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A First Latin Reader/14

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Lesson 14
A Soldier’s Courtship
1912
 13. Colonization in New England 15. Unrest among the Indians. 
LESSON 14
A Soldier’s Courtship

Hieme proximā morbō aut fame colōni complūrēs periērunt, quōrum in numerō[1] erat Standisī[2] quoque uxor. Ille, uxōre mortuā, in mātrimōnium volēbat dūcere quandam puellam pulchram, cui erat nōmen Prissilla; sed, cum[3] sē sentīret mīlitem asperum esse, rem ipse tractāre nōluit, iuvenemque quendam mīsit, quī puellae patrem convenīret.

Iuvenis, quī forte ipse quoque Prissillam amāre coeperat, amīcō tamen deesse nōlēbat. Quārē maestus[4] profectus est, lēniterque per lītus ad puellae domum[5] versus ambulāvit. Quō[6] cum pervēnisset rēsque[7] esset prōposita, pater statim sē nōn nōlle[8] dīxit. Cum autem iuvenis cum Prissillā[9] ipsā dē virtūte lēgatī eiusque[10] rēbus gestīs[11] loquerētur, illa diū tacitā audīvit, tum rīdēns: “Nōnne[12] prō tē,” inquit, “dictūrus es?[13]” Quā vōce ille vehementer commōtus domum ad lēgātum rediit. Quī prīmō amīcum verbīs acerbīs accēpit, postrēmō tamen sēnsit nōn illīus culpā[14] rem[15] ita cecidisse. Itaque paucīs post mēnsibus ā iuvene Prissilla in mātrimōnium ducta est, Standisius autem sibi uxorem aliam sūmpsit.

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  1. quōrum in nūmerō: i.e. among whom.
  2. Standisī: fīlius and proper names in -ius and -ium have regularly this short form of the gen.; so also some common nouns in -ium. Accent, Standísī.
  3. cum: causal conjunction; cf., however, the note on p. 14, l. 8.
  4. maestus: cf. the rendering of laetus, p. 2, l. 16.
  5. domum: residence; with domum in this meaning, the preposition cannot be omitted (as in l. 16).
  6. quō: cf. the note on p. 8, l. 14.
  7. rēs: (his) errand.
  8. nōn: with nōlle.
  9. cum Prissilla: we would say “to Priscilla.”
  10. eius: i.e. of Standish.
  11. rēbus gestīs: cf. p. 4, l. 15.
  12. nōnne: i.e. nōn + ne.
  13. dictūrus es: going to speak; cf. reditūrus esset, p. 4, l. 3.
  14. illīus culpā: through (any) fault of his, ie. of the iuvenis (culpa, -ae, f).
  15. rem: the affair.