A First Latin Reader/24

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Lesson 24
Nathaniel Bacon in Virginia
1912
 23. William Penn and the Friends 25. 
LESSON 24
Nathaniel Bacon in Virginia

Dum in Britanniā Novā bellum gerit Philippus, in Virginiā quoque Indī impetūs saepe in colōnōs faciēbant, multōsque agricolās, quī procul ab oppidīs habitābant, cum cruciātū occīdērunt. Quō perīculō commōtī, colōnī multa mīlia passuum nūntiōs ad caput[1] prōvinciae mīsērunt, quī lēgātum ōrārent, ut mitteret mīlitēs, quī hostīs coercērent. Lēgātō autem nūllō modō persuādērī potuit[2] ut colōnōs adiuvāret, quod cum Indīs ipse negōtiābātur nec quaestum dīmittere volēbat[3]; quīn etiam iuvenis quīdam, nōmine Bēcō, quī ā Britanniā tribus ante annīs in prōvinciam vēnerat, cum[4] dīxisset sē velle in Indōrum fīnīs dūcere colōnōs paucōs, quī iam ipsī[5] arma cēperant, ā lēgātō domī est iussus manēre.

Iuvenis autem, sine morā ad castra colōnōrum clam fectus, cum prīmum[6] in cōrum cönspectum vēnit summō assēnsū omnium[7] dux factus est. Quī[8] igitur, quamquam sciēbat lēgātum posteā īrātum[9] sē fortasse[10] interfectūrum[11], in fīnīs tamen Indōrum cōpiās[12] dūxit, hostēsque in fugam undique dedit. Quod[13] ubi est audītum, lēgātus ex oppidō celeriter profectus est, ut Bēcōnem caperet suppliciumque[14][15] eō sūmeret, quod iniussū suō bellum cum Indīs gereret.


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  1. caput: capital.
  2. persuādēri potuit: lit. could it be made agreeable; cf. persuādāre, p. 23, l. 9.
  3. volēbat: cf. velle, p. 2, l. 15.
  4. cum: translate much earlier in the English sentence.
  5