CODEX 4.1
Please make your selection from the above CODEX menu options for Episode 4.1
KEY-TEXT A
Mālum Aureum
ōlim deī deaeque convīvium habēbant. hērōs Pēleus voluit in mātrimōnium deam Thetidem dūcere. Juppiter, quī praedictum dē Thetide audīvit et erat territus, dedit deam Thetidem hērōī Pēleō. dea autem Thetis nōn dēsīderābat hērōem Pēleum. Juppiter tamen est omnipotēns.
Pēleus et Thetis omnēs deōs deāsque invītābant. deī autem Discordia nōn invītāvērunt et illa dea erat īrātissima. Discordia cōnflīctiōnem amāvit. Discordia Pēleō cōnflīctiōnem dare dēsīderābat.
Discordia mālum aureum habuit et in mālō 'PULCHERRIMAE' scrīpsit. tum Discordia mālum in convīvium iēcit. Iūnō et Venus et Minerva mālum dēsīderābant. Juppiter territus erat et dīxit, "ego cōnstituere nōn possum. mortālis Paris dēbet cōnstituere." atque Juppiter mortālem Paridem ad convīvium vocāvit. Paris erat fīlius Priamī, rēgis Trōiae.
Juppiter Paridī dēclārāvit, "necesse est tibi cōnstituere. dā mālum aureum ūnī ex deābus!"
Jūnō Paridī dīxit, "possum dāre tibi rēgnum Asiae Eurōpaeque."
Minerva Paridī dīxit, "possum dāre tibi sapientiam et artem in proeliō."
Venus Paridī dīxit, "possum dāre tibi pulcherrimam fēminam mortālem."
erat difficile Paridī cōnstituere et ille diū putāvit. Paris dēsīderāvit omnia quae deae eī dāre voluērunt. Paris putāvit, "ego dēsīderō potentiam? ego dēsīderō rēgnum? sapientiam? minimē. ego cupiō fēminam pulcherrimam."
Paris tandem mālum Venerī dedit et Venus pulcherrimam fēminam mortālem, Helēnam, Paridī dedit. Jūnō et Minerva erant īrātissimae quod eīs Paris mālum nōn dedit.
sed ēheu! Helēna iam habēbat marītum. marītus Helēnae erat Menelaus, rēx Spartae. necesse erat Paridī ad Spartam nāvigāre.
post multōs annōs, Paris ad Spartam nāvigāvit et Menelaum Helēnamque vīsitābat. Menelaus in hospitiō Paridem accēpit et Helēna Paridī multa dōna dedit.
ūnā nocte, Paris in cubiculum intrāvit et Helēnam rapuit. Paris celeriter ad Trōiam nāvigāvit. Menelaus erat trīstissimus et frātrem quaesīvit. frāter, rēx Agamemnōn, erat potentissimus rēx in Graeciā. Agamemnōn erat rēx Mycēnārum.
Menelaus Agamemnōnī omnia narrāvit. Agamemnōn erat īrātissimus sed Agamemnōn bellum amāvit. Agamemnōn cōnsilium cēpit et omnēs hērōēs in Graeciā vocāvit.
Visual Walkthrough
KEY-TEXT B
The Birth of Achilles
nūptiae magnae sunt. in monte Peliō omnēs deī conveniunt, quod Pēleus Thetidem in mātrimōnium dūcit. Thetis dea maris est, et pulcherrima est. Pēleus autem homō mortālis est. Juppiter ipse hās nūptiās cupit, quod ōrāculum dīxerat: "fīlius Thetidis patre suō māior erit."
deī laetī sunt. deī cibum edunt et vīnum bibunt. sed ūna dea nōn vocāta est: Discordia. Discordia īrāta est, et ad nūptiās venit. mālum aureum in mediam turbam iacit. in mālō verba scrīpta sunt: "pulcherrimae."
trēs deae mālum cupiunt: Jūnō, Minerva, Venus. omnēs putant sē pulcherrimās esse. sed haec est alia fābula.
posteā Thetis fīlium parit. nōmen puerō est Achillēs. Thetis fīlium suum amat, sed timet. nōscit enim ōrāculum: Achillēs erit fortissimus omnium hominum, sed iuvenis moritūrus est. Thetis fīlium immortālem facere cupit.
igitur nocte Thetis puerum ad flūmen portat. hoc flūmen "Styx" vocātur, et in Orcō est. aqua Stygis magica est: corpus immortāle facit. Thetis puerum tenet et in aquam ātram mergit. sed dum puerum mergit, calcem tenet. aqua calcem nōn tangit. tōtum corpus immortāle est, sed calx sōla mortālis manet.
