Moribus antiquis rēs stat Romāna virisque. (Ennius)
By olden customs and great men Rome stands

CHAPTER XVII

PASSIVE VOICE: FIRST CONJUGATION
ABLATIVE OF AGENT

FIRST SECTION

154. Preliminary Review. 1. Place side by side the Indicative Active synopses (1st pers. sing.) of dico, ducō, mitto, scribō, dēfendō. 2. Repeat aloud each synopsis three times, associating with each tense its meaning. 3. Conjugate, testing your speed, each tense of dico, dūcō, mittō, scrībō, defendō. (Were you able to give these in three minutes?)

Coin of Julius

Caesar

155. The Passive Voice. The Active voice of a verb expresses the subject of the verb as acting, that is, as the doer of the action; in the Passive voice the subject of a verb is acted upon, that is, receives the action. Thus: I call, or I am calling, vóco (Pres. Ind. Active) becomes I am called, or I am being called, vócor (Pres. Ind. Passive); I was calling, or I called, vocábam (Imp. Ind. Active) becomes I was being called, or I was called, vocábar (Imp. Ind. Passive); and I shall call, vocábō (Fut. Ind. Active) becomes I shall be called, vocábor (Fut. Ind. Passive). In these tenses the Passive voice is indicated by the personal endings.

Observe. -The tense sign of the Future (b) is bě in the second person singular (vocáběris), and bù in the third person plural (vocabuntur).

156. Suggestions for Study.—1. Conjugate each tense, associating with each form its meaning. Practice for accuracy and speed. 2. Write, from memory, all the forms of each tense, marking long vowels and the 3. Conjugate these Passive tenses of laudō and culpō.

accent.

-The

158. Agency with a Verb in the Passive Voice. English sentence (1) The farmer praises the horse is in the

1 We have now met the more common prepositions used with the Ablative: ā (or ab), ē (or ex), and dē; cum, prō, and sine.

Active voice and represents the subject farmer as the agent, the doer-of-the-action.

In the Passive voice (2) The horse is praised by the farmer expresses the same thought, but in a different way; the subject now is the horse, and the doer-of-theaction, the agent, is indicated by the prepositional phrase by the farmer.

These sentences become in Latin: (1) Agricola equum laudat, The farmer praises the horse; (2) Equus ab agricolă laudātur, The horse is praised by the farmer.

159. Rule. Agency with a verb in the Passive voice is expressed in Latin by a prepositional phrase (ā or ab with the Ablative), just as in English by an equivalent phrase.

NOTE. The preposition ā (ab) means away-from, from, as in Oppidum ā flūmine nōn longē abest, The town is not far distant from the river. In Latin the agent with a verb in the Passive is really the person from whom comes the doing of the action; hence ab agricolā in (b) is equivalent to English by-the-farmer.

Do not confuse agency with means. Agency, as just explained, refers to persons, means refers to things. See 80.

160. Indirect Agency.

Indirect agency, the person through whom (not by whom), is expressed by per with the Accusative: Per amīcōs multa cognōvī, I learned many things through friends.

2. The son of the farmer 3. We shall learn good

161. Exercise. -Express in Latin: 1. The leader of the soldiers is praised by the soldiers. will be encouraged by rewards. things (bona, n. pl.) through this messenger.

TRANSLATION EXERCISES

162. A. 1. 66 Hodie," inquit Mārcus patrī, "dē Caesare cogGalliam superavit et in provinciam redegit. Magister

nōvī.

Galliam in tabula nostra geographica dēmonstravit et multa dixit de terra et fluminibus Galliae.

2. Nōmina fluminum dăre possum. A magistrō laudabor. Plutarchus (Plutarch) vitam Caesaris lingua Graeca scripsit. 3. Magister librum discipulis dēmonstravit. Librum legere studeō (I am eager). Caesar vir

Julius Caesar (102-44 B.C.)

"He doth bestride the narrow. world like a Colossus."

- Shakespeare

9. Comites militi auxilium dabunt; dederunt. Mīles comitibus gratias aget.

10. Greges agricolae bonī sunt egregii. Praemia fīdīs servis ab Romānīs dăbantur. Mōrēs Romānōs laudāmus.

B. 1. At daybreak our soldiers will be called together by (their) leader. The camp will be attacked by the barbarians.

2. Our (soldiers) will defend the camp with weapons. The barbarians will be compelled to leave many wounded in the forest.

3. Marcus, the son of the farmer, wrote about the battle