Page:Ora Maritima.djvu/133

 DRILL EXERCISES I29

Britain. But he was desirous of glory and booty. Accordingly in the year 54 B.C. he transporled five legions of Roman soldicrs and a great multitude of Gallic horse-soldiers to our island. The soldiers of the Roman legions were foot-soldiers.^ Caesar did not feai the lcmpests^ of the English channel; he did not fear the arrows and cbariots of the British tiibcs. From (ex) the pluck of his soldiers and sailors he expected (§ 26) victory.

§ 30. (jrd Declension. — Neuiers in -nien, -us or -ur.y Aniong Caesar's legions was the tenth (§22) legion. The name of the tenth legion was * Alauda.'* The nameof the tenth legion was famous, and dear to the soldiers. What^ was the name of the

^The word for ' foot-soldier ' is pedes (%.em pedit-), declined like miles and eques. [J>ed-it- means properly 'foot-goer,' as equ-it- means * horse-goer.']

'Use tempestas, which also means ' weather' {Preparations §29).

'These Neuters, like the Masculines and Feminines of §§ 27 anJ 2S, form the Nominative Singular wiihout adding an s. The s of words like tei/ipus (wilh an r before the ending of ihe Gcn. Sing.) is not an addition to the stem but part of it : bctween two vowels, however, the s changcs to r.

The Rule of Gender in the ^rd Decl. is therefore : —

1. Nouns denoting PERSONS are Masculine if they denote MALE

PERSONS, Feminine if they denote FEMALE PERSONS. (This rule is the same for all declensions).

2. Nouns not denoting persons and forming the Nominative Singular

by adding an s are mostly Feminino. 8. Not^ns not denoting persons and forming the Nominative Singular without adding an s are mostly —

Feminine if the Nom. Sing. ends in 10, DO or GO ; Neuter if the Nom. Sing. ends in MEN, US, UR, or E; Masculine in other cases (for in^tance wben the Nom. Sing. ends in OR).


 * A Noun of the ist Declension, meaning ' the Lark.'

• Use quid [stt Drill Ex. § 3, p. 106). In asking ' what is the name?' the Romans regularly used the Pronoun quid (not the adjectival form of it).