Practice
Epistulae Morales 1.1–3 · 20 lines · reload for a new passage
et tempus, quod adhuc aut auferebatur aut subripiebatur aut excidebat, collige et serva.
and the time which until now was either being taken away, or stolen, or was slipping away — gather it and keep it.
Persuade tibi hoc sic esse, ut scribo:
Persuade yourself that this is so, as I write:
quaedam tempora eripiuntur nobis, quaedam subducuntur, quaedam effluunt.
certain times are snatched from us, certain ones are stolen away, certain ones flow away.
Turpissima tamen est iactura, quae per neglegentiam fit.
Yet the most shameful loss is the one which happens through carelessness.
Et si volueris attendere, maxima pars vitae elabitur male agentibus,
And if you are willing to pay attention, the greatest part of life slips away from those doing wrong,
magna nihil agentibus, tota vita aliud agentibus.
a great part from those doing nothing, the whole of life from those doing something else.
1.2Quem mihi dabis, qui aliquod pretium tempori ponat,
Whom will you show me who puts some value on time,
qui diem aestimet, qui intellegat se cotidie mori?
who values a day, who understands that he is dying every day?
In hoc enim fallimur, quod mortem prospicimus;
For in this we are deceived, that we look ahead to death;
magna pars eius iam praeterit.
a great part of it has already gone by.
Quicquid aetatis retro est, mors tenet.
Whatever of our lifetime is behind us, death holds.
Fac ergo, mi Lucili, quod facere te scribis, omnes horas conplectere.
Do, therefore, my Lucilius, what you write that you are doing: embrace every hour.
Sic fiet, ut minus ex crastino pendeas, si hodierno manum inieceris.
In this way it will come about that you depend less on tomorrow, if you lay hold of today.
Dum differtur, vita transcurrit.
While it is put off, life runs past.
1.3Omnia, Lucili, aliena sunt, tempus tantum nostrum est.
All things, Lucilius, belong to others; time alone is ours.
In huius rei unius fugacis ac lubricae possessionem natura nos misit,
Into the possession of this one fleeting and slippery thing nature has put us,
ex qua expellit quicumque vult.
from which anyone who wants to drives us out.
Et tanta stultitia mortalium est,
And so great is the folly of mortals
Questions
Answer before opening the key. Every answer here is taken from the text’s own analysis, so it cannot drift out of step with the passage above.
1.parsing
Parse tenet.
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teneō, tenēre, tenuī, tentum — verb, present active indicative, 3rd singular
death already owns the past (hold, possess)
2.parsing
Parse est.
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sum, esse, fuī, futūrus — verb, present active indicative, 3rd singular
is
3.parsing
Parse fiet.
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fīō, fierī, factus sum — verb, future active indicative, 3rd singular
impersonal: "it will come about that", followed by a substantive ut-clause of result (happen, come about)
4.vocabulary
Give the dictionary form and meaning of auferebatur.
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auferō, auferre, abstulī, ablātum — carry off, take away
In this passage it is imperfect passive indicative, 3rd singular.
5.translation
ex qua expellit quicumque vult.
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from which anyone who wants to drives us out.
Translate literally first — keep the case, tense and force of each word, and only then let the English read naturally. The version given is the model answer; yours is right if it is defensible word by word, not if it matches word for word.
6.translation
Turpissima tamen est iactura, quae per neglegentiam fit.
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Yet the most shameful loss is the one which happens through carelessness.
Translate literally first — keep the case, tense and force of each word, and only then let the English read naturally. The version given is the model answer; yours is right if it is defensible word by word, not if it matches word for word.
7.vocabulary
Give the dictionary form and meaning of vita.
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vīta, -ae, f. — life
In this passage it is nom. sg. fem..
8.parsing
Parse ponat.
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pōnō, pōnere, posuī, positum — verb, present active subjunctive, 3rd singular
subjunctive in a relative clause of characteristic: "the sort of man who…" (put, set)
9.vocabulary
Give the dictionary form and meaning of manum.
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manus, -ūs, f. — hand
In this passage it is acc. sg. fem..