Achillēs crēscit. Chīrōn, quī centaurus est, puerum docet. Chīrōn sapientissimus omnium centaurōrum est. Achillēs currere et pugnāre discit. mox fortissimus iuvenis est.
sed Thetis etiam tum timet. bellum enim venit: Graecī contrā Trōiam pugnāre parant. Thetis scit: sī Achillēs ad Trōiam it, ibi moritur. igitur fīlium cēlāre cupit.
Thetis Achillem ad īnsulam Scȳrum mittit. ibi rēx Lycomēdēs multās fīliās habet. Thetis Achillem veste fēmineā induit, et inter fīliās rēgis cēlat. nunc Achillēs nōn iuvenis, sed puella vidētur. omnēs putant eum esse fīliam rēgis.
sed Graecī Achillem quaerunt. sine Achille enim Trōiam capere nōn possunt. Ulixēs, quī callidissimus omnium Graecōrum est, cōnsilium capit. Ulixēs mercātor esse simulat. ad rēgiam venit, et dōna fēminīs offert: vestēs pulchrās, aurum, corōnās. sed inter dōna etiam gladium et hastam pōnit.
fīliae rēgis vestēs et aurum spectant. sed ūna "puella" gladium et hastam rapit! Ulixēs rīdet et dīcit: "tū nōn es puella. tū es Achillēs!"
sīc Ulixēs Achillem invenit. Achillēs arma capit et ad bellum it. fātum eum vocat.
Visual Walkthrough
Informational Text A
Priamus
postquam Hercules Trōiam oppugnāvit, Priamus rēx erat. Priamus Trōiam regēbat. multās gāzās et multam pecūniam habēbat. rēgīna tamen erat Hecuba, quae multōs līberōs cum Priamō habēbat. Hecuba nōn sōlum rēgīna, sed etiam māter multōrum līberōrum erat. Priamus quīnquāgintā fīliōs fīliāsque habēbat! paucī tamen inter līberōs praestābant.
Helenus et Cassandra erant vātēs, quī futūra vidēre poterant. Dēiphobus in proeliō fortis erat, quī mīlitēs dūcēbat. Polyxena novissima et pulcherrima fīlia erat. Hector potentissimus Trōiānōrum erat, quī urbem semper dēfendēbat. Trōiānī Hectorem maximē amābant, quod fortissimus omnium erat. sed nōtissimus inter līberōs erat Paris, quod tōtam familiam et urbem et patriam dēlēvit. multī quoque eum "Alexandrum" nōmināvērunt.
ōlim trēs deae, Jūnō et Minerva et Venus, ad Paridem vēnērunt. deae pulcherrimam ēligere iussērunt. Paris Venerem ēlēgit, quod Venus eī Helenam prōmīsit. sed Helena erat uxor Menelāī, rēgis Graecī! Paris igitur Helenam ex Graeciā ad Trōiam dūxit, et propter hoc factum Graecī bellum contrā Trōiam gessērunt.
somnium quoque dē Paride nōtum est. ubi Hecuba īnfantem Paridem in uterō gerēbat, somnium malum habuit. in somniō nōn īnfantem genuit, sed flammās. illae flammae tōtam urbem cōnsūmpsērunt. vātēs dē īnfante monēbant: hic īnfāns ad Trōiam ruīnam feret. Priamus et Hecuba erant trīstēs, quod ruīnam ob īnfantem timēbant. itaque Priamus mīlitēs iussit: "īnfantem in monte relinquite!" sed pāstor īnfantem invēnit et servāvit. Paris igitur nōn mortuus est, sed in monte crēvit. posteā ad Trōiam rediit. ita fātum superāre nōn poterant.
Text originally written by Sean Minion, revised 7/26
GRAMMATICA
The imperfect tense: its uses.
Operatives, you already know the quickest way to render an imperfect verb: "was ___ing." That will always get you a serviceable reading. However, the imperfect does more than one job, and choosing the right shade often sharpens a sentence considerably. Compare the following:
Continuous or habitual action in the past: she was walking / she kept on walking / she used to walk
Attempted action in the past (the "conative" imperfect): she tried to walk
Action beginning in the past (the "inceptive" imperfect): she began to walk
When you meet an imperfect and "was ___ing" reads oddly, try one of the others and see whether comprehension improves. In this episode, when Caecilius says he nōn intellegēbam Horace, "I could not manage to understand" (a conative reading) captures his meaning better than a flat "I was not understanding."
Additionally, operatives should consider a small feature of Latin verbs. Often the subject will not be named in the sentence. This is especially true if the sentence continues to use the same subject from the previous sentence. For more information about subjectless verbs, please view this video briefing secured from latintutorial.com:
A note on superlatives. The KEY-TEXTs of this episode are full of superlative adjectives (pulcherrima, potentissimus, trīstissimus, īrātissima, callidissimus, sapientissimus, fortissimus). For now, simply recognize them as an intensified "most / very ___" form. You will meet them formally at 4.3.
VERBA
| Latin | English | Part of Speech |
| alius | other, another | adjective |
| bellum | war | noun |
| dēbet | she/he owes, ought | verb |
| homō | person, human | noun |
| tamen | however, yet | conjunction |
CULTURALIA
Operative, the Trojan War was the single greatest story the ancient world told itself. Greeks and Romans alike measured heroism, loyalty, and fate against it for a thousand years. The Demiurge advises you to master its shape, and above all its cause, because your mission drops you straight into the war council where that cause is being argued.
How the war began. The war does not begin with an army; it begins with a wedding and an insult. The goddess Discordia ("Strife"), left off the guest list of a divine banquet, throws down a golden apple marked "for the most beautiful." Three goddesses, Juno, Minerva, and Venus, each claim it. Jupiter refuses to judge and hands the decision to a mortal, the Trojan prince Paris. Each goddess offers Paris a bribe: Juno offers power, Minerva offers wisdom and skill in war, Venus offers the most beautiful woman alive. Paris chooses Venus, and his prize is Helen, already the wife of Menelaus of Sparta. When Paris carries her off to Troy, Menelaus turns to his brother Agamemnon, the most powerful king in Greece, who musters the Greek heroes for war. This is the machinery your Recentius will be standing inside.
Why it mattered to Rome. For the Romans this was not merely a good Greek story. Rome told itself that it descended from Troy: the hero Aeneas, a Trojan survivor, was held to have carried his household gods westward and founded the line that led to Rome. So the fall of Troy was, for a Roman, a national origin, not a foreign legend. Keep that in mind as you work; it is why Caecilius will care so much which Roman writers you know.
The heroes you will need. Achilles and Odysseus (Ulysses to the Romans) are the two great figures of the Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Every educated Roman knew their stories. You should pay particular attention to the trick Odysseus and Diomedes pull off to expose Achilles, hidden in disguise among the daughters of King Lycomedes, because you will be asked to reproduce something like it.
ATTUNEMENT
Attunement, Episode 4.1
Preview each exercise, then copy it into your own Google Drive to complete it.
4.1.a - The Cause of the War
culturalia comprehension · 9 questions4.1.b - Reading the Quarrel
interpretive reading · 4 tiers4.1.c - Was It, or Did It Happen?
form · 6 verbs4.1.d - Why Paris Chose
open comprehension + citation · 3 questions4.1.e - The Making of a Hero
sequence-order · 8 eventsMemorātiō
reflect · recall your pathA quarrel among the gods dropped you into a war council, and a golden apple was the whole cause of it. In your own words, set down whose wedding started the trouble, and whose choice among three goddesses lit the fire that would burn Troy. You learned why the Greeks are sailing east, and you learned that one hero was still missing from the muster. Who was he, and why did his mother try to hide him?
Hold on to how that hidden hero was found out. The reason this war began will echo in every Roman you meet from here forward.
