Sententiae, Unit 23

Illi autem, tendentes manus dextras, vitam petebant.

Those men, however, holding out their right hands, were seeking life.

illi: nominative plural masculine of the demonstrative ille, illa, illud. Since there is no other nominative plural masculine noun in this sentence, illi functions substantively.

tendentes: This is the present active participle in the plural nominative masculine, which modifies illi. Remember that active participles can have direct objects. Learn more about participles.

manus dextras: Not all nouns and the adjectives that modify them will have the same endings. Depending on their declensions, the endings can be the same or entirely different. Here, the noun, manus, is from a fourth declensions noun, manus, manus, fem; and the adjective is from the first and second declension adjective, dexter, dextra, dextrum. Because this ending of the fourth declension is repeated for many cases and numbers, it is easier to look at the adjective. This -as ending works only for the feminine, plural, accusative form. Because manus can also be feminine, plural, accusative, they argree in gender, number, and case, and so dextras modifies manus.

vitam: accusative feminine singular of the 1^st declension noun vita, vitae (f.)

petebant: 3^rd person plural imperfect active indicative, from the 3rd conjugation verb peto, petere, petivi, petitum.

Cura oratoris dicturi eos audituros delectat.

The attention of the orator, as he is about to speak, pleases those about to hear.

cura: nominative singular feminine from the 1^st declension noun cura, curae.

oratoris: genitive masculine singular of the 3^rd declension noun orator, oratoris. The speaker is the possessor of "concern" (cura).

dicturi: future active participle of dico, dicere. In order to form the future active participle, the -um is dropped from the 4^th principal part and the endings (-urus, -ura, -urum) are added. Note that dicturi is the genitive singular form since it is modifying the word oratoris. Be aware that often the participle and noun will be using different sets of declension endings as in this case. Remember that the future active takes its endings from the 1st and 2^nd declension adjectives.

Here is an explanation on time and the participle.

Literally this participle is translated as "about to speak/say", but when it is at all possible, participles should be translated as clauses with finite verbs using introductory words such as "when", "while", "as", and "although".

Here is an additional explanation on translating participles.

eos: accusative masculine plural of the 3^rd person personal pronoun is, ea, id.

audituros - future active participle from audio, audire. Its case, number, and gender are accusative, plural, masculine since it, as an adjective, is modifying eos. For more on the future active participle, click on dicturi. You may also want to visit the discussion of time and the participle and the discussion of how you translate the participle.

delectat: 3^rd person singular present active indicative from the 1^st conjugation verb delecto, delectare, delctavi, delectatum.

Non is est miser qui iussus aliquid facit, sed is qui invitus facit.

is: nominative masculine singular of the 3^rd person personal pronoun is, ea, id.

Since the person is already incorporated in the verb, the use of is in this sentence is to emphasize: each time it occurs, it emphasizes and contrasts one type of man with the other. Sometimes you'll see the same thing, but with hic…ille… instead ("this man…that man…").

est is the 3^rd person singular present active indicative of the irregular verb sum, esse, fui, futurum.

miser is the nominative masculine singular of the 1^st/2^nd declension adjective miser, misera, miserum. Here miser modifies is, so it agrees with it in number, case and gender. Since it is used with the verb "to be" this adjective is called "appositive".

Although est miser only appears in the first part of the sentence, it applies to both parts of the sentence: the one guy is not miserable, but the other guy is.

qui: nominative masculine singular of the relative pronoun qui, quae, quod. The antecedent is is ("he..."), so qui takes its number and gender from that. It takes its case from its function in its own (subordinate, or "relative") clause; in that clause, it is the subject; so it is in the nominative case.

iussus - "ordered" - perfect passive participle, nominative masculine singular, modifying qui

The tense of the participle iussus (called "perfect" or "past") expresses a time-relation which is prior to the finite verb which governs the grammar of qui iussus aliquid facit: that is, facit. We can translate the participle iussus with the perfect tense or any past tense because the past represents time prior to the present. Learn more about time and the Latin participle.

Note also that iussus is passive, so that we translate it as "who has been ordered" (passive) rather than "who has ordered." (active).

Iussus, like most Latin participles, is predicative: it modifies or extends the predicate. In this case, it tell you "under what conditions" the man is action. In fact, if you look at the whole sentence you can see that iussus is in contrast with invitus. Although both agree with the nominative subject, they modify the predicate. The real meaning is a contrast: Not the man who does things under orders, but the man who does things unwillingly. Learn more about translating participles.

aliquid: accusative neuter singular of the indefinite pronoun aliquis, aliquid. It is the direct object of facit.

facit: 3^rd person singular present active indicative of the 3^rd "-io" verb facio, facere, feci, factum. In each occurrence, facit functions as the main verb of the clause.

invitus: nominative masculine singular of the 1^st/2^nd declension adjective invitus, invita, invitum. It modifies is, and therefore agrees with it in number, case and gender.