Elementary Guide to Writing in Latin

ich look out upon the public square of the city. The morning sun awakes me, and the sea-breeze comes in at my window. At night the square is lighted by lamps suspended from the trees, and thronged with a brilliant crowd of the young and gay. Cadiz is beautiful almost beyond-imagination.4 1 dormito (imperfect). Participle. 3 Relative. 4 supra qnam quis animo concipere possit. Lesson 19. Terbs. ? 1. Narrative Tenses. 1. Learn §§ 264. a; 276, with a, d; 277, with a-c; 278, 279, with a-c; 280 (Present and Past Tenses of the Indicative) ; and 275 (Historical Infinitive). Review § n5. b (use of Perfect and Imperfect). 2. The narrative tenses in Latin are used nearly as in English. But ? a. The Present is used much oftener than in English to express a past action more vividly. ft. The ordinary English past tense is represented in Latin sometimes by the Perfect (historical), and sometimes by the Imperfect. (For the distinction see § 115.). But the use of the Imperfect depends not so much on the actual duration of the action as upon the way in which the writer wishes to represent it. Thus ? 1. Cicero lived sixty-three years, Cicero vixit LXIII annos, [Here the action, though of long duration, is stated as a simple fact.] 2. Bibulus watched the heavens, while Caesar held the elec tion, Sibulus de caelo servabat, cum Caesar comitia hdbebat, or habuit. [Here the action, though brief, is represented as continuing.] 3. Homer flourished be...