Please make your selection from the above CODEX menu options for Episode 9.3

Listen to the audio feed from TSTT Mission Control as you read, operatives.

rēgēs Rōmae

Rōmulus Rēmum necāvit et tunc mūrōs circum Rōmam confēcit. Rōmānī Rōmulum valdē amāvērunt quod Rōmulus multās terrās ad Rōmam addit. post Rōmulum multī rēgēs Rōmam rēgnābant; Nūma Pompilius, Tullus Hostīlius, Ancus Martius, Tarquinius Prīscus, Servius Tullius et tandem Tarquinius Superbus.

Tarquinius Superbus contrā Volscōs bellum gessit et praedās ad collem Capitōlīnum portāvit. ibi Tarquinius templum māgnificum aedificāvit et templum Iovī dēdicāvit. Rōmanī autem nec Tarquinium Superbum nec fīlium suum Sextum nōn amāvērunt. quōdam diē Sextus Tarquinius Lūcrētiam, uxōrem Collātīnī, vīdit. Sextus voluit Lūcrētiam capere et noctē ad vīllam suam advēnit....

Neuter nouns

Operative, in 9.1 you learned that Latin has three genders. Neuter nouns follow two rules of their own. The nominative and the accusative of a neuter noun are always the same. The nominative and accusative plural always end in -a.

Second-declension neuter nouns

A second-declension neuter noun ends in -um in the nominative and accusative singular. In the key-text rēgēs Rōmae, Tarquin the Proud templum magnum Jovī aedificāre coepit (began to build a great temple for Jupiter). templum is accusative here, but its nominative is also templum.

In the plural, the same noun ends in -a. The informational text Seven Kings of Rome says that Tullus multa bella gessit (waged many wars). bella is the accusative plural of bellum.

The dative and ablative endings are the same as the endings of a masculine noun like servus.

Third-declension neuter nouns

In the third declension, the nominative singular of a neuter noun can end in many ways, such as opus (work) and nōmen (name). The two neuter rules still hold. The informational text says cloāca est opus magnum (a sewer is a great work), and it says that Tarquinius Priscus magna opera aedificāvit (built great works).

The other forms are built on the stem. The dictionary entry shows the stem: opus, operis, n. has the stem oper-.

An adjective that describes a neuter noun takes neuter endings too: templum magnum, opus magnum, magna opera.

There is one warning about neuter nouns. A neuter plural in -a looks like a first-declension feminine singular. opera (works) and puella (girl) end the same way. When you meet a noun in -a, check its dictionary entry for n., the mark of a neuter noun.

(Neuter nouns also have genitive forms. You will learn them with the genitive case in Mission 11.)

Lucretia as a Roman example

Operative, the Romans told the story of Lucretia as an example of how a Roman should live. The historian Livy tells her story. No written records survive from so early in Rome's history, so it is a story the Romans told about their own past.

Lucretia was the wife of Collatinus. In the key-text rēgēs Rōmae, she is working wool at night with her maids while the other wives feast. Sextus Tarquinius, the son of the king, saw her that night. A few days later he attacked her in her own home.

Lucretia told her father and her husband what had happened. She asked them to punish Sextus. Then she took her own life.

The Romans called a story like this an exemplum, an example to follow. To them, Lucretia was a model of pudīcitia, a Roman woman's honor and good name.

Brutus and the end of the kings

Lucius Junius Brutus led the Romans against the last king. He was the king's own nephew. For years he pretended to be dull, so that the king would not see him as a threat. His name, Brutus, means "dull."

After Lucretia's death, Brutus swore to drive the king and his family out of Rome. The Romans joined him. In 509 BCE they expelled Tarquin the Proud, and Rome never had a king again.

In place of a king, the Romans elected two consuls every year. Brutus and Collatinus were the first two consuls. Each consul served for one year, and each consul could stop the other. For centuries afterward, the Romans hated the word rēx.

The Romans did not want one man to hold all the power again. Why would two consuls who served for one year make that harder than one king?

CULTURALIA Comprehension Questions
Directions: Using the CULTURALIA section of your CODEX as a guide, answer the following questions:
1. Describe the form of government that replaced the monarchy in 509 BC.
2. Whom did Lucretia kill?
3. Who vowed to avenge the death of Lucreita?
4. Of whom was Sextus Tarquinius the son?  How did he threaten Lucretia?
5. How was Collatinus related to the Tarquins?
6. What were a Consul's duties during the Republic?

9.3a
Directions: Use the word bank below to fill in column #2 and then fill in column #4 based on words/sentences from the prompts and key texts.

KEY-TEXT Comprehension Questions
Directions: Refer back to the Key-text in 9.3 to answer the following questions in complete Latin sentences.

1. quem Rōmulus necāvit?
2. cur amāvērunt Rōmānī Rōmulum?
3. post Rōmulum, quōt rēgēs Rōmam rēgnābant?
4. quid Tarquinius aedificāvit in colle Capitōlīnō?
5. amāvēruntne Rōmānī Tarquinium et fīllium Sextum?

9.3b
Directions: Use the vocabulary given below to provide an English derivative for the italicized following.

pallium quattuor porta pugiō nuntium
mittō umbra oculus cupidē marītus


1. A large or imposing door or gate.
2. Serving to alleviate or bring relief, cloaking you in comfort.
3. An eyeglass for one eye.
4. An important task or errand on which you might be sent.
5. One fourth of a gallon..
6. Pertaining to marriage or to having a husband.
7. Combative, likely to get into a fight with one's hands or a dagger.
8. To deliver a message or declare something in an articulate manner.
9. Shadow or shade, cast by trees.
10. Eager or excessive desire; greed or avarice.