
One day, two Plinys
Nearly everything anyone knows about the day Vesuvius erupted comes from two letters, and the informational texts introduce you to the men at both ends of them. Pliny the Elder commanded the fleet at Misenum, across the bay. He was a scientist who could not leave a fact alone: thirty-seven books on everything from stars to painting. When the cloud rose he sailed toward it, first to observe, then to rescue a friend trapped below the mountain. He reached Stabiae, calmed the household, slept, and died on the shore the next day. His nephew, Pliny the Younger, was seventeen and stayed behind with his mother. About twenty-five years later, the historian Tacitus asked him what happened, and he answered in two letters: one on his uncle's death, one on his own night of ash, darkness, and people crying that the world was ending.
What the letters are worth
Those letters are extraordinary evidence. The Elder's cloud, rising in a tall column and spreading flat at the top, was described so exactly that scientists still call this kind of eruption Plinian, and excavation at Pompeii has confirmed detail after detail. But the letters are also a portrait: a nephew, writing years later for a famous historian, about the uncle who raised him. The brave scientist who sails toward danger and dies helping others is what the Younger wanted remembered. Both things are true at once: good evidence and a loving portrait. As you work through the informational texts, notice which details the Younger could only have gotten from his uncle, and which he saw himself.
ATTUNEMENT
Attunement, Episode 6.3
Preview each exercise, then copy it into your own Google Drive to complete it.
6.3.a - Plīnius in perīculō: what the text says
multiple choice · 12 items6.3.b - Which Pliny?
column sort · 15 items6.3.c - The whole war, in order
sequence · 12 statements6.3.d - Every person, every perfect
compose · 6 sentences6.3.e - Nobody in this story is only one thing
inference grid · 6 figures + 3 capstones6.3.f - Two words, two letters
culturalia · 8 questionsMemorātiō
reflect · recall your pathTwo people told you where to go next, and Sextus was neither of them. What did the three stones in the forum of Stabiae claim about where the Lapis is now, and who says they are guarding it? Whose voice came from behind you, and what did he say he had told Caecilius? The old man on the shore ran out of breath before he finished, but he got most of a place-name out; write that place-name down in the memorātiō tab of your dossier, because everything in that forum was pointing at it.
