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Participles: present, perfect, future, and as nouns

Participles are verbal adjectives: present -ns "doing", perfect passive -tus "(having been) done", future -urus "about to do"; standing alone, they act as nouns.

  • present active -ns, gen. -ntis: at the same time as the main verb, "(while) doing": gerens "holding", murmurans "grumbling"
  • perfect passive -tus or -sus: earlier, "having been done, done": oblatas "offered", laesus "having been wronged". The perfect participle of a deponent is active: secutus "having followed".
  • future active -urus: "about to, going to": moriturus "about to die"

A participle agrees with its noun, which may be some way off, and English often needs a clause, "who …", "when …", "since …", "although …": qui prior laesus … adigitur "who, having been wronged first, is driven …".

Without a noun, a participle is itself a noun: delinquentis "of the wrongdoer", adversantis "of an opponent", irascentium "of angry people".

Examples

  • ipsamque adeo delinquentis naturam 2.1and indeed the very nature of the wrongdoer
  • pars illa principatum gerens 2.2that part which holds command
  • opportunitates a Diis tibi oblatas 2.4the opportunities offered to you by the gods
  • qui prior laesus doloris ratione ad irascendum adigitur 2.10who, having been wronged first, is driven to anger by pain

In the text 401

  • I.6 ne coturnices ad pugnam alerem, neve rebus istiusmodi animum adjicerem: utque libere dicta aequanimiter sustinerem.dicta, the perfect participle of dico, is used as a noun: "things said". The adverb libere goes with it as with a verb: "things said freely", i.e. frank speech.
  • I.8 ab isto didici, et quo modo beneficia, quae dicuntur, ab amicis accipere oporteret, ut nec acceptis obnoxius fierem, nec citra sensum tamen omnem transmitterem.
  • I.9 A Sexto, benevolum erga alios affectum: familiae affectu paterno administratae specimen: de vita naturae convenienter instituenda cogitationem:Read from the end: specimen "the example"; of what? familiae … administratae "of a household governed"; governed how? affectu paterno "with fatherly affection". A familia is the whole household, slaves included.
  • I.9 et mores quibusvis accommodatos, ita ut quamvis consuetudo ipsius adulationem omnem suavitate vicerit, in veneratione tamen eisdem ipsis eodem ipso tempore non minus extiterit.
  • I.10 idque sub specie vel respondendi, vel calculum dictis contribuendi, vel de re ipsa, non autem de dictione, una dispiciendi, vel per aliam aliquam istiusmodi scitam, sed quae oblique facta sit, commonefactionem.
  • I.12 Ab Alexandro Platonico, ne crebro, neve nisi necessitate adactus, aut dicto aut scripto significem alicui, non vacare me:
  • I.12 neve hoc modo sub negotiorum distinentium praetextu officia ea, quae vitae hujus necessitudo a nobis exigit, solens deseram.sub … praetextu "under the pretext" wraps round its genitive, negotiorum distinentium "of business keeping (one) busy". The present participle distinentium agrees with negotiorum; distinere "to hold apart, keep occupied" is used here without an object: "distracting, pressing business".solens, present participle of soleo "be accustomed", agrees with the understood "I": "being in the habit", i.e. habitually. Marcus is not forbidden ever to excuse himself, only to make a habit of it.
  • I.14 et quod imaginem animo conceperim status popularis, in quo per aequalitatem jurisque aequabilitatem res administrentur; regnique, in quo subditorum libertate nihil antiquius habeatur.
  • I.15 moribus esse probe temperatis, suavibus, verendis: negotia objecta citra quiritationem conficere.
  • I.15 nusquam perplexus, aut dejectus, aut ringi solitus: nec rursus iracundiae, aut suspicionibus deditus.
  • I.16 A patre mansuetudinem, et in rebus accurate jam decretis constantiam immotam.decretis is the perfect passive participle of decerno "decide", agreeing with rebus: "in things already carefully decided". Once he had made up his mind, he did not waver.
  • I.16 quod amicis vel coenandi secum, vel abstinendi optionem liberam permittebat, nec peregre euntem comitari, nisi ipsis allubesceret, necesse erat:
  • I.16 quod affectum adversus se pariter semper deprehendebant, etiamsi occasione aliqua impediti, eum neutiquam essent comitati.
  • I.16 quod in consiliis, quid facto opus esset, accurate perquirendo constanter insistebat, nec specie rerum obvia quavis acquiescens, indagationem incidebat.acquiescens is a present participle agreeing with the subject, the father: "(as one) resting content with any appearance of things that met him"; acquiescere takes the ablative, specie. nec negates incidebat: "and he did not cut short the inquiry". This incīdere "cut off" comes from caedo; do not confuse it with incidere "fall into", from cado.
  • I.16 quod etiam amicorum retinendi studiosus; nec fastidio mutans, nec insane diligens.Two present participles agreeing with the subject, the father, with amicos understood as their object: "neither changing (them) out of boredom nor loving (them) madly". diligens is from diligo "love, value", not the adjective "careful".
  • I.16 e longinquo futuri praesagus; et de minimis quibusque citra tumultum providus.
  • I.16 acclamationes omnemque adulationem reprimere: imperio quae necessaria erant, sedulo custodire; sumptus caute attemperare; de rebus istiusmodi sugillantes patienter sustinere.sugillantes "those taunting" is a participle used as a noun, the object of sustinere: he bore patiently with people who mocked or blamed him over such things, his thrift above all. istiusmodi "of that kind" is a genitive of description, like hujusmodi.
  • I.16 nec in Deis colendis superstitiosus, nec in hominibus, aut muneribus, aut blanditiis auram captans popularem; sed in rebus quibusque sobrius, solidus, nusquam ineptus, aut novitatis studiosus.
  • I.16 Porro quod ad vitam commodius transigendam conducentibus rebus, quarum copiam illi dapsilem sors suppeditabat, citra fastum, nec libere tamen minus, utebatur; ut et praesentibus simpliciter frueretur, neque absentia multum desideraret.
  • I.16 adhaec quod vere philosophantes in honore habebat, caeteris nihil exprobrabat.philosophantes is the present participle of the deponent philosophor "practise philosophy", used as a noun: "those who truly philosophize", genuine philosophers, as against caeteris "the rest", the pretenders.
  • I.16 utpote cum is esset, qui non ad celebritatem ex rebus a se gestis acquirendam, sed id duntaxat quod facto erat opus, respiceret.
  • I.16 toga, qua Lorii utebatur, a villa inferiore comparata: Lanuvii tunicatus plerunque in Tusculano, sed quod excusare solebat, paenulatus.
  • I.16 sed quasi per otium cum consideratione matura, placide, composite, strenue, consentanee sibi invicem disposita universa:
  • I.16 posse autem in altero tolerantem, in altero temperantem se praestare; illud vero vere viri est animo consummato invictoque plane praediti.
  • I.17 Deis acceptum fero, quod bonos avos, bonos parentes, bonam sororem, bonos praeceptores, bonos familiares, necessarios, amicos, bona omnia fere habuerim.
  • I.17 quod liberi mihi neque ingenio tardi, nec corpore distorti obtigere,
  • I.17 quod progressus non fecerim ampliores in rhetorica, poetica, studiisque aliis ejusmodi, quae me forsan praepeditum detinuissent, si in eis me feliciter profecisse sensissem.
  • I.17 ut, quantum ad Deos attinet, ac suggestiones, adjutationes, inspirationes ab ipsis profectas, nihil obstet omnino, quo minus juxta naturae praescriptum confestim vivam, nisi ipse tandem in culpa sim, qui Deorum submonitiones, et tantum non claras praeceptiones neutiquam observem.
  • I.17 quod uxor ejusmodi mihi obvenerit, tam obsequens, tam amans, tam simplex.ejusmodi 'of such a kind' is filled out by the three tam phrases: 'so obedient, so loving, so unaffected'. The wife is Faustina the Younger, daughter of Antoninus Pius. obsequens (from the deponent obsequor) and amans (from amo) are present participles used as adjectives.
  • II.1 ego vero, cum et naturam boni norim, quod honestum, malique, quod inhonestum sit, ipsamque adeo delinquentis naturam, quod congener mihi sit, non tam quod sanguinis seminisque ejusdem, quam quod mentis ac portionis divinae mecum particeps;delinquentis is the present participle of delinquo "do wrong", used as a noun: "of the one doing wrong", i.e. "of the wrongdoer". ipsamque adeo … naturam "and indeed the very nature".
  • II.1 adversantis est autem succensere et aversari.adversantis is the present participle of the deponent adversor, used as a noun: "of a person opposing".
  • II.2 Quicquid sum, constat id omne caruncula, animula, et parte principante.pars principans "the ruling part" is Gataker's name for the mind, the faculty that directs all the rest. principante is a present participle used like an adjective, ablative in -e.
  • II.2 cruor est, et ossicula, et reticulum ex nervis, venulis arteriisque contextum."A little net woven out of sinews, little veins and arteries": contextum agrees with reticulum, and ex gives the material. The diminutives (reticulum, venulis) belittle the body.
  • II.2 Quin et animam considera, qualis sit. Spiritus est, sive aer, nec is semper idem, sed qui jugiter efflatus denuo resorbetur.
  • II.2 tertium restat, pars illa principatum gerens."That part which holds command": the present participle gerens does the work of an English relative clause. This is the pars principans of the first sentence, the mind; principatum gerere "to hold the rule".
  • II.2 tu ergo sic tecum: senex es: partem tui principem servire ulterius ne siveris; sed nec motibus a communione humana alienis raptari, nec quicquam, quod fato destinatum tibi fuerit, vel jam ascitum aversari, vel futurum pavere.
  • II.3 porro conservant mundum hunc, sicut elementorum, ita et concretorum ex his mutationes.concreta "things grown together" (perfect participle of concresco) is used as a noun: "the compounds made from these", i.e. from the elements.
  • II.3 librorum vero sitim pelle; ut ne murmurans moriaris, sed vere propitius, Deoque ex animo gratus.
  • II.4 Memento, quamdiu ista distuleris, et quoties opportunitates a Diis tibi oblatas neglexeris.oblatas (from offero) is a perfect passive participle agreeing with opportunitates; a Diis names the agent: 'opportunities offered to you by the gods'.
  • II.10 atque omnino alter ei similior existit, qui prior laesus, doloris ratione ad irascendum adigitur: cum is sponte sua ad laedendum feratur, qui ad perpetrandum quidquam cupidine ducitur.prior 'first, earlier' (a comparative with no positive) goes with the participle laesus like an adverb: 'wronged first', i.e. someone provoked before he grew angry.
  • II.12 quid sit ipsum mori; quodque siquis rem ipsam per se intueatur, cogitationeque ab illa submoverit ea omnia, quibus tanquam larvis horrendis instructa imaginationi nostrae se objicit, nihil esse aliud comperiet quam opus naturae.
  • II.12 ejusdem denique facultatis fuerit, considerare, homo Deum quomodo, et qua sui parte contingat; quoque pacto habitura se sit pars ista, ubi corpore soluta fuerit.
  • II.13 colet autem, si affectibus immunem custodierit, et temeritate alienum, nec offensum re aliqua, quam vel Dii vel homines egerint.
  • II.14 neque enim aut praeteritum, aut futurum amittere quis potest.
  • II.15 horum autem utilitas comparebit, si quis quae festive ab illo conscripta sunt, quatenus veritatem habent patrocinantem, admiserit.quatenus "in so far as". patrocinantem, present participle of the deponent patrocinor "plead someone's cause", agrees with veritatem: "in so far as they have truth pleading for them", that is, as far as they are true. The subject of habent is Monimus's writings.
  • II.16 deinde cum vel hominem quemcunque aversatur, vel laedendi consilio adversatur alicui. hujusmodi sunt autem irascentium animae.An aside: "and such are the souls of angry people". hujusmodi (= hujus modi "of this kind") is a genitive of description used as the predicate; irascentium, present participle of irascor, is used as a noun: "of those who are angry".
  • II.17 ea autem in hoc consistit, ut genium quis suum interim conservet integrum, contumelia ac laesione omni immunem, voluptate ac dolore omni superiorem,A long chain of accusatives, all agreeing with genium (acc. sg. m.), describes the state in which the genius is to be kept: first the adjectives integrum, immunem, superiorem, then, in the following lines, the participles agentem, sufficientem, excipientem, expectantem.
  • II.17 nihil temere aut ficte simulateque agentem, sibi sufficientem, cum ut alii faciant aut ne faciant quid, opus nil habeat:The chain goes on: agentem and sufficientem still agree with genium in the sentence before: "(keeping it) doing nothing at random …, sufficient for itself". -que on simulate joins it to ficte.
  • II.17 porro quaecunque eveniunt ac destinantur sibi ita excipientem, tanquam inde obvenientia, unde venerit ipse:
  • II.17 mente denique propitia placidaque mortem ipsam expectantem, tanquam elementorum eorum dissolutionem, ex quibus animal unumquodque consistit.
  • III.1 et ejusmodi universa, quae rationem probe subactam desiderant, haec, inquam, vis jam prorsus extincta jacebit.
  • III.2 Etiam istud est observatu non indignum, quod ea quoque quae a natura genitis superveniunt, gratiam suam quandam et venustatem obtinent.
  • III.2 attamen intercisa et hiantia ista, quamvis ab artis pistoriae instituto aliena, decoris speciem quandam prae se ferunt, et comedendi desiderium suo modo irritant.Two participles used as nouns with ista "those": intercisa "things cut through" (from intercīdo "cut apart", not intercĭdo "fall between") and hiantia "gaping things" (present participle of hio "gape"): "those cracks and gaps" in the crust. They are the subject of both ferunt and irritant.
  • III.2 spicae itidem deorsum vergentes, et leonis supercilium, et aprorum ab ore diffluens spuma multaque alia istiusmodi; quae seorsim siquis intueatur, sunt venustate omni procul;
  • III.2 quia tamen rebus naturalibus adnascuntur, et ornatum illis adjiciunt, et contemplantium quoque animos afficiunt.contemplantium is the present participle of the deponent contemplor "look at, contemplate", used as a noun in the genitive plural: "of those who look at them".
  • III.2 quin et idem ferarum rictus veros haud minore cum voluptate contuebitur, quam pictorum fictorumve arte per imitationem expressos.
  • III.2 tam vetulae item vetulive maturitatem quandam ac decorem, quam et quicquid in pueris venustatis animum allicientis deprehenditur, castis oculis spectare poterit.
  • III.2 denique contingunt multa hujusmodi, quae non cuivis sunt grata, sed illi duntaxat qui adversus naturam operaque ejusdem animum habuerit probe conciliatum.
  • III.3 Heraclitus, de mundi conflagratione cum prolixe disseruisset, aqua intercute viscera distentus, stercoreque oblitus bubulo, interiit.aqua intercus, "water under the skin", is the Latin name for dropsy; intercus, intercutis is an adjective made from inter "between, under" and cutis "skin". aqua intercute is ablative of cause: "by dropsy". viscera is an accusative of respect with the passive participle distentus: "swollen as to his innards", i.e. "with his innards swollen". This accusative, borrowed from Greek, names the part affected.oblitus with a short i is the participle of oblino "smear over"; it is not oblītus "having forgotten" from obliviscor. The ancient lives of Heraclitus say he plastered himself with cow dung to cure his dropsy. bubulo "of cattle" is parted from its noun stercore by the participle.
  • III.4 unde palam fiat extemplo, esse omnia apud te simplicia, benevolaque animalis sicut socialis, et cogitationes omnes neglectim habentis, quaecunque voluptatem aut luxum ullo modo respiciant;
  • III.4 Vir ita compositus, quo minus in optimorum numero censeatur, jam nihil est, cum deorum sacerdos ac minister quidam existat, eoque quod intra se gerit, numine rite utatur.
  • III.4 quod hominem utique praestet intaminatum voluptatibus, dolore omni illaesum, contumelia intactum, improbitatis ne sentientem quidem; certaminis praestantissimi, ne ab affectu scilicet ullo subvertatur, athletam;The present participle sentientem is used like an adjective and so takes a genitive, as in patiens laboris "able to bear toil": "not even sensible of wickedness". The wickedness of others does not reach him.
  • III.4 justitia penitus imbutum; ex animo prorsus amplexantem quaecunque ex lege divina illi attributa contigerint.Two more predicates of hominem: imbutum, perfect participle of imbuo "soak, steep", with the ablative justitia; and amplexantem, present participle of the deponent amplexor "embrace". ex animo "from the heart", i.e. sincerely.
  • III.4 suis enim duntaxat agendis intentus est; sibique ab universo destinata cogitat assidue.destinata "things allotted", a perfect participle used as a noun, is the object of cogitat; sibi "to himself" and ab universo "by the universe" go with it. universum "the whole" is the world seen as one ordered system.
  • III.4 sors enim unicuique assignata, et conducit ei, et in eum finem est eidem collata.
  • III.5 Neque invitus quicquam agas, neque societatis communis immemor, nec nisi re probe prius explorata, aggressus, nec affectibus abreptus.All four words are nominative singular masculine and describe "you", the subject of agas: do nothing (as a man) unwilling, forgetful, having set about it rashly, carried away. English turns invitus into an adverb, "unwillingly".
  • III.5 faxis vero, ut qui in te residet Deus, praeses sit animantis masculi, aetate provecti, reipublicae studiosi, Romani, principis;
  • III.5 porro vultus adsit hilaris; animusque ita comparatus, ut nec externo aliquo indigeas ministerio, nec tranquillitate ea, quam ab aliis suppeditari necesse sit.
  • III.5 rectum denique, non surrectum ac suffultum esse oportet.
  • III.6 animo ita affecto, ut in eis, quae secundum rationis dictamen peragenda sunt, sibimet ipsi, in eis quae citra consilii proprii opem obveniunt, fato acquiescat.
  • III.6 sin praestabilius nihil offenderis, genio in te collocato, cum ita fuerit comparatus, ut motus suos omnes sibi subjecerit, et visa quaeque diligenter exploret,
  • III.6 si animo sic affecto inferiora vilioraque caetera omnia deprehendis, nulli alii rei cuiquam locum concedas,
  • III.6 bono siquidem rationali et publicum spectante nihil extraneum exadversum consistere fas est; vulgi, puta, existimationem, principatus, divitias, aut vitam voluptuariam.
  • III.7 Nihil unquam in pretio pro utili habeas, quod eo te adigat, ut fidem fallas, modestiam deseras, oderis quenquam, suspectum habeas, execreris, simules, appetas quicquam, quod parietes circumjectos velamentaque desideret.
  • III.7 quod est maximum, victurus est, mortis nec appetens, nec metuens.
  • III.7 quin nec tantillum interesse censebit, spatio temporis prolixiore an contractiore anima sua corpore inclusa utatur.
  • III.8 In hominis castigati atque expurgati animo, nihil suppurati, nihil impuri, nihil subdoli offendas.
  • III.8 neque vero vitam hujus non consummatam fatum unquam abruperit. perinde ac si tragoedum dixerit quis ante fabulam peractam scena cessisse.
  • III.9 postulat autem ista, ut nihil temere statuamus, ut hominibus benevoli, Deisque obsequentes simus.
  • III.10 eaque homuncionum morti celerrime concedentium, qui ne seipsos quidem probe norint, nedum jam olim defunctum quempiam, successionibus propagata.homuncio "little man" is a diminutive of homo, said with contempt or pity. morti concedere "to give way to death" means "to die"; the present participle in the genitive plural agrees with homuncionum: "of little men very soon to die".
  • III.11 hoc a fati serie connexa contextaque, vel a concursu fortuito istiusmodi:
  • III.11 caeterum ego, cum norim, ideo adversus illum benevole justeque me gero, juxta societatis legem a natura latam.
  • III.12 Si rationi rectae obsecutus, id quicquid est, quod jam instat, sedulo, strenue, placide egeris, nec extra opus institutum accessorium aliquid respexeris;extra with the accusative: "beyond the work undertaken"; institutum is the participle of instituo "set about", agreeing with opus. accessorium aliquid "anything added on" is a side-business; after nec it means "nothing on the side".
  • III.12 huic, inquam, si adhaeseris, nihil ulterius expectans, nihil fugitans; sed quod prae manibus est juxta naturae dictamen agere, et in dictis quibusque animo heroico veritatem libere proloqui contentus; prospere plane victurus es.Present participles agreeing with the understood "you": "expecting nothing further, shunning nothing". fugito is a strengthened form of fugio "flee". expectans is Gataker's spelling of exspectans.
  • III.13 neque enim, homines quod spectat, quicquam recte egeris sine habito ad res divinas respectu; nec vice versa.Latin uses a participle where English uses a verbal noun: literally "without regard had to things divine", that is, "without having regard to …". habito agrees with respectu; respectus ad "regard to".
  • III.14 Ne diutius evageris. neque enim futurum est, ut commentarios tuos perlegas, aut Romanorum ac Graecorum priscorum res gestas, aut ex autoribus variis excerpta, quae, quo in senectute usui tibi essent, reposuisti.res gestae "things done" is the usual Latin for "deeds, exploits, history"; gestas is the participle of gero "carry on, do".excerpta "things picked out", the participle of excerpo used as a noun: "extracts from various authors". autoribus is Gataker's spelling of auctoribus.
  • III.14 ad finem itaque festina, et spes vanas mittens, si rationem tui ullam habes, tibi consule; quod licet.mitto here means "let go, give up". The participle mittens "letting go" belongs to the "you" of consule.
  • III.16 affectibus tanquam fidiculis agitari, atque abripi, feris quoque competit, et effoeminatis, et Phalaridi, et Neroni, et Deos negantibus, et patriam deserentibus, et postquam fores sibi occluserint, quidlibet perpetrantibus.Present participles in the dative used as nouns: Deos negantibus "to those denying the gods", patriam deserentibus "to those deserting their country", quidlibet perpetrantibus "to those committing anything whatever".
  • III.16 Si caetera ergo eorum, qui jam dicti sunt, communia fuerint, restat, ut viri boni hoc sit peculiare, in eis quae officii sui esse videbuntur, mentis ductum sequi, et fatis volventibus casus vitae intextos lubenter amplexari;
  • III.16 genium vero intra se in pectore situm, nec polluere, nec visorum congerie perturbare; sed placidum servare;
  • III.16 ad quem par est accedere purum, pacatum, promptum, sponte sua fato suo sese accommodantem.
  • IV.1 neque enim de materia certa ulla solicita est: sed ad ipsa etiam praeposita cum exceptione fertur:praeposita "the preferred things" is a Stoic term (Greek proēgmena): things like health or success, not truly good but reasonably preferred. It is the perfect participle of praepono used as a noun, "things put before (others)". ipsa etiam "even … themselves": even towards these the mind moves only on terms.
  • IV.1 quemadmodum ignis validior, ubi ea, vel obvia facta, vel injecta, corripuerit, quae lucernam exilem cito extinxissent, accommodat sibi et absumit, et ex eis ipsis incrementa capit.
  • IV.3 praecipue, si quis ea intra se reposita habuerit, quorum contemplatione summam extemplo tranquillitatem consequatur.
  • IV.3 tranquillitatem eam dico, quae in animi probe compositi statu consistit.
  • IV.3 hoc itaque recessu jugiter usus, te renova.
  • IV.3 habeas autem penes te brevia quaedam et principalia documenta, quae statim ubi succurrerint, omnem animi molestiam eluere tibi possint, remittantque te nihil aegre ferentem eorum, ad quae reverteris.
  • IV.3 perpendens tecum dogma illud, homines alterum alterius caussa natos esse; tum aequanimitatem esse justitiae portionem; porro invitos delinquere;perpendens "weighing" is a present participle; it belongs to the "you" of desine at the end of the next part, so everything here leads up to that one command. tecum "with yourself" (= cum te) means in your own mind. dogma illud "that doctrine" is then spelled out.
  • IV.3 At universi ipsius administratio, et inde obvenientia, aegre tibi faciunt.
  • IV.3 at tu considera, mentem tuam ubi semel agnita vi propria, subduxerit sese, spiritui sive leniter sive aspere moto neutiquam immisceri.
  • IV.3 tum quam inanes plane applausus isti; quam mutabile et judicii expers faventium vulgus; quam angusto denique spatio laus ista terminetur.
  • IV.3 istic autem agentium quota pars, et hi quales sunt, qui te celebraturi sint?
  • IV.4 hoc si conceditur, cives sumus: et hoc dato, politiae alicujus participes: et ex consequenti, civitatis instar mundus est.consequenti is the present participle of the deponent consequor "follow", used as a neuter noun: ex consequenti "from what follows", i.e. "as a consequence, consequently".
  • IV.12 alterum, nihil ut facias, nisi quod partis regere legemque dare natae ratio suggesserit, idque ad generis humani utilitatem.All of this is the subject of suggesserit, built round ratio at the end: ratio partis … natae "the reason of the part born …". The participle natae "born" (from the deponent nascor) agrees with partis and takes two infinitives, regere "to rule" and legem dare "to give law": "the part born to rule and to give law". This is the mind, the ruling part of man.
  • IV.17 Tu ne tanquam annorum millia aliquot adhuc victurus, rem geras.tanquam "as if" with the future participle victurus "going to live": "as one who is going to live", "as if you were going to live". victurus comes from vivo (supine victum), not from vinco "conquer", which has the same supine. millia aliquot "some thousands" is the accusative of time how long; the plural millia is a noun and takes the genitive annorum: "some thousands of years".
  • IV.19 et qui huic successerit, ipse pariter; donec tandem memoria omnis prorsus per suspicientes eosdemque mox extinctos protelata, et ipsa prorsus extinguatur.suspicientes is a participle used as a noun, "people who look up to (him)", admirers; it is from suspicio "look up at", not the noun suspicio "suspicion". eosdemque mox extinctos is "and the same soon extinguished": idem often adds a second fact about the same people, "who are themselves soon put out". protelata is from protelo, first "drive forward" (a protelum is a team of oxen pulling in a line), in later Latin "draw out, prolong"; with prorsus "onward" it pictures memory handed down a line of people.
  • IV.21 quomodo vero, quae ab aevo tam immenso in ea condita sunt, corpora terra capit?
  • IV.21 sicut enim hic corpora, ubi ad spatium aliquod temporis in terra permanserint, mutata et dissipata, cadaveribus aliis locum concedunt:mutata et dissipata "changed and scattered" are perfect participles agreeing with corpora: first they are changed and broken up, then they give way. locum concedere + dative is "to give up one's place to, make room for".
  • IV.21 ita et animae, in aerem translatae, ubi aliquandiu ibi perstiterint, mutantur, funduntur, succenduntur, in seminalem universi rationem receptae:ita answers sicut: "so too souls …". translatae "carried across, moved" is the perfect participle of transfero, agreeing with animae: "once they have been moved into the air".
  • IV.21 hoc respondere licebit, si pro concesso sumatur, animas corporibus esse superstites.
  • IV.21 quin et reputanda est non sepultorum tantum hoc modo corporum multitudo, sed et animalium, quae quotidie tum a nobis, tum a bestiis, comeduntur.
  • IV.21 quam ingens enim horum turba absumitur, et in vescentium visceribus hac ratione quasi sepelitur?vescentium "of those who feed" is the present participle of the deponent vescor "feed on", used as a noun. The eaters' bowels become a kind of grave: quasi "as it were" softens the bold image, and hac ratione is "in this way".
  • IV.25 eum dico, qui rebus ab universo sibi assignatis acquiescit, et propria actione, quae justa, affectione, quae benevola sit, contentus agit.rebus … assignatis "the things assigned" frames the phrase: the noun first, its participle last, with the agent ab universo "by the universe" and sibi "to him" in between. The ablative goes with acquiescit "rests content in".
  • IV.29 profugus, qui rationem civilem fugit. caecus, qui mentis oculos clausos habet. mendicus, qui alterius cujusquam indiget, neque apud se habet, quicquid ad vitam conducat.
  • IV.29 abscissus civitatis, qui animam propriam a rationalium reliquorum anima, quae una omnium est communis, abscindit.abscissus is the perfect participle of abscindo "cut off", used as a noun: "one cut off", and with the genitive civitatis "a piece cut off from the city" (the Greek word means a splinter split off). As with abscessus mundi, qui abscedit before, the noun echoes the verb: abscissus …, qui … abscindit.
  • IV.32 Cogita, verbi gratia, tempora sub Vespasiano acta, eadem prorsus omnia, quae nunc sunt, deprehendes.
  • IV.32 nuptias contrahentes, liberos tollentes, aegrotantes, defungentes, militantes, ferias agentes, mercaturam exercentes, agros colentes,Every word of this list (and of the next part) that ends in -entes or -antes is a present participle in the accusative plural, used as a noun: aegrotantes "people being ill". All are objects of deprehendes "you will find" in the last part, spelling out eadem … omnia: "you will find people marrying, …". A participle can still take an object as a verb does: nuptias contrahentes "contracting marriages".
  • IV.32 adulationi deditos, arroganter pervicaces, suspicionibus indulgentes, insidias struentes, mortem aliquorum expetentes, de rerum statu praesente quiritantes, opes congerentes, consulatus, regnive appetentes.
  • IV.32 pari modo tempora alia nota peculiari aliqua designata, vel etiam gentes totas, contemplare;
  • IV.33 unum hoc, ut mens sit justa, actio socialis, dictio mentiri nescia, affectio quicquid contigerit amplecti prompta, ut necessarium, ut familiare, ut a principio fonteque istiusmodi profluens.
  • IV.34 Fato sponte tua te dedas; ei permittens, quibuscunque libuerit rebus te destinet.
  • IV.36 et assuesce te cogitationi isti, nihil aeque diligere universi naturam, ac ea quae jam existunt mutare, et ex eis sic mutatis nova germina refingere.
  • IV.37 Jam jam moriturus es: necdum simplex es, imperturbatus, posse extrinsecus laedi suspicione immunis, cunctis propitius, juste agere unicam prudentiam ratus?
  • IV.39 In alterius mente malum tuum non est situm. sed nec in mutatione et alteratione corporis animam ambientis.
  • IV.39 quicquid enim et secundum naturam et praeter eandem viventi ex aequo contingit, id ipsum neque secundum neque praeter naturam est.viventi "to one living" is a participle used as a noun, in the dative after contingit "happens to". Both prepositional phrases go with it: "to one living according to nature and (to one living) against it". praeter here is "contrary to", and eandem "the same" stands for naturam.
  • IV.41 Animula es cadaver gestans; aiebat Epictetus.
  • IV.42 Nihil mali est rebus mutationem subeuntibus, sicut nec eis quae mutatione interveniente consistunt.
  • IV.43 Flumen quoddam et torrens rapidus, est aevum, ex eis quae hic fiunt consistens.
  • IV.45 Subsequentia antecedentibus apte semper annectuntur.Two neuter plural participles used as nouns: subsequentia "the things following" (from the deponent subsequor) and antecedentibus "the things going before". annectuntur "are tied on" takes the dative, as many verbs compounded with ad- do: "the things that follow are tied to those that went before".
  • IV.45 neque enim rerum enumeratio simplex est a se invicem discretarum, quae necessitate tamen quadam contineantur; sed rationi consentanea connexio;
  • IV.46 item nihil tanquam per somnum agendum, dicendumve. siquidem dormientes quoque multa agere, et dicere videmur.
  • IV.48 Crebro apud te reputa, quot medici sint mortui, qui super decumbentes, tanquam conclamatos jam, supercilia contraxerint:conclamare is "to cry out together": at a Roman deathbed the family called the dead person's name aloud, and so conclamatus came to mean "given up for dead, past hope". tanquam "as if" goes with the participle: the doctors frowned over the sick "as if they were already lost", and yet the doctors died too.
  • IV.48 quot tyranni, postquam vitae necisque potestatem, tanquam extra mortis aleam positi, diro cum fastu exercuerant:alea is a game of dice, and so chance, risk. The tyrants behaved "as if placed outside the dice-throw of death", as though death's game of chance could not reach them. positi agrees with tyranni; tanquam "as if" with a participle, as with conclamatos above.
  • IV.48 Percurre itidem quoscunque noveris ipse, qui vice frequenti, alii alios ubi sepelierant, et ipsi tandem elati sunt:efferre "to carry out" is the word for carrying the dead out of the house to burial, and elati sunt is its perfect passive: "they themselves were at last carried out". Its principal parts are irregular, like fero: effero, efferre, extuli, elatum.
  • IV.48 perinde ac oliva maturitatem adepta ceciderit, naturam quae protulit collaudans, arborique e qua prodiit, gratias agens.Two present participles describe the olive as it falls: collaudans "praising" the nature that bore it, and gratias agens "giving thanks" to the tree it grew from. gratias agere with the dative is the regular "to give thanks to"; arborique = et arbori.
  • IV.49 Promontorii par esto, cui fluctus jugiter cum allidantur, ipsum tamen consistit, undarumque circumfusum sibi aestum compescit.
  • IV.50 quid enim amplius illis, quam immature defunctis contigit?
  • IV.50 Omnino jacent alicubi defuncti et illi, Cadicianus, Fabius, Julianus, Lepidus, aut si quis alius hujusmodi, qui postquam multos extulerant, efferebantur et ipsi.Omnino here is "after all, in short". defuncti "dead" (from defungor, "to have done with" life) goes with jacent: "they lie dead somewhere". The subject is et illi "those (men) too", the long-lived, who are then named: their long years end where the short lives ended.
  • IV.50 si enim aevi praeteriti immensitatem adverteris et futuri itidem infinitatem, quid tandem distabit, triduanus qui fuerit, ab eo qui secula tria transegerit?
  • V.1 aut nunquid ad hoc conditus sum, ut stragulis involutum decumbens me foveam?Two participles describe the man in bed. decumbens "lying down" is nominative and goes with the subject, "I"; involutum "wrapped" is accusative and goes with me, the object of foveam. stragulis "in coverlets, bedclothes" is an ablative of means with involutum. Word for word: "that lying down I should keep myself warm, wrapped in the bedclothes".
  • V.1 an non arbusculas, aviculas, formicas, araneas, apiculas vides eam quam in mundo stationem obtinent, excolere satagentes?satagentes "being busy" is the present participle of satago (sat "enough" + ago: "to have one's hands full"), agreeing with the creatures, the objects of vides: "you see them busy". It takes an infinitive, excolere "to tend, cultivate", whose object is stationem.
  • V.1 siquidem artes suas qui diligunt artifices, earundem operibus etiam intabescunt, illuvie inediaque affecti.
  • V.1 et isti enim, ubi rebus hisce addicti fuerint, nec cibum, nec somnum capere magis expetunt, quam ista, ad quae tam enixe feruntur, promovere:
  • V.1 cum tibi actiones societatem humanam spectantes sordeant magis, quam ut pari industria dignae censeantur.spectare "look towards" here means "concern, have in view": actions that serve human society. This is the "work of a human being" (opus humanum) with which the section began.
  • V.3 quae tu noli attendere, sed recta perge, naturae tum propriae, tum et communi obsecutus.
  • V.4 Per ea quae naturae sunt consentanea incedo, donec occumbens tandem conquiescam, eo expirando, unde spiritum quotidie haurio,
  • V.4 unde quotidianum per tot annos cibum potumque accepi; quod calcantem, et ad tam varios usus eo abutentem me sustinuit.quod "which" is neuter: it means the earth, the "that" (eo) into which we fall back. Two participles describe me, the object: calcantem "treading (on it)" and abutentem "misusing (it)". The earth has carried me all along, though I walk all over it. me sustinuit "has borne me" is Gataker's reading (1652).
  • V.5 haec itaque praesta, quae in te omnino sunt sita, animum sincerum, gravem, laborum tolerantem, voluptatum abstinentem, sorte contentum, paucorum indigum, mitem, liberum, luxu alienum, serium, sublimem.Present participles used as adjectives, for a lasting quality, take a genitive instead of an object: laborum tolerantem "enduring of toil", i.e. able to bear it; voluptatum abstinentem "abstinent of pleasures". In the same way indigus "in need" takes a genitive: paucorum indigum "in need of few things".
  • V.6 est enim societatis legem colentis proprium hoc, ut sentiat se secundum legem illam agere; utque velit etiam, per Jovem, eum quocum sic agit, id persentiscere.
  • V.8 atque hinc est quod ea convenire nobis dicimus: quomodo lapides quadratos in moenibus aut pyramidibus convenire dicunt artifices, cum sibi invicem scite compositi coaptantur.
  • V.9 Noli aegre ferre, aut animum despondere, aut stomachari, si juxta decreta recta agere volenti, haud perinde semper successerit.
  • V.9 verum, ubi excussum aliquando te senseris, regredere, pluribusque pro officii humani ratione gestis contentus sis; atque illud, ad quod regrederis, fac diligas.
  • V.10 ubinam enim gentium est, qui sententiam, falsus quandoque, non mutaverit?
  • V.10 ad subjecta jam ipsa si transieris, quam caduca, quam vilia sunt? quaeque etiam cinaedo, scorto, latroni in possessionem cedere possint.subjecta "the things lying beneath", the perfect participle of subjicio used as a noun, is a philosophers' word for the actual objects, the material things themselves, as against our judgements about them. transieris is future perfect: "if you pass on (to them)".
  • V.10 in hujusmodi itaque caligine ac sorde, tantoque materiae, temporis, motuum, rerumque motarum fluxu, nihil possum comminisci, quod aestimatione studiove dignum videatur.
  • V.12 si quid eorum quae revera bona sunt mente quispiam conceperit, puta, prudentiam, temperantiam, justitiam, fortitudinem, ista, inquam, si animo praeconceperit, non sustinebit adjectum huic audire quicquam, quod non rei bonae probe congruat.
