Note. Observe that the position of the accent is determined by the length of the syllable and not by the length of the vowel in the syllable. (Cf. [§ 13. 2], Note.)
[16.] Certain little words called enclit´ics5 which have no separate existence, are added to and pronounced with a preceding word. The most common are -que, and; -ve, or; and -ne, the question sign. The syllable before an enclitic takes the accent, regardless of its quantity. Thus populus´que, dea´que, rēgna´ve, audit´ne.
5. Enclitic means leaning back, and that is, as you see, just what these little words do. They cannot stand alone and so they lean back for support upon the preceding word.
HOW TO READ LATIN
[17.] To read Latin well is not so difficult, if you begin right. Correct habits of reading should be formed now. Notice the quantities carefully, especially the quantity of the penult, to insure your getting the accent on the right syllable. (Cf. [§ 15].) Give every vowel its proper sound and every syllable its proper length. Then bear in mind that we should read Latin as we read English, in phrases rather than in separate words. Group together words that are closely connected in thought. No good reader halts at the end of each word.
[18.] Read the stanzas of the following poem by Longfellow, one at a time, first the English and then the Latin version. The syllables inclosed in parentheses are to be slurred or omitted to secure smoothness of meter.
EXCELSIOR [HIGHER]! 6
The shades of night were falling fast,
As through an Alpine village passed
A youth, who bore, ’mid snow and ice,
A banner with the strange device,
Excelsior!
|
Cadēbant noctis umbrae, dum
Ibat per vīcum Alpicum
Gelū nivequ(e) adolēscēns,
Vēxillum cum signō ferēns,
Excelsior!
|
His brow was sad; his eye beneath,
Flashed like a falchion from its sheath,
And like a silver clarion rung
The accents of that unknown tongue,
Excelsior!
|
Frōns trīstis, micat oculus
Velut ē vāgīnā gladius;
Sonantque similēs tubae
Accentūs lingu(ae) incognitae,
Excelsior!
|
In happy homes he saw the light
Of household fires gleam warm and bright;
Above, the spectral glaciers shone,
And from his lips escaped a groan,
Excelsior!
|
In domibus videt clārās
Focōrum lūcēs calidās;
Relucet glaciēs ācris,
Et rumpit gemitūs labrīs,
Excelsior!
|
“Try not the Pass!” the old man said;
“Dark lowers the tempest overhead,
The roaring torrent is deep and wide!”
And loud that clarion voice replied,
Excelsior!
|
Dīcit senex, “Nē trānseās!
Suprā nigrēscit tempestās;
Lātus et altus est torrēns.”
Clāra vēnit vōx respondēns,
Excelsior!
|
At break of day, as heavenward
The pious monks of Saint Bernard
Uttered the oft-repeated prayer,
A voice cried through the startled air,
Excelsior!
|
Iam lūcēscēbat, et frātrēs
Sānctī Bernardī vigilēs
Ōrābant precēs solitās,
Cum vōx clāmāvit per aurās,
Excelsior!
|
A traveler, by the faithful hound,
Half-buried in the snow was found,
Still grasping in his hand of ice
That banner with the strange device,
Excelsior!
|
Sēmi-sepultus viātor
Can(e) ā fīdō reperītur,
Comprēndēns pugnō gelidō
Illud vēxillum cum signō,
Excelsior!
|
There in the twilight cold and gray,
Lifeless, but beautiful, he lay,
And from the sky, serene and far,
A voice fell, like a falling star,
Excelsior!
|
Iacet corpus exanimum
Sed lūce frīgidā pulchrum;
Et caelō procul exiēns
Cadit vōx, ut Stella cadēns,
Excelsior!
|
6. Translation by C. W. Goodchild in Praeco Latinus, October, 1898.