Commentarii De Bello GallicoBook I, part 1

Magister HendersonLatin III / IV

Asyndeton

Hī omnēs linguā, institūtīs, lēgibus inter sē differunt.

= These all differ among themselves in language, customs, and laws.

Asyndeton = omission of a conjunction or conjunctions for a variety or effects; whether poetic, rhetorical, or emphatic.

Comes from Greek “sydeton” (joining or conjunction), plus the alpha privative “a(n)-”, which shows absence.

Asyndeton

Vēnī, Vīdī, Vīcī.

= I came, I saw, I conquered.

Written in a message to the Senate after defeating Pharnaces II at the battle of Zela in 46 BC.

Caesar was fond of asyndeton, as seen in his most famous quote:

Partitive Genitive

Hōrum omnium fortissimī sunt Belgae…

= The Belgians are the bravest of all of these…

The genitive has many functions, most of which can be translated into English with the preposition “of”. The most common of these is possession.

The genitive can be also used to show a part of a larger whole. Like in the sentence above.

Partitive Genitive

• Nihil malī = nothing bad• Aliquid vīnī = some wine• Tantum laboris = so much work

The partitive genitive is commonly used with certain key words, such as nihil (nothing), aliquid (some / something), pars (part), tantum (such / so much) and quantum (how).

Notice that the English translation often omits the word “of” it this use of the genitive.

Gerundive with Preposition

…atque ea, quae ad effēminandōs animōs pertinent…

= …and those things, which tend to effeminate their spirits…

The gerundive is a type of verbal adjective that Latin often uses to show obligation. However with the preposition “ad”, the gerundive functions very much like a complementary infinitive.

Gerundive with Prepositions

• The gerundive is an adjective that uses the endings –ndus, -nda, -ndum.

• Typically it is used with a form of ‘esse’ to show obligation.

• Because it often shows an action that must be done, it is typically used as Latin’s future passive participle.

• It is called the ‘gerundive’ because it resembles the forms of the gerund, a type of verbal noun.

Preposition ‘cum’ with Pronouns

…quibuscum continenter bellum gerunt.

= …with whom they wage war constantly.

By definition a preposition is a word that is positioned (“positio”) in front of (“prae”) another word, which is called the object of the preposition.

However with many pronouns “cum” will act like a suffix, attaching itself to the end of the pronoun.

Preposition ‘cum’ with Pronouns

• mēcum = with me• nobiscum = with us• tēcum = with you (singular)• vobiscum = with you (plural)• sēcum = with him / her / it / them• quōcum = with whom (singular)• quibuscum = with whom (plural)

The pronouns to which cum will act as a suffix are: