1 ... only let the nap of the woof stand erect within....[1727]
2 First is A. I will begin with this; and the words spelled with it. In the first place, A is either a long or short syllable; consequently we will make it one, and, as we say, write it in one and the same fashion, "Pācem, Plăcide, Jānum, Aridum, Acetum," just as the Greeks do. Ἄρες Ἄρες.[1728]
3 ... not very different from this, and badly put together, if with a burr like a dog, I say AR ... this is its name.[1729]
4 ... and there is no reason why you should make it a question or a difficulty whether you should write ACCURRERE with a D or a T.[1730]
5 But it is of great consequence whether ABBITERE have a D or B—[1731]
6 "Now come PUEREI." Put E and I at the end, to make "pueri" the plural; if you put I only, as PupillI, PuerI, LuceilI, this will become the singular number. "Hoc illi factum est unI." Being singular, you will put I only. "Hoc IllEI fecere." Add E to mark the plural. Add also E to MendacEI and FurEI, when you make it the dative case." MEIle hominum, dub MEIlia." Here too we must have both vowels, MEIles, MEIlitiam. Pila, "a ball to play with," Pilum, "a pestle to pound with," will have I simply. But to PEIla, "javelins," you must add E, to give the fuller sound.[1732]
7 Our S, and what after a semi-Greek fashion we call Sigma, admits of no mistake.
8 ... in the word PeLLiciendo.[1733]
9 For just as we see Intro (within) to be a very different word from Intus (inside), so apud se is very different from, and has not the same force as, ad se. "A man invites us to come in and join him (intro ad se). He keeps himself at home, inside his own house (intus apud se)."
10 "The water boils," may be expressed by Fervit (of the third conjugation), or Fervet (of the second conjugation). Or again, Fervit may be the present tense, Fervet the future; both of the third conjugation.