(1) Notice all allusions and key-words that may help you to the sense of the passage.
(2) Pay special attention to the opening sentence. In translating a passage much depends on getting the first sentence right.
(3) Notice especially the connectives which introduce sentences and clauses marked off by commas. In this way you will be able to distinguish between a Principal Sentence and a Subordinate Clause.
(For List of Conjunctions see [Appendix I.] pp. 274-276.)
[ HELPS TO VOCABULARY.]
[4.] Through English Derivatives.—English derivatives, if used in the proper way, may give you valuable help in inferring meanings. The reason why you must generally not translate the Latin word by the derived English word is that, as you probably know, many English derivatives have come from Latin words which had wholly or in part lost their earlier classical meaning, or from Latin words not found at all in classical Latin. Yet in such cases the English word may be far from useless. You must take care to let it suggest to you the original or root-meaning, leaving the correct meaning of the Latin, whether the same as the English word or not, to be determined by the context.
For example, sē-cūr-us does not mean secure, but (like secure in Shakespeare and Milton) care-less.
‘This happy night the Frenchmen are secure,
Having all day caroused and banqueted.’
Shakespeare, Hen. VI. Part 1. II. i. 11.