Legenda: Cassita

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Cassita

Scroll down to find: Overview, Study Guide, Segmented Prose Text, and Grammar Comments

The story of The Lark is adapted from a story told by Aulus Gellius (reporting a poem by Ennius, no longer extant).

The Perry number for this fable is Perry 325.

The lake, called "cassita" here and more usually called "alauda" in Latin, is a very small bird belonging to the sparrow family. It nests on the ground, which is an important factor in the story you are about to read. There is just one species of lark found in North America, but many different varieties of larks found in Europe.

You can find a translation of this story in Aesop's Fables, by Laura Gibbs (Oxford University Press, 2003).

Use this Study Guide to organize your learning activities.

Avicula est parva, cuius nomen est cassita.	cuius: relative pronoun, antecedent is avicula
Habitat nidulaturque in segetibus eodem tempore ut adveniat messis pullis iam iam plumantibus.	pullis...plumantibus: ablative absolute adveniat: subjunctive with ut
Ea cassita forte nidum congesserat in sementes tempestiviores;	ea cassita: "this (particular) lark..."
propterea frumentis flavescentibus pulli etiam tunc involucres erant.	frumentis flavescentibus: ablative absolute
Dum igitur ipsa iret et cibum pullis quaereret, monet eos ut, si quid rei novae fieret, animadverterent et nuntiarent sibi ubi redisset.	iret...quaereret: subjunctive with dum animadverterent...nuntiarent: subjunctive with ut fieret: subjunctive with si quid rei novae: partitive genitive redisset: subjunctive with ubi (time when)
Dominus postea segetum illarum filium adulescentem vocat.	postea: used here as postpositive
"Videsne haec ematuruisse et manus iam postulare?	ematuruisse...postulare: infinitives in indirect statement (introduced by vides, neuter accusative subject is haec) manus: object of the infinitive postulare
Idcirco die crastini, ubi primum diluculabit, fac ut ad amicos eas et roges ut veniant operamque mutuam dent et messim hanc nobis adiuvent."	eas...roges: subjunctives with ut veniant...dent...adiuvent: subjunctives with ut
Atque ubi redit cassita, pulli tremibundi et trepiduli circumstrepunt orantque matrem, ut iam statim properet inque alium locum sese asportet.	properet...asportet: subjunctives with ut sese: emphatic form of se
"Nam dominus misit filium, ut luce oriente veniant amici et metant."	luce oriente: ablative absolute veniant...metant: subjunctives with ut
Mater iubet eos otioso animo esse.	esse: complementary infinitive with iubet otioso animo: ablative of description
"Si enim dominus messim ad amicos reicit, crastino seges non metetur neque necessum est hodie ut vos auferam."	enim: postpositive auferam: subjunctive with ut
Die postero mater in pabulum volat.
Dominus amicos, quos rogaverat, opperitur.	quos: relative pronoun, antecedent is amicos
Sol fervit, et fit nihil; it dies, et amici nulli eunt.
Tum ille rursum dicit ad filium:
"Amici isti magnam partem cessatores sunt.	magnam partem: adverbial phrase ("for the most part")
Quin potius imus et cognatos adfinesque nostros oramus, ut assint cras ad metendum?"	quin potius imus: "why don't we go instead..." assint: subjunctive with ut
Itidem hoc pulli pavefacti matri nuntiant.
Mater hortatur, ut tum quoque sine metu ac sine cura sint, dicens:	sint: subjunctive with ut
"Cognati adfinesque nulli tam sunt obsequibiles ut statim dicto oboediant.	oboediant: subjunctive with ut
Vos modo advertite, si quid denuo dicetur."	tamen: postpositive si...quid = si aliquid
Alia luce orta avis in pastum profecta est.	alia luce orta: ablative absolute
Cognati et adfines operam, quam dare rogati sunt, supersederunt.	quam: relative pronoun, antecedent is operam
Ad postremum igitur dominus filio dicit:
"Valeant amici cum propinquis.	valeant: jussive subjunctive ("to heck with our friends and neighbors!")
Afferes primo luci falces duas;	primo luci: normally lux is feminine, but in this archaic fixed phrase, "at first light," it is masculine
unam egomet mihi et tu tibi capies alteram, et frumentum nosmetipsi manibus nostris cras metemus."	egomet: emphatic form of ego nosmetipsi: emphatic form of nos ipsi
Quo audito ex pullis mater eis dicit:	quo audito: ablative absolute
"Tempus est cedendi et abeundi.
In ipso enim iam vertitur, cuius res est, non in alio."	enim: postpositive (note how in ipso is thus treated as a single word unit) cuius: relative pronoun, antecedent is ipso
Atque ita cassita nidum migravit, et seges a domino demessa est.
Hoc erit tibi argumentum semper in promptu situm:
ne quid exspectes amicos, quod tute agere possis.	ne quid = ne aliquid quod: relative pronoun, antecedent is quid tute = emphatic form of tu agere: complementary infinitive with possis possis: potential subjunctive