Sententiae, Unit 15

  1. Septem horis ad eam urbem venimus.

septem horis: ablative plural feminine; this is an example of the "ablative of time within which".

eam: accusative feminine singular from is, ea, id. Here, eam is used as a demonstrative (rather than as a personal pronoun); and it agrees in number, case and gender with urbem. It is accusative because it follows the preposition ad.

urbem: accusative singular feminine of urbs, urbis.

Remember that urbs is one of the 3rd declension "I"-stem nouns, so the genitive plural adds an "i" (urbium).

venimus: 1st person plural perfect active indicative from venio, venire, veni, ventum.

In fact, when you come across venimus in a text, the only way you can tell whether it is perfect or present active indicative, is by looking at the "e": if it is short (no macron) then it is present; if it is long (with a macron) then it is perfect. In Wheelock, you will see a macron over the "e" in this sentence; but no macron has yet been located online, so imagine it there! Besides, try using a present in this particular sentence, and it just won't work.

Within seven hours we came to that city.

  1. Italia illis temporibus erat plena Graecarum artium, et multi Romani ipsi has artes colebant.

illis temporibus: ablative plural neuter. This is an example of the "ablative of time when".

Graecarum artium: genitive plural feminine. It is in the genitive, because it follows plenus: that is, in Latin, plenus takes a genitive; we do the same thing in English: "He's full of nonsense".

Remember ars, artis is an "I" stem noun of the third declension; so it has the "i" in the genitive plural.

ipsi: nominative plural masculine of the intensive ipse, ipsa, ipsum. Here, ipsi intensifies multi Romani, so it agrees with it in number, case and gender.

has: accusative feminine plural of the demonstrative hic, haec, hoc. Here, has is a demonstrative adjective, modifying artes; so it agrees in number, case and gender with artes.

colebant: 3rd person plural imperfect indicative active.

In those times, Italy used to be full of Greek arts, and many Romans themselves used to cultivate these arts.