  • V.12 at vero quae vulgo pro bonis habentur, ubi animo praeconceperit quis, auribus aequis accipiet, facileque admittet, tanquam apte adjectum id, quod a comico quandoque dictum est,
  • V.12 Eas nunc et quaeras licet, utrum in honore habendae, aut in bonis censendae sint res hujusmodi, quibus animo prius conceptis illud commode possit adjici, homini istis instructo prae opulentia sua non suppetere, ubi ventris onus deponat.
  • V.15 atqui contra, quo quis horum hisque similium plura sibi detraxerit, aut ab aliis detracta aequanimiter sustinuerit, eo melior merito censetur.
  • V.16 praestant autem inanimatis quidem animata; ex animatis vero quae ratione sunt praedita.
  • V.22 quin et etiamsi civitati nonnihil inde nocumenti accederet, ne sic quidem succensendum esset civitatem laedenti, sed ostendendum in quo delinquat.
  • V.23 cogita itidem vastum istud utrinque adjacens praeteriti ac futuri temporis immensum, quo conduntur universa.
  • V.27 faciatque quaecunque genius ille voluerit, quem sui particulam a se avulsam Jupiter cuique attribuit, praesidem ducemque eidem futurum.futurum is the future participle of sum, agreeing with quem: "which was to be", giving the purpose of the gift. praesidem ducemque "guardian and guide" are its predicates: "to be guardian and guide to that same man". eidem "to the same" refers back to cuique.
  • V.29 Quo modo vivere cogitas vita mox excessurus, eodem, si volueris, vivere jam licet.excessurus is the future participle of excedo, agreeing with "you", the subject of cogitas: "being about to depart". vita is an ablative of separation, "from life", as often with verbs of going out. Marcus's Greek says "as you mean to live once you have departed"; Gataker makes it "as one soon to depart". Either way the life you picture for some later time is open to you now.
  • V.30 Universi mens communionis mutuae amans est.
  • V.31 nunquid hactenus adversus horum aliquem, quod minus deceat, quicquam vel facto, vel dicto etiam admiseris.
  • V.31 recole itidem, quot praeclara videris; quot voluptates ac dolores spreveris; quot pro gloriosis habita neglectui habueris; quot improbis denique aequum te exhibueris.
  • V.33 quin et illa ipsa, quae in hac vita tanto habentur in pretio, vana sunt, putida, exilia, canicularum instar invicem rixantium, aut puerulorum secum invicem litigantium, et ridentium modo, mox plorantium.instar + genitive is "like, after the fashion of", and here follows its genitive: canicularum instar "like puppies". Both comparisons are made with present participles in the genitive: puppies rixantium "scrapping" (from the deponent rixor), little boys litigantium "squabbling", ridentium "laughing", plorantium "crying". invicem and secum invicem both mean "with one another".
  • V.35 Si nec aut vitiositas haec mea sit, aut effectum vitiositatis meae; nec communitas ea laeditur, cur de re ista ipse differor?effectum is the neuter perfect participle of efficio used as a noun, "a thing brought about, an effect": an act that springs from my vice. Only my own vice, and what it produces, is truly bad for me.
  • V.36 sed quemadmodum senex discedens alumni turbinem poscebat, cum turbinem tamen, hoc est, ludicrum quiddam, esse meminisset: ita et istic te geras.A little scene known only from this passage, perhaps from a comedy: an old man, going away, asks for his foster-child's top, a spinning toy, although he knows it is only a toy. quemadmodum … ita "just as … so" frames the comparison; alumnus is a nursling or foster-child; discedens "leaving" is a present participle, "as he went away".
  • V.36 ad rostra ubi declamitans fueris, an oblitus es, homo, haec quidnam sint?The Rostra were the speakers' platform in the Roman Forum, named after the bronze beaks (rostra) of captured ships fixed to its front. The Greek here is uncertain; Gataker's Latin pictures you haranguing the people from the Rostra, as an emperor might, about these very losses. declamitans is from declamito, the frequentative of declamo, "to declaim again and again"; with fueris it makes a periphrasis, "you have been declaiming".
  • V.36 quocunque loco deprehensus, felix futurus sis.deprehensus "caught, overtaken" is a perfect participle agreeing with "you": wherever death or fortune comes upon you. futurus sis, the future participle of sum with the present subjunctive sis, is a potential: "you may be going to be", "you can be" fortunate, whatever the place. quocunque is Gataker's spelling of quocumque "whatever"; felix is nominative, a predicate agreeing with the subject.
  • VI.1 Universi materia obsequens est et parere prompta.Two predicates of materia. obsequens "compliant" is the present participle of the deponent obsequor "comply", used as an adjective. prompta "ready" takes an infinitive: parere prompta "ready to obey". This parere is from pāreō "obey" (long a, long e), not from pariō "give birth", whose infinitive is spelled the same.
  • VI.2 Pari loco habeas, frigore rigens, an calore fotus, quod est officii tui, feceris.Two participles describe you as you do your duty: rigens "stiff" (from rigeo), with frigore "with cold", and fotus "warmed", the perfect passive participle of foveo, with calore "by heat". an "or" joins the two; the first half of a double question may leave out utrum "whether".
  • VI.2 item utrum dormituriens, an somni satur; male audiens, an collaudatus; moriens itidem, an aliud quid agens.
  • VI.6 Optimus injuriam ulciscendi modus est, inferenti ne sis similis.
  • VI.10 Universum aut est cinnus quidam rerum, nunc concursu fortuito invicem implexarum, mox dissipatarum denuo;Two perfect passive participles agree with rerum: things "now entangled with one another by chance collision, soon scattered again". nunc … mox "now … soon" gives the endless round of joining and breaking up; concursu fortuito "by chance collision" is the Epicurean meeting of atoms.
  • VI.10 aut est compages rerum in unum ordine justo convenientium, quae providentia regatur.compages "a structure, framework" (from compingo "fasten together") answers cinnus: a building, not a jumble. convenientium "coming together" is a present participle agreeing with rerum; in unum "into one", ordine justo "in just order", an ablative of manner.
  • VI.11 Siquando a rebus circumstantibus per vim quandam adactum perturbari te senseris, cito ad te redi, nec plus quam necesse est, ab animi tenore congruo recede.After senseris comes te "yourself", described by the participle adactum "driven, forced", which takes the infinitive perturbari "to be thrown into confusion": "feel yourself forced to be disturbed". a rebus circumstantibus "by the things around you" gives the agent, per vim quandam "by a kind of force" the means.
  • VI.13 ac rursus, de falerno, esse uvulae succum; de purpura, esse oviculae capillos conchylii cruore tinctos;purpura is the purple robe of emperors and magistrates. Its dye came from a shellfish, the murex, called conchylium: cruore "with the blood" is an ablative of means with tinctos "dyed", the perfect passive participle of tingo, which agrees with capillos "hairs". The emperor's robe is wool soaked in shellfish juice.
  • VI.15 fluxus et mutationes mundum perpetim renovant, sicut temporis successio nunquam intermissa aevum interminatum exhibet novum subinde.
  • VI.15 in hoc igitur flumine, in quo consistere non datur, quorsum quis horum sic praeterlabentium quicquam in pretio habeat?praeterlabentium "gliding past" is the present participle of the deponent praeterlabor, agreeing with horum "these things"; the genitive is partitive with quicquam: "anything of these things that slip past so".
  • VI.15 perinde ac si avicularum praetervolantium aliquam diligere quis inciperet, cum ea e conspectu statim abscesserit.
  • VI.16 Non est aestimatione multa dignum, aut perspirari, quod et plantarum est; aut respirare, quod et pecudum et belluarum est; aut a sensibus rerum imagines impressas admittere;
  • VI.16 at contra mentem propriam si in veneratione ac honore habueris, et tibi gratum id te faciat, et communioni accommodum, et Diis consentientem, dum quaecunque illi attribuunt ac constituunt, laudas.
  • VI.17 sed divinius est quiddam, viaque haud facili apprehensu progrediens, prospere semper procedit.progrediens "advancing" is the present participle of the deponent progredior, agreeing with motus. Though its path is hard to trace, virtue always gets on well: prospere procedit "goes forward prosperously".
  • VI.22 aut enim sunt inanima, aut rationis expertia, aut aberrantia, viaeque nescia.aberrantia is a present participle used like an adjective, neuter plural to agree with reliqua: "straying". sunt at the start serves all three predicates. nescius "not knowing" takes the genitive: viae nescia "ignorant of the way".
  • VI.23 homines vero, cum rationis sint tecum participes, tanquam societate tibi conjunctos, habeas.
  • VI.26 quibus observatis, oportet te nec perturbatum, nec indignationem indignatione pensantem, sed recta pergentem perficere quod prae manibus est.
  • VI.30 itaque serva te simplicem, bonum, integrum, gravem, serium, justi amantem, pium, placidum, affectu genuino praeditum, in officio praestando strenuum.
  • VI.30 imitare constantem illius in rebus rite gestis tenorem, in cunctis aequabilitatem, pietatem, vultus serenitatem, comitatem, gloriae inanis contemptum, in rebus indagandis studium;
  • VI.30 utque tulerit immerito reprehendentes, nec eos vicissim redarguerit.A present participle used as a noun: reprehendentes "people criticising", i.e. those who found fault with him, and immerito "undeservedly" goes with it. eos "them" then refers back to those people.
  • VI.30 ut paucis contentus, tecto nempe, strato, veste, victu, servitio: ut laborum amans, irasci tardus,
  • VI.30 eodem loci ad vesperam usque, diaetae tenuis beneficio, manere potis; nec excernere, nisi tempore consueto, necesse habens.
  • VI.30 utque sententiis ipsius libere se opponentes sustinuerit; gavisus etiam, si quis melius quicquam proferret.
  • VI.31 et somno excusso, ubi intellexeris, somnia mera fuisse, quae te conturbabant, ista vigilans jam denuo intuere, quo modo illa es intuitus, quae in somniis vidisti.
  • VI.32 futura enim et praeterita illius opera, et ipsa eidem jam sunt indifferentia.Two participles used as adjectives: futura (from sum) "future", praeterita (from praetereo "go past") "past". What the mind will do or has done is not, at this moment, in its power.
  • VI.36 Asia, Europa, orbis sunt anguli. mare quodvis orbis guttula; Athos mons, ejusdem glebula; tempus instans omne, punctum aevi.instans, the present participle of insto "be at hand", gives tempus instans "the present time"; omne "all of it". The whole present is one point of aevum, unending time.
  • VI.38 sunt enim omnia quodammodo sibi invicem implexa, atque ea ratione sibi invicem amica.
  • VI.38 alterum enim alterius consequens est, et per connexionem localem, et per conspirationem mutuam, et per materiae continuitatem.
  • VI.42 Ad unum eundemque effectum operam conferunt universi suam, alii scientes ac intelligentes, alii effectionis inscii.
  • VI.42 quomodo dormientes quoque Heraclitus, opinor, operarios esse dixit, et ad ea quae in mundo aguntur, operas conferre.
  • VI.42 ex abundanti vero et is qui quiritatur, et qui in adversum nititur, et qui ea quae fiunt, tollere conatur.
  • VI.42 nam et sic affectis mundus opus habebat.
  • VI.42 siquidem rector ille universi omnino te probe utetur, teque in operariorum operasque mutuas conferentium partem recipiet.partem "a share, a place" is the object of in, and two genitives depend on it: operariorum "of the workers" and operas mutuas conferentium "of those contributing their labours together", a present participle used as a noun with its own object. The -que on operas joins the participle to operariorum.
  • VI.44 sin de nulla prorsus re consilia ineunt, quod tamen impium est credere, quorsum tunc immolemus, supplicemus, juremus, alia faciamus, quae facimus singuli, tanquam si Deos praesentes et conversantes nobiscum habeamus:
  • VI.46 Quemadmodum afficere te solent ea quae in theatro locisque ejusmodi repraesentantur, ut eadem semper uniformiter exhibita, spectandi satietatem pariant: eodem modo et in vita tota sis affectus.
  • VI.47 tot heroes prisci; tot hos secuti imperatores, tyranni: Eudoxus insuper, Hipparchus, Archimedes;
  • VI.47 alia acuta, sublimia, industria, versuta, arrogantia ingenia: ipsi vitae hujusce caducae et in dieculam durantis subsannatores, qualis Menippus, illiusque similes.
  • VI.47 unicum ergo istic est, quod sit plurimi faciendum, ut veritatem justitiamque colens ipse, cum mendacibus injustisque benevole degas.
  • VI.48 nihil enim animum oblectat magis, quam virtutum imagines in moribus eorum qui una degunt nobiscum exerentes se, et, quam fieri potest confertissime, mentis oculis se ingerentes.Two present participles agree with imagines (feminine plural): exerentes se "putting themselves forth, showing themselves" (Gataker writes exero for exsero), and se ingerentes "thrusting themselves upon", with the dative mentis oculis "the eyes of the mind". una … nobiscum "together with us": nobiscum is cum nobis, with cum put after the pronoun.
  • VI.53 Assuesce eis quae ab alio dicuntur animum sedulo adhibere, et quantum poteris dicentis animo penitus interesse.intersum with the dative is "to be present in, take part in": dicentis animo … interesse "to be inside the mind of the one speaking", to follow what he means as well as what he says. dicentis is a present participle used as a noun, "of the speaker". quantum poteris "as far as you will be able": Latin uses the future where English says "as far as you can".
  • VI.55 aut quo modo exequerentur illi, quod navigantibus salutem pareret, aegrotantibus sanitatem?quod "what" has no antecedent; the clause is the object of exequerentur. navigantibus "those sailing" and aegrotantibus "those who are ill" are present participles used as nouns, in the dative. With aegrotantibus sanitatem supply pareret "would bring" again; it is subjunctive because the clause belongs to the imagined case.
  • VI.57 Aurigine affectis mel amarum videtur; a cane rabido morsis, aqua formidabilis: contra pueris pila pulcrum quid.affectis "(those) affected" and morsis "(those) bitten" are perfect passive participles used as nouns, in the dative with videtur "seems (to)". Aurigine "by jaundice" is an ablative of means; a cane rabido "by a mad dog" gives the agent. Jaundice was thought to make everything taste of bile, and a man with rabies dreads water: hence its old name, "hydrophobia".
  • VII.3 Pompae studium inane, fabulae scenicae, greges, armenta, velitationes, catulis projectum ossiculum, offula in piscinam immissa, formicarum aerumnae et bajulationes, musculorum perterritorum discursus, sigillaria verticillis cita.Two pictures of a scramble for food, each a noun with a perfect participle: projectum ossiculum "a little bone thrown", with the dative catulis "to puppies"; offula in piscinam immissa "a morsel thrown into a fishpond", for the fish to fight over. ossiculum, offula and catulus are diminutives: small things for small creatures.
  • VII.5 si sufficit, ea tanquam instrumento ab universi natura mihi dato ad hoc efficiendum utor,
  • VII.7 quid ergo, si ad propugnaculum ascendere solus, quia claudus es, nequeas, ab altero vero adjutus possis?
  • VII.8 De futuris solicitus ne sis.
  • VII.8 accedes enim ad ea, si ita necesse fuerit, ratione instructus eadem, qua nunc ad praesentia uteris.
  • VII.9 etenim et mundus unus, et Deus unus est in omnibus, et materia una, et lex una; ratio nempe animantium intelligentium omnium communis; et veritas una:ratio stands in apposition to lex, and nempe "namely" marks it as an explanation: the one law is the reason common to all intelligent creatures. communis "common to" takes the genitive here. intelligentium "understanding, intelligent" is a present participle used as an adjective.
  • VII.10 memoria denique rei cujusque pari celeritate in aevo quasi defossa sepelitur.defossa, the perfect passive participle of defodio "dig down, bury in the ground", agrees with memoria: memory "is buried as if dug under", heaped over with earth. aevum is unending time, eternity, and in aevo with the ablative says where it lies. quasi "as if" marks the burial as a picture.
  • VII.12 Aut rectus, aut erectus sis.
  • VII.19 Per mundi substantiam, tanquam per torrentem, corpora transeunt universa, ipsa universo, prout membra sibi invicem nostra, coalita et eidem cooperantia.The closing phrase describes the bodies: ipsa "themselves" is neuter plural to agree with corpora. Each participle has a dative: universo coalita "grown together with the universe", eidem cooperantia "working together with the same (universe)". coalesco "grow together" has no passive, so its perfect participle means "having grown together"; cooperantia is the present participle of the deponent cooperor.
  • VII.24 Siquidem enim ita vultum quis obfirmaverit, ut peccati sensus omnis aufugerit, quorsum homo sic affectus vitam protrahat amplius?
  • VII.26 Cum adversus te quicquid peccaverit quis, considera statim, quid bonum malumve esse ratus id egerit.
  • VII.26 sin ejusmodi nec bona nec mala censueris, ex errore animi delinquentem aequanimiter feras.delinquentem "the one going wrong": a present participle used as a noun, the object of feras. ex errore animi "out of an error of the mind" gives the cause: he does wrong because he is mistaken.
  • VII.28 mens etenim rationalis ita est natura comparata, ut sibi sufficiat ipsa juste agens, et hoc ipso nacta sibi tranquillitatem.Two participles describe the mind (ipsa "itself"): juste agens "acting justly", and nacta "having gained", the perfect participle of the deponent nanciscor. hoc ipso "by this very thing", acting justly, is how it wins its calm; nacta presents the calm as already won.
  • VII.29 rem subjectam quamque divide et partire in formam et materiam.
  • VII.34 illud item dispice, sicut arenarum cumuli alii aliis superingesti priora abscondunt; perinde in vita contingere, ut antegressa a succedentibus quam celerrime abscondantur.arenarum cumuli "heaps of sand" are dunes, built up by the wind. alii aliis superingesti "some heaped upon others" is Latin's way of saying "one upon another": alius is repeated in two cases. priora "the earlier (ones)" are what each new heap buries.
  • VII.37 Indignum est, vultum animo obsequentem, pro ejus imperio conformare et componere semet; ipsum autem animum ad suiipsius arbitrium non conformari et componi.obsequentem is the present participle of the deponent obsequor "obey", with the dative animo: "the face, obedient to the mind". pro ejus imperio "according to its command": the mind tells the face how to look, and the face does it.
  • VII.39 Diis leto exemptis ac nobis gaudia dones.
  • VII.43 Lamentantibus ne collamenteris, neve commovearis.
  • VII.45 quocunque loco semet collocaverit quis, statum eum sibi optimum ducens, aut a principe fuerit collocatus, eum hunc tueri (uti mihi videtur) oportet,
  • VII.47 Astrorum cursus contemplare, tanquam una cum illis circumactus.tanquam "as if" with a participle: "as (one) carried round together with them". circumactus is the perfect passive participle of circumago "drive round", masculine singular because it describes you, the subject of contemplare; illis is neuter, for astra. The heavens were thought to wheel round the earth, carrying the stars; go round with them in thought.
  • VII.48 Quin et de hominibus sermonem instituentem, contemplari oportet, quasi de specula quadam desuper, terrestria quoque ista,
  • VII.48 per coetus, exercitus, agriculturas, nuptias, inducias, ortus, mortes, fori tumultus, loca deserta, barbarorum gentes varias, festa, funera, nundinas, miscelam omnigenam, mundumque ex rebus contrariis conflatum et instructum.The list ends with the whole of which these are the parts: 'a world put together and arranged out of opposites'. Both participles agree with mundum, and ex gives what it is made of. It is the Stoic thought that the order of the world is built from things that oppose each other: births and deaths, wars and truces, crowds and solitudes.
  • VII.49 Praeterita recole, totque imperiorum mutationes.praeterita is the neuter plural of the perfect participle of praetereo 'go by', used as a noun: 'things gone by, the past'. recole is the imperative of recolo 'go over again in the mind'.
  • VII.49 inde licet et futura prospicere.
  • VII.50 aut hoc est atomorum invicem implexorum dissolutio, aut elementorum sensus expertium dispersio.
  • VII.51 Divinitus at spirantem auram Pati necesse est cum labore et lacrymis.
  • VII.53 ubi enim fructum consequi licet actionis prospere fluentis, et juxta conditionis propriae naturam progredientis, nulla ibi superest damni suspicio.licet 'one may' has consequi 'to obtain' as its subject. actionis 'of an action' belongs to fructum 'the fruit', though the verbs stand between them, and the two participles fluentis 'flowing' and progredientis 'proceeding' agree with actionis: 'an action that runs well and goes forward …'.
  • VII.55 his igitur adhaerens mens recta procedat, habetque quicquid suum est.
  • VII.60 Corpus etiam fixum esse oportet, ut nec motu, nec gestu temere jactetur.
  • VII.61 Ars vivendi est luctatoriae quam saltatoriae similior. cum in hoc sit posita, ut adversus contingentia improvisa in procinctu semper quis ac immotus consistat.
  • VII.66 aut quod in frigore summo patientissime sub dio pernoctabat; aut quod Salaminium illum sistere jussus, resistere generosissime malebat;In 404 BC the Thirty Tyrants at Athens ordered Socrates and four others to fetch Leon of Salamis to be put to death; the others went, Socrates went home (Plato, Apology 32c–d). Salaminium illum "that man of Salamis" is an adjective of place used as a noun, with illum "that well-known". sisto "make to stand" is here "bring in, produce", and Gataker plays it against resistere "to stand against". jussus "having been ordered" agrees with the subject; jubeo "order" keeps its infinitive in the passive. malebat "he preferred", from malo (= magis volo "want more"), also takes an infinitive.
  • VII.66 nec ab universo assignatum quicquam, aut tanquam peregrinum quid excipiens, aut tanquam intolerandum sustinens, nec carunculae affectionibus mentem passus coaffici.
  • VII.67 quodque etiamsi desperes dialecticae aut naturalis scientiae peritiam, nihil esse tamen quod animam despondeas, quasi liber et modestus fieri nequeas, et communitatis cultor, et obsequens Deo.
  • VII.68 Vi omni immunem, in summa animi hilaritate, vitam transigere licet, etiamsi quae libuerit adversus te vociferentur homines universi, etiamsi massae istius corporeae coalitae et circundatae tibi membra ferae discerpant.
  • VII.68 quid enim obstat, quo minus inter haec omnia mens tranquillam se servet, de rebus circumstantibus vere judicet, objectisque commode utatur?
  • VII.68 ut judicium occurrenti ac irruenti rei cuivis dicat, Hoc es revera, etiamsi opinione aliusmodi esse videaris. usus dicat eidem, Te quaerebam.Two present participles in the dative agree with rei cuivis "to any thing whatever": "that meets and rushes upon (it)". Events are pictured as running into the mind. cuivis is the dative of quivis "any … you please".
  • VII.73 Ubi bene tu alicui fecisti, et beneficio ille affectus est, quid stultorum instar tertium quippiam ultra haec quaeras, puta, benefici hominis existimationem, aut beneficii accepti remunerationem?
  • VIII.1 Hoc etiam ad inanis gloriae studium minuendum conducit, quod vitam totam, eam saltem quae a juventute hactenus transiit, non potes praestare philosophice ductam.praestare with an object and a predicate means "to show (something) to be so, make it good": you cannot show your life as philosophice ductam "led philosophically". vitam ducere "to lead a life" is the usual phrase, kept here in the participle. Marcus means it is too late to have been a philosopher all along.
  • VIII.2 quid ergo expeto ulterius, quam ut illud quod impraesentiarum ago, opus sit animantis rationalis, socialis, eademque cum Deo ipso lege agentis.agentis "acting" agrees with animantis. eadem lege cum Deo "by the same law as God": after idem "the same", Gataker uses cum "with" where English says "as".
  • VIII.3 isti siquidem res ipsas perspectas habebant, formasque earundem et materias.habere with an object and a perfect participle stresses the state reached: perspectas habebant "they had them seen through", that is, they understood them thoroughly. isti "these men" are the philosophers.
  • VIII.3 illis vero, cum ea neutiquam perspecta haberent, de quam multis solicitos esse necesse fuit? quam multis rebus inservire?
  • VIII.5 ipse autem paulo post, nullus, nusquam futurus es, quomodo et Hadrianus, et Augustus. tum rem ipsam penitius intuitus, eam in se considera.Latin often puts the first of two actions in a participle: intuitus "having looked into" (from the deponent intueor), then considera "consider": "look more deeply into the matter, then consider it". penitius is the comparative of the adverb penitus "deeply". in se "in itself" refers to the matter (eam), not to you.
  • VIII.7 Natura omnis sese prospere procedente acquiescit,acquiescere "to come to rest, be content" takes the ablative of what one rests in: sese "in itself". The present participle procedente agrees with sese: "rests content in itself going forward well", that is, it is satisfied with itself when it is on its right course.
  • VIII.7 id quod deprehendere licebit, si non seorsim unum aliquod in re ulla consideraveris, sed istius omnia cum alterius alicujus confertim sumptis contuleris.
  • VIII.9 Nemo, aut vitam aulicam, aut tuam etiam, insimulantem te audiat.With a verb of hearing or seeing, a present participle agreeing with the object says what the person is heard doing: insimulantem te audiat "hear you accusing, hear you find fault with". The two objects of insimulantem come first.
  • VIII.12 Quando somnum gravatim excutis, reminiscere, et conditioni tuae et naturae humanae consentaneum esse, ut actiones ad communitatem conducentes edas, cum dormire etiam brutis animantibus commune sit.
  • VIII.13 Assidue, in omni, quantum potes, viso menti oblato, considera, quaenam ejus natura, ad mores quid faciat, quid in se habeat veritatis.The phrase wraps round the parenthesis quantum potes "as far as you can": in omni … viso menti oblato "in (the case of) every impression presented to the mind". visum here is the noun, Gataker's word for the Stoic phantasia, the impression a thing makes on the mind; it is not a form of video. oblato is the perfect participle of offero "present", agreeing with viso, and menti is the dative "to the mind".
  • VIII.14 qui enim de voluptate ac dolore, et efficientibus utriusque, vel de fama et ignominia, morte et vita, decreta istiusmodi habeat, si hujusmodi fecerit, nihil mihi mirum novumque videbitur.efficientibus is a present participle used as a noun and still governed by de: "(about) the things that produce". utriusque "of each of the two" means pleasure and pain.
  • VIII.16 Memineris, aeque tibi liberum esse sententiam mutare et corrigenti parere, atque in re cepta ulla persistere.
  • VIII.20 ecquid autem pilae, vel sursum missae boni, vel descendenti cadentique mali?pilae is dative, "for the ball", and the participles agree with it: missae (perfect passive, "having been thrown") and descendenti cadentique (present, "coming down and falling"). The ball is no better off going up and no worse off coming down; so it is with us in life and in death.
  • VIII.20 ecquid et bullae vel consistenti boni, vel subsidenti mali?The same pattern as before: bullae is dative, "for a bubble", with the present participles consistenti "standing, holding together" and subsidenti "settling, sinking down", that is, bursting. et here is "also".
  • VIII.23 contingit mihi quicquam? ita excipio, ut ad Deos referam, fontemque rerum omnium, a quo, quaecunque fiunt, ordine praestituto derivantur.
  • VIII.24 tale quiddam est et vitae pars quaevis, et materia subjecta quaelibet.
  • VIII.25 Lucilla Verum extulit; mox et Lucilla ipsa elata est.
  • VIII.25 quin et solertes illi, aut futurorum praescii, aut fastu inflati, ubinam jam sunt?Two more kinds: those who foresaw the future, such as seers and astrologers, and those puffed up with pride. praescius "knowing beforehand" takes a genitive, futurorum "of things to come", which is the future participle of esse used as a noun. fastu "with pride" is an ablative of cause: puffed up by it.
  • VIII.25 solertes, inquam, quales Charax, Demetrius Platonicus, Eudaemon, et si quis alius ejusmodi. omnia caduca sunt, et jam olim morte sepulta sunt.
  • VIII.27 Affectiones singuli quique tres habent; unam, ad caussam ambientem, alteram, ad caussam divinam, a qua proveniunt omnibus omnia; tertiam, ad eos quibuscum in hac vita versatur.ambiens, the present participle of ambio "go round, surround", describes the cause that is around us: most probably the body, the vessel that encloses the self. The divine cause is the source from which proveniunt omnibus omnia "all things come to all"; omnibus is dative, "to everyone". caussam is Gataker's spelling of causam.
  • VIII.29 memento potestatis hujus a natura tibi tributae.
  • VIII.34 Si quando manum abscissam vidisti, vel pedem, aut caput etiam amputatum, et seorsim alicubi a reliquo corpore situm;Perfect participles describe the severed limbs: abscissam (from abscindo "cut off") with manum, amputatum "cut off" with caput, and situm "placed, lying" (from sino). situm agrees with the nearest noun, caput, but goes with the hand and the foot as well.
  • VIII.34 revulsum quodammodo abjecisti te aliquo ab ea quae secundum naturam est unione.revulsum "torn off", the perfect participle of revello, agrees with te: "you have thrown yourself away, torn off". quodammodo "in a certain way" warns that this is a figure of speech. aliquo is the adverb "to some place, somewhere", not the ablative of aliquis.
  • VIII.34 hoc autem nulli alii parti est a Deo concessum, ut revulsa semel et praecisa denuo coalescat.The participles revulsa "torn away" and praecisa "cut off" agree with the subject of coalescat, a part (pars, from parti), and do the work of a clause: "after it has once been torn away and cut off". semel "once" stresses that the break has really happened. coalescere "to grow together" is used of wounds closing and grafts taking: of all the parts of the whole, only man can be joined back on.
  • VIII.36 minuetur autem istud, si seorsim per se circumscriptum dederis, mentemque redargueris, si ne huic quidem soli tolerando suffecerit.circumscriptum dare "to render (it) marked off" is a way of saying "to mark it off": dare with a perfect participle stresses that the job gets done. seorsim per se "apart, by itself": draw a line round the present difficulty and look at nothing else.
  • VIII.41 aliquid molienti tibi obstitit quippiam? si citra exceptionem moliebaris, jam tuum, qua rationalis, malum est.molienti is the present participle of the deponent molior "attempt, set about", in the dative to agree with tibi: "to you attempting something", i.e. "as you were attempting something". obsto "stand in the way" takes the dative (tibi); its subject, quippiam "something", is kept to the end. Two indefinites, then: aliquid is what you attempted, quippiam what blocked it.
  • VIII.42 Indignum censeo, ut me ipse vexem, qui neminem unquam volens vexarim.
  • VIII.47 excede ergo e vita aequo animo, quo modo excederes si id agere daretur, simul etiam obstantibus ipsis propitius.propitius "kindly, well-disposed" is nominative, describing you, the subject of excede; it takes the dative: obstantibus ipsis "to the very things that stand in the way". obstantibus is the present participle of obsto used as a noun.
  • VIII.48 Memineris, inexpugnabilem fieri mentem, quando in se contracta, ipsa se contenta manet, dummodo nil faciat quod ipsa nolit, tametsi non ratione, sed obstinatione mera instructa sit.
  • VIII.49 vel adjicias potius aliquid, ut qui rerum omnium, quae in mundo isto contingunt, naturam perspectam habeas.rerum omnium depends on naturam, with the relative clause between them: "the nature of all the things that happen in this world". habere with a perfect participle stresses a state reached and kept: naturam perspectam habeas "you have the nature (of things) seen through", that is, you know it thoroughly. iste here has no scorn in it: "this world of ours".
  • VIII.51 nec anima praeceps abreptus et temere exiliens; nec in vita multis implicitus negotiis.sis is still understood. anima is ablative, "in soul". praeceps "headlong" agrees with the subject but works like an adverb, "carried off headlong". abreptus "snatched away" and exiliens "leaping out" (Gataker's spelling of exsiliens) picture a horse that bolts.
  • VIII.51 quemadmodum siquis fonti astans limpido ac dulci, conviciis eum incesserit, at ille nihilominus laticem potui accommodum fundere non cessat.
  • VIII.54 Curae tibi deinceps sit, non tam cum aere ambiente te conspirare, quam menti cuncta ambienti consentire.Two present participles of ambire "go round, surround", each with its own object: aere ambiente te "the air surrounding you", ablative after cum, and menti cuncta ambienti "the mind surrounding all things", dative after consentire. A present participle used as a verb has its ablative in -e; the dative always ends in -i.
  • VIII.54 neque enim minus vis illa intellectualis ubique diffusa est et permeat cuivis exposita qui attrahere eam potest, quam aeria cuilibet qui respirationis est compos.
  • VIII.57 cujusmodi vero res sit radius, perspicere licet, si per angustum aliquod foramen lumen a Sole profectum in domicilium tenebricosum subingredi videris.
  • VIII.60 mens enim tam cum cavet, quam cum considerat, recta fertur, nec minus ad scopum sibi propositum tendit.recta (with via understood) is "straight on". In scopum sibi propositum "the target set before it", propositum is the perfect passive participle of propono and sibi refers to the mind. scopus is a Greek word, "a mark to aim at".
  • IX.1 omnia autem quae existunt necessitudine quadam mutua sunt sibi invicem conjuncta.
  • IX.1 itaque qui sciens volens mentitur, impie agit, in quantum fallendo injuste agit;sciens and volens are present participles of scio "know" and volo "wish", agreeing with qui. Set side by side with no "and", they make a fixed pair, "knowing and willing", that is, deliberately. mentitur is from the deponent mentior "lie": passive in form, active in meaning.
  • IX.1 qui nolens nesciusque, in quantum universi naturae dissentit, et in quantum mundi ordinem pulchre compositum infringit, dum mundi naturae adversatur.
  • IX.1 per hoc autem quod dicitur universi naturam istis ex aequo uti, intelligo ista ex aequo evenire ex serie quadam rerum prodeuntium sibique invicem succedentium juxta antiquissimum quendam providentiae motum,ex serie "out of a chain", that is, as the result of a sequence. Two present participles agree with rerum: prodeuntium "coming forth" (from prodeo, which goes like eo) and succedentium "following after", with the dative sibi invicem "one another". So: "a chain of things that come into being and follow one upon another". Pleasure and pain do not come by choice or favour, but in the order of events.
  • IX.1 quo a principio illa ad hanc rerum omnium ordinationem et adornationem se contulit, cum rationes quasdam rerum futurarum apud se concepisset, et facultates quasdam existentiarum, transmutationum, et successionum istiusmodi foecundas discrevisset.
  • IX.2 pestis est enim, mentis corruptio, et perniciosa quidem magis ea, quam aeris hujus circumfusi intemperies et alteratio ejusmodi.
  • IX.3 si autem vulgare vis pharmacum, quod cor tamen attingat, morti facilem cumprimis praestabit te, si consideraveris res subjectas a quibus morte divelleris, moresque hominum quales sint, quibus anima tua ulterius non immiscebitur.
  • IX.3 etiamsi enim offendi eis te neutiquam oportet, sed curare eos, placideque ferre; meminisse tamen licuerit, quod ab hominibus haud idem tecum sentientibus discessurus es.
  • IX.3 hoc enim solum, siquid aliud, nos retraheret et in vita retineret, si cum eadem sentientibus vitam degere daretur.sentientibus "(people) thinking" is a participle used as a noun, with its own object eadem "the same things": "with those who think as we do". daretur "it were granted" is impersonal; its subject is the infinitive phrase vitam degere "to spend one's life".
  • IX.6 Sufficit praesens existimatio certa, et actio praesens communicativa, et affectio praesens casum omnem a prima rerum omnium caussa provenientem lubenter excipiens.Two present participles hang on different nouns: provenientem "coming" agrees with casum omnem "every event", and excipiens "welcoming" with affectio. So: "a disposition that gladly welcomes every event that comes from the first cause of all things". The first cause is God, or the nature that orders the whole. caussa and lubenter are Gataker's spellings of causa and libenter.
  • IX.9 cum omni vero, qui istic est, igni adeo simul accendi proclivis est, ut materia omnis siccior paulo incendi prompta admodum sit, eo quod minus sibi admixtum habeat, quod incendium prohibeat.
  • IX.9 etenim istis animae insunt; itaque in subjecto praestantiori vis illa congregativa intensior reperitur, quam in stirpibus, lapidibus, aut lignis.
  • IX.9 quin et in praestantioribus adhuc, licet modo quodam a se invicem dissitis, in astris nempe, unio tamen quaedam existit.
  • IX.9 ita sortis praestantioris eminentia etiam in distantibus affectionem ad se invicem mutuam producere valuit.
  • IX.9 facilius enim quis terreni quippiam terrenae rei nulli adjunctum repererit, quam hominem ab homine omni prorsus sejunctum.
  • IX.11 Peccantem, si potes, meliora doceto.
  • IX.17 Lapidi projecto nihil est mali, quod deorsum feratur; quod sursum, nihil boni.
  • IX.21 transi rursus ad aetatem sub avo, tum sub matre, mox sub patre transactam:aetatem … transactam "the time of life spent" wraps round three sub phrases: the noun comes first, its participle last, and between them "under your grandfather, then under your mother, then under your father". transigo is "carry through", and of time "spend". Marcus speaks of his own life: his father died when he was small, and he grew up in the house of his grandfather Marcus Annius Verus and with his mother Domitia Lucilla; the father here is probably his adoptive father Antoninus Pius.
  • IX.22 Recurrito ad mentem tuam, ad universi, ad delinquentis cujusvis.
  • IX.22 ad delinquentis cujusvis, ut consideres, inscius an consulto deliquerit; cogitesque simul esse tibi cognatum.
  • IX.24 Puerulorum rixae, et ludicra; et animulae cadavera gestantes; ut vehementius afficiat quod in Mortualibus exhibetur.This is Epictetus's saying, quoted in 4.41, animula es cadaver gestans "you are a little soul carrying a corpse", here put into the plural. animulae "little souls" is a diminutive of anima; the cadavera "corpses" they carry about are their own bodies. The participle gestantes agrees with animulae, nominative plural feminine.
  • IX.25 Formae qualitatem animo adi; et a materia abstractam contemplare:
  • IX.26 Innumera perpessus es, quia non didicisti mente tua contentus esse agente ea ad quae condita est, sed ad alia eadem abuteris.contentus takes the ablative: mente tua contentus "content with your mind". The participle agente agrees with mente: "with your mind doing those things", that is, content that your mind should do its own work and no other. In ad quae condita est "for which it was made", condere is "to found, build", and ad gives the purpose.
  • IX.28 Eadem plane sunt mundana omnia, sursum deorsum, a seculo ad seculum, in orbem redeuntia.in orbem "into a circle, round": all things are redeuntia "coming back" round the same ring. The Stoics held that the world runs through the same cycle again and again. The participle, from redeo, agrees with omnia.
  • IX.28 siquidem qui mutationes et alterationes fluctuum instar sibi invicem supervenientes, et vicissitudinum harum celeritatem consideraverit, nae ille mortale quicquid est despectui habebit.fluctuum instar "like waves" (instar with the genitive). supervenire "to come upon" takes the dative, here sibi invicem "one another": changes rolling in on top of one another like waves on a shore.
  • IX.29 quam viles autem sunt et mucci pleni, etiam politici isti, et, ut ipsis videtur, philosophice se gerentes homunculi?
  • IX.29 et tamen absque his mutatis, quid aliud supererit, nisi ingemiscentium, dum obsequium simulant, servitus.absque "without" takes the ablative, and the participle mutatis agrees with his "these (opinions)": "without these changed", that is, without a change of opinions. The phrase works like an ablative absolute with a preposition in front of it.
  • IX.30 Intuere desuper armenta innumerabilia, et ritus innumerabiles, et navigationis omne genus, in procellis, in tranquillo mari, et rerum praeteritarum, praesentium, decedentium differentias.differentias "the differences, the variety" governs the genitive rerum "of things", which three words describe: praeteritarum "past", a participle of praetereo "go by"; praesentium "present"; and decedentium "passing away". The Greek speaks of things coming into being, living together and passing away.
  • IX.31 hoc est; intentio tua actioque omnis hunc solum sibi finem propositum habeat, ut ad societatem humanam quod conducat fecerit, utpote quod naturae tuae consentaneum existat.
  • IX.32 Supervacanea multa, quae molestiam tibi pariunt, praecidere, cum in opinione tua tota sita sint, animumque angustiis exemptum plurimum dilatare poteris,
  • IX.33 et qui senectute extrema confectus moritur, in eundem statum redigetur cum eo, qui immaturus obiit.
  • IX.36 Quam putida est subjecta rei cuique materia?quam with an adjective is "how": "how rotten is …!" The question mark marks an exclamation, as often in older printing. subjecta, the participle of subjicio "place under", takes the dative rei cuique: "the matter laid beneath each thing", the stuff it is made of. subjecta and materia enclose the dative between them.
  • IX.42 idem in promptu tibi sit, de fraudulento, infido, delinquente quolibet.Two adjectives and a participle are used as nouns: "about the cheat, the faithless man, any wrongdoer whatever". delinquente is the present participle of delinquo "do wrong", and quolibet "any you please" goes with it.
  • IX.42 omnino vero licet tibi deceptum melius edocere.
  • X.1 Ecquando futura es, o anima, bona, simplex, una, nuda, corpore te ambiente dilucidior?
  • X.1 ecquando dispositionem dilectioni et affectui genuino deditam degustabis?The participle deditam "given over, devoted" (from dedo) agrees with dispositionem and takes the dative of what one is devoted to: dilectioni et affectui genuino "to love and natural affection". Noun and participle wrap round the phrase, dispositionem … deditam, as they often do.
  • X.1 ecquando futura es plena, rei nullius indiga, nihil desiderans ulterius, nihil expetens vel animatum vel inanime, quo frui tibi volupe sit,The present participles desiderans "longing for" and expetens "seeking" are feminine nominative, like plena: they describe the soul, "you", and say what it will be like: "longing for nothing further, seeking nothing".
  • X.2 his regulis usus, nihil ulterius sategeris.
  • X.5 causarumque series sibi invicem implexarum tui ipsius subsistentiam cum casu illo ab aeterno conglomeravit.series causarum "the chain of causes", with -que "and" joined to its first word. The participle implexarum "interwoven" agrees with causarum, not with series, and sibi invicem is "with one another": "causes woven into one another".
  • X.6 siquidem ista recordatus; quatenus pars sum totius, nihil aegre feram ab universo mihi attributum.recordatus is the perfect participle of the deponent recordor "call to mind", active in meaning: "having called these things to mind", i.e. "remembering them". It goes with the "I" of feram; Gataker's semicolon after it is only a pause. siquidem "for" stands for the Greek gar; it can also be taken as "if indeed (I keep these in mind)".
  • X.8 et siquidem in illis persistere potes, persistas, tanquam in fortunatorum insulas quasdam trajectus;trajectus "carried across" (from trajicio) agrees with "you", the subject of the jussive persistas "remain": "as one who has been ferried over". The fortunatorum insulae are the Isles of the Blessed, where in Greek myth the favoured heroes lived after death; quasdam "some, a kind of" marks the phrase as a figure. To hold to these names is to be in that happy place already.
  • X.9 Mimus, bellum, terror, torpor, servitus, decreta illa sacra tua, ni caveas, expungent quotidie, quaecunque e studiosa rerum naturae contemplatione concepta in mente recondis.
  • X.9 oportet autem unumquodque ita et considerare et agere, ut et activa facultas consummetur, et contemplativa simul exerceatur, et fiducia ex certa rei cujusque scientia orta servetur, latens quidem, nec abscondita tamen.orta "having arisen, springing" is the perfect participle of the deponent orior, active in meaning; it agrees with fiducia. The confidence comes from a sure knowledge (scientia) of each thing (rei cujusque).
  • X.11 corpus exuit, qui sic affectus est, reputansque secum, mox esse sibi, relictis his omnibus, ab hominibus discedendum, totum sese permittit, justitiae, in eis quae ab ipso fiunt; universi naturae, in eis quae obveniunt ipsi.
  • X.11 negotiis vero studiisque reliquis omnibus missis, nihil aliud velit, quam recta juxta legem proficisci, rectaque proficiscentem Deum ipsum sequi.proficiscentem "going" is accusative and agrees with Deum: "to follow God himself as he goes straight on". God goes by the straight road of the law, and the man who keeps to it follows him.
  • X.14 Cuncta danti pariter ac recipienti naturae, homo probe institutus ac modestus dicet, Da quod vis; repete quod vis.danti and recipienti are present participles in the dative, agreeing with naturae, to whom the words are spoken; cuncta "all things" is the object of both: "to nature, which gives and takes back all things alike". pariter ac is "equally as", "alike … and".
  • X.14 nec elatus hoc dicet, sed obsequens tantum, et benevolo adversus eam affectu.elatus "carried up, puffed up" is the perfect participle of efferre, the verb of the proud spider in 10; obsequens "obeying" is from the deponent obsequi. "Take back what you will" could be said in defiance; he says it in obedience.
  • X.18 Rerum praesentium unamquamque advertendo, considera eam jam dissolutam, et in mutatione et quasi putrefactione quadam, aut dissipatione, constitutam, sive ut mori quodammodo nata sit.considera "consider" takes an object and participles that say how to see it: "consider it as already dissolved, and as set in change". dissolutam and constitutam are perfect participles agreeing with eam. in mutatione et quasi putrefactione quadam, aut dissipatione names the state it is set in; quasi "as it were" and quadam "a kind of" both soften the strong word "rotting".
  • X.19 Cogita, quales sint homines vescentes, dormientes, coeuntes, excernentes, alia ejusmodi agentes.quales sint homines "what sort men are" is an indirect question after cogita, so sint is subjunctive. The participles agreeing with homines do the work of a clause with "when": "men eating" means "men when they eat". vescentes is from the deponent vescor "eat"; coeuntes from coeo "come together, mate"; excernentes from excerno "void, relieve oneself". The list is meant to deflate: these are the body's plainest needs, shared with every animal.
  • X.19 rursus, quales, ubi inflantur, efferuntur, irascuntur, tanquam in sublimi siti aliquos increpant.
  • X.25 qui est ipse lex unicuique quod suum est tribuens.
  • X.26 hoc alia deinceps excipiens natura, foetum fabricat et absolvit; ex quali qualem?alia … natura "another nature" is split round the words that go with it, a common order: hoc … excipiens "taking this up", where hoc is the seed. natura here is a working power, the force that builds the body; the Greek says "another cause". foetus (classical fetus) is the young in the womb.
  • X.28 Hominem de re ulla dolentem, atque aegre ferentem quicquam, similem habe porcello, qui dum mactatur, calcitrat et vociferatur:The object hominem "a man" comes first and is described by two participles, dolentem "grieving" and aegre ferentem "taking ill"; aegre ferre "bear badly" means "resent". ullus and quisquam "any, anything" stress that the cause hardly matters: "over anything at all".
  • X.28 cujusmodi est et qui decumbens tacite solus secum sortem deplorat suam.
  • X.28 considera et fato nos illigatos teneri: et rationali animali soli datum esse, ut eis quae eveniunt, sponte obsequi possit; cum sequi ipsum omnibus sit necessarium.
  • X.31 ita enim perspectum jugiter habebis, humana omnia fumum ac nihil esse,habere with a perfect passive participle stresses a lasting result: perspectum habebis "you will have it seen through", "you will keep it in clear view". The participle is neuter because it refers to the whole clause humana omnia … esse.
  • X.31 quid enim sunt aliud haec omnia, quam mentis, quae, hac in vita quae contingunt, naturam eorum rimata, accurate perspexerit, exercitationes.
  • X.33 ante ingemiscere non desinas, quam eo te adegeris, ut quod voluptuariis hominibus est luxu diffluere, hoc tibi fuerit de subjecta quaque oblata tibi materia ea facere, quae humanae constitutioni conveniant.
  • X.33 quae enim coerceant et obsistant, multa sunt. verum mens et ratio per obstantia quaelibet, prout nata est, et prout vult ipsa, procedit.Mind and reason are one power here, so the verb procedit and ipsa are singular. obstantia, the present participle of obsto "stand in the way", is used as a noun: "things standing in the way, obstacles". prout nata est "as it is born (to do)" means "as its nature is".
  • X.33 tu ergo ob oculos istud habens, rationem per omnia facilitate ferri eadem plane, qua ignis sursum, lapis deorsum, per declive cylindrus, nihil quaeras ulterius.ob oculos habere "to keep before one's eyes"; habens agrees with tu. istud "this" is then spelled out by the accusative and infinitive rationem … ferri "that reason is carried".
  • X.34 Qui decretis veris imbutus est, hunc dictum brevissimum et e trivio arreptum quodlibet commonere suffecerit de moerore metuve pellendo. quale illud est,
  • X.34 at tu omnia, tanquam aeterna futura, fugis appetisve.futura is the future participle of esse, agreeing with omnia: "as though (they were) going to be eternal". The two verbs, joined by -ve "or", are the two motions of the soul the Stoics watch: fleeing what seems bad and pursuing what seems good.
  • X.35 pari igitur ratione et mentis est sanae, ad obvenientia quaeque idoneam esse.The point of the comparisons. obvenientia, a present participle used as a noun, is "the things that come one's way", and quaeque "each and every" goes with it. idoneam is feminine accusative, like promptum above: it describes the mind, the unexpressed subject of esse. pari ratione "in like manner".
  • X.35 quae vero dixerit, Liberos mihi salvos velim; et, Omnes quicquid fecero laudent, velim; oculi est instar viridia poscentis, vel dentium tenella postulantium.instar with a genitive means "the likeness of", hence "like": oculi est instar "is like an eye". The participles agree with their nouns: oculi … poscentis "an eye asking for green things", dentium … postulantium "teeth demanding soft things". tenella "very tender (things)" is a diminutive of tener: food for sore teeth.
  • X.36 Nemo quisquam adeo felix est, cui morienti non adstabunt aliqui, qui praesenti laetentur malo.
  • X.36 quin rursus, nec tanquam vitae avulsus, sed, prout eis, quibus mortis felicitas quaedam obtigit, animula a corpore leniter exolvitur, talis et tua ab istis etiam esto discessio.
  • X.36 disjungor itaque tanquam a necessariis, non abstractus tamen, sed sponte discedens.necessarii, the masculine plural of necessarius used as a noun, are one's close connections, kin and friends: "as from my own people". The two participles describe the speaker: not abstractus "dragged off" but sponte discedens "leaving of my own accord".
  • XI.1 sed in quacunque parte, et ubicunque deprehensa fuerit, quod praecessit plenum prorsus et perfectum sibi facit: ut dicere liceat, Ego quae mea sunt, omnia habeo.
  • XI.1 sed ita fit quodammodo, ut quadraginta annos qui egerit, mentem modo aliquam habuerit, et res gestas animadverterit, ex uniformitatis ratione, et praeterita omnia et futura viderit.
  • XI.2 Cantilenam jucundam, saltationem, pancratium contemnes, si voce concinna in sonos singulos divisa, de his sigillatim te percontatus fueris, Num istud me victum habet? erubesces enim id fateri.
  • XI.2 itaque virtute sola excepta et virtutis actionibus, in reliquis omnibus ad particulas seorsim consideratas recurrere memento, ut ab harum disjunctione res ipsas contemptum eas.
  • XI.3 Qualis est anima ea, quae parata est jam statim, si oportuerit, e corpore emigrare, et vel extingui, vel dispergi, vel permanere?
  • XI.3 ita paratam dico, ut a judicio peculiari promptitudo haec profluat, non ab obstinatione mera, pro Christianorum more:
  • XI.6 Tragoediae successit vetus comoedia, quae libertate magistrali instructa, nec obliqua sed diserta oratione usa, fastum dejicere non inepte satagebat: quo fine et Diogenes ex his quaedam adhibuit.
  • XI.7 Quam liquido compertum habes, nullum aliud vitae institutum ad philosophandum magis esse idoneum, quam hoc in quo jam versaris?Quam with an adverb is exclamatory: quam liquido "how clearly!". Gataker ends the sentence with a question mark, but it is a rhetorical question with the force of an exclamation. compertum habes is the perfect participle of comperio "find out" with habeo: "you have it found out", i.e. "you know for certain". The participle is neuter because what is known is the whole statement that follows.
  • XI.8 Ramus a ramo cui proxime adhaesit abscissus, non potest non a stirpe tota abscindi.abscissus "cut off" is the perfect participle of abscindo, agreeing with Ramus; the clause cui proxime adhaesit "to which it clung most closely" sits inside the participle phrase, with no commas to set it off. a ramo is the neighbouring branch, a stirpe tota the whole tree, trunk and all. proxime is the superlative of prope "near".
  • XI.8 ad eundem modum ergo et homo ab homine quovis rescissus, communitate tota excidit.
  • XI.8 veruntamen hoc a societatis hujusce conditore Jove indultum sibi habet, quod ei liceat denuo coalescere, cui prius adhaeserat, et ad universi complementum locum recuperare suum.indultum sibi habet "he has this granted to him": habeo with a perfect participle stresses a lasting possession, as compertum habes in §7. indultum is from indulgeo "grant as a favour". a … conditore Jove gives the agent, "by Jupiter, the founder of this society", with Jove (ablative of Jupiter) in apposition to conditore. hujusce is hujus "of this" with the strengthening suffix -ce.
  • XI.9 Qui ad rationis rectae normam progredienti obsistunt tibi, sicut a recte agendo avertere te nequeunt, ita nec benevolum erga illos affectum excutiant tibi.
  • XI.9 etenim tam hoc imbecillis est animi, succensere istis, quam ab actione desistere, et consternatum succumbere.consternatum "struck with dismay" (from consterno, -are) is accusative because an infinitive used as a noun has an unexpressed accusative subject, "one", and the participle agrees with it: "for one to give in, dismayed".
  • XI.9 uterque enim ex aequo stationis desertae reus est, et qui metu perculsus, et qui natura cognatum sibi atque amicum fuerit aversatus.reus is "the accused, the one answerable", and the charge stands in the genitive: reus stationis desertae "accused of a post deserted". Latin often puts a noun with a perfect participle where English uses a verbal noun: "the post deserted" is "the deserting of the post". The picture is military, a soldier who leaves the post he was set to hold. ex aequo is "on equal terms, equally".
  • XI.13 interius enim ita affectum esse oportet, ut ipsi Dii videant, hominem esse te, qui nihil quicquam indigne aegreve ferat.
  • XI.15 fronti inscriptam statim oportuit vocem hanc, in oculis ipsis relucere statim, quomodo animus se habeat: sicut in amantis oculo cuncta statim dignoscit amasius.amantis, the present participle of amo, is used as a noun: "of one who loves, of the lover". amasius in Plautus is a lover or sweetheart; set against amantis, Gataker uses it for the one who is loved, Marcus's eromenos. The loved one reads at once in the lover's glance all that he feels: so plainly should a man's mind show in his eyes.
  • XI.18 Tertio, quod, si haec recte faciunt, aegre ferre non oportet: sin minus, nolentes utique et nescientes agunt.sin minus is a fixed phrase, "but if not". The present participles of nolo and nescio agree with the subject of agunt and do the work of adverbs: "they act unwillingly and unknowingly". The Stoics held, after Socrates, that no one does wrong willingly.
  • XI.18 neque animo quasi attacto et exulcerato, neque tanquam in schola, neque ut astanti alicui sis admirationi, sed ita semper, ut cum solo agas, etiamsi alii forsan circumstiterint nonnulli.
  • XI.18 Capita novem ista in mente reposita habeas, tanquam dona quaedam a Musis accepta; atque incipias tandem homo esse, dum vivis.The nine headings are likened to gifts from the nine Muses, the goddesses of poetry and learning. accepta is the perfect passive participle agreeing with dona: "received from the Muses"; quaedam softens the image, "gifts, as it were".
  • XI.19 quartum esto, quicquid conscientia tibi dictaverit, fore per illud, ut pars tui divinior devicta succumbat viliori, corpori nempe mortali ejusque crassis voluptatibus.
  • XI.25 Perdiccae accersenti excusabat se Socrates; ne pessimo, inquit, exitio peream, cum gratiam collatam referre nequeam.accersenti, the present participle of accerso "summon", agrees with Perdiccae: "to Perdiccas (who was) summoning him". excusare se is "to excuse oneself, to decline with an apology". Perdiccas II was king of Macedon in Socrates' lifetime; Aristotle (Rhetoric 2.23), Seneca (On Benefits 5.6) and Diogenes Laertius (2.25) tell the story of his son and successor Archelaus.
  • XI.26 In scriptis Epicureis praecipitur, ut in mente ac memoria semper habeamus antiquorum aliquem eorum, qui virtutem coluerint.
  • XI.28 quaeque amicis suis dixerit, pudore suffusis pedemque retrahentibus, cum sic indutum illum conspicarentur.Two participles agree with amicis: pudore suffusis "overspread with shame", that is, blushing, and pedem retrahentibus "drawing back the foot", shrinking away. His friends were embarrassed for him; he was not.
  • XI.34 Filiolum deosculanti praecipiebat Epictetus, intus apud se diceret, Cras forsan moriturus est.deosculanti is the present participle of the deponent deosculor "kiss fondly", used as a noun in the dative: "(to anyone) kissing his little son". Epictetus gives this advice in the Discourses (3.24.88); his Handbook (3) has a milder form of it.
  • XII.1 hoc autem fiet, si praeteritum omne missum feceris, futurum omne providentiae divinae permiseris, et quod praesens est tantum ad pietatis ac justitiae normam direxeris:missum facere, literally "to make (a thing) sent away", is an idiom for "to let go, dismiss, have done with": praeteritum omne missum feceris "you let go all the past". praeteritum and, next, futurum are participles used as nouns: "what has gone by" and "what is to be".
  • XII.1 nec impediverit te, quo minus sic te geras, aut aliena sive vitiositas, sive opinio, sive sermo, aut sensus etiam cingentis te massae istius carneae.
  • XII.1 mundo, qui te protulit, dignum te praestabis, desinesque in patria tua peregrinus esse, eaque quae quotidie eveniunt tanquam inopinata admirari, et ex hac vel illa re suspensus teneri.suspensus "hung up, in suspense" is nominative because it describes the subject: "to be kept hanging". With ex it is hanging on a thing, as one depends on it: "to be kept dangling from this thing or that".
  • XII.2 Mentes omnes, vasis hisce corporeis, et corticibus, et sordibus Deus denudatas intuetur.
  • XII.2 sola enim mente sua, illas a sese demanantes et derivatas, attingit.The two participles describe the minds (illas). demanantes "flowing down" is present, from demanare "to flow down, flow from"; derivatas "drawn off" is perfect passive, from derivare, to lead water off from a stream (rivus); a sese "from himself" goes with both. Each human mind is a stream channelled off from God's, which is why God can reach it with his own.
  • XII.2 qui enim circumjectam sibi carnem non respexerit, nec de vestitu, domicilio, fama, aut apparatu instructuque reliquo cogitando, negotium ullum facesset sibi.
  • XII.3 et quaecunque ipse aliquando dixeris fecerisque; et quaecunque te tanquam futura conturbant, et quaecunque vel circundati tibi corpusculi, vel huic coalitae animulae, arbitrii tui non sunt;tanquam futura "as things to come": what upsets you because it lies ahead. futura is the future participle of esse, agreeing with quaecunque.
  • XII.3 denique quaecunque externa rerum vertigo jugis volvit, ita ut mens tua rebus fato obvenientibus exempta, pura ac libera apud se vivat, justa faciens, destinata volens, ac vera proloquens.Three present participles agreeing with mens sum up 12.1: justa faciens "doing just things" and vera proloquens "speaking out the truth" are justice, and destinata volens "willing what is allotted" is piety. The neuter plurals justa, destinata, vera are "just things", "things allotted", "true things".
  • XII.3 si a mente, inquam, tua haec sejunxeris, quae ex affectu vehementiore ei adhaerere solent, et temporis quicquid vel praeteritum vel futurum est;
  • XII.3 fecerisque te talem, qualis mundus hic Empedocli dicitur, Orbis habens instar jugi vertigine gaudens.
  • XII.4 itaque si vel Deus vel praeceptor prudens quis astans praeceperit cuiquam, ne quid apud se cogitet menteve agitet quod non simul ac conceperit proferat, ne ad dieculam quidem id sustineret.
  • XII.5 qui sunt autem istiusmodi, nihil in mundi dispositione injuste atque irrationabiliter neglectum insuper habuissent.
  • XII.8 Formas corticibus nudatas contemplare: actionum item intentiones: quid dolor; quid voluptas; quid mors; quid gloria: quis cuique molestiarum autor: quo modo nemo ab alio quopiam impediatur:
  • XII.9 ille autem manum semper praesto habet, qua vibrata duntaxat opus est.
  • XII.15 An cum lucernae lumen, usquedum extinguatur, luceat, nec splendorem amittat suum; tu admissurus es, ut in te veritas, justitia, temperantia ante extinctum temet extinguatur?ante with a pronoun and a perfect participle does the work of an English clause: ante extinctum temet, literally "before you put out", is "before you yourself are extinguished" (compare ante urbem conditam "before the city was founded"). temet is te strengthened by -met: "you yourself". Gataker writes extinguo, extinctum without the s after the x that other prints have (exstinguo).
  • XII.23 imo bonum est; siquidem universo tempestivum, eidemque conducens et congruum.
  • XII.24 secundum, qualenam unumquodque sit a satione usque ad animationem, ab animatione usque ad animam emissam.The stages of a life: satio "sowing", the seed it starts from; animatio "ensouling", when life or soul enters it; and anima emissa "the soul let go". A noun with a perfect participle often stands for an action: ad animam emissam is "until the soul is let go", until it breathes its last. usque ad is "all the way to".
  • XII.24 tertium, si in sublime subvectus res humanas despiceres, ubi varietatem earum quanta esset perspexisses, simulque uno conspectu comprehenderes, quantum undiquaque aeriorum et aetheriorum sedes suas habeat, quod quotiescunque subvectus esses, eadem semper occurrerent.
  • XII.27 quantoque sit philosophiae magis consentaneum in oblata sibi materia justum, temperantem, Deis obsequentem se simpliciter praestare."In the material put before one": oblata is the perfect participle of offero. Whatever comes to us is the material on which virtue works. sibi looks to the person who is to show himself just.
  • XII.27 fastus dein de fastus contemptu inflatus omnium est maxime intolerabilis.
  • XII.28 Interrogantibus, ubi Deos conspicatus, aut unde esse compertum habens, hos ita veneraris, responsum sit.Latin puts the question words inside participle phrases: literally "having seen the gods where, or holding it as established from what source that they exist, do you worship them so?" In English: "Where have you seen the gods, or how do you know for certain that they exist, that you worship them like this?" conspicatus is the perfect participle of the deponent conspicor "catch sight of", so it is active in meaning, "having seen".
  • XII.30 una materia communis, etiamsi corporibus peculiaribus affectionibus distinctis innumerabilibus dispescatur:
  • XII.30 aliae ergo rerum dictarum particulae, formae nempe et materiae sensus expertes, necessitudinis vinculo non connectuntur sibi invicem.