Ducentesimum Undecimum Latinum Verbum Diei: June 6, 2010

[Christina Wallin]

Theme for this month: Verbs

Verbs are an important part of any language, expressing what action
has occurred, and in Latin especially, they make up the backbone of a
sentence. Since Classical Latin shies away from abstract nouns, verbs
(often in the form of participles) make up the deficit. Thus, this
essential part of speech is the theme for this month. Enjoy!

cesso, cessare, cessavi, cessatus, intr.

Definition: to hold back from an action; to dally; (w. inf.) to be
slow (to); to desist, cease; to be remiss; to fail; to be idle

Sententia: Terence's Adelphi, l. 28-31 (or I.i.3-6)

Micio: Profecto hoc vere dicunt: si absis uspiam
aut ibi si cesses, evenire ea satius est
quae in te uxor dicit et quae in animo cogitat
irata quam illa quae parentes propitii.

Micio: Certainly they say this truly: if you are away anywhere or if
you loiter there, it is better that these things happen, these things
that your wife says against you and that she, angry, ponders in her
mind, than those that fond parents think.

P. Terentius Afer, known as Terence in English, was a Roman comedic
playwright of the Republic. Adelphi was first performed, in 160
B.C.E., first among all of his plays in fact to be performed. The
title means “The Brothers” in Greek, and is indeed about two pairs of
brothers, Micio and Demea. Demea had two sons: Ctesipho, whom he
himself reared and Aeschinus, whom his brother adopted and raised. In
this passage quite near to the beginning of the play, Aechinus has not
returned after a dinner party, and Micio is worrying about him in a
monologue. Rather than the jealousy a wife might have, he as a parent
is incredibly anxious about what calamity could have beset his son,
whether illness, or a broken limb, or anything else.

“Cesso” is a quite common word, used by Cicero, Vergil, and many other
authors. It is the frequentative of “cedo,” meaning “to yield, go”
among many other things, an even more common word. Frequentatives,
often emphatic, denote that the action occurs multiple times or is
particularly intense. They are formed from the supine stem, which in
the case of “cedo” is “cess-,” with the suffix “-tare/-sare,” “-
itare,” or “-titare/-sitare.” Another frequentative, in fact, is
found in this passage: “cogitat,” “to think, ponder,” from “con-,” in
this case most likely expressing intensity, + “agito,” the
frequentative of “ago,” meaning “to set into motion” or more
specifically when related to the mind, “to consider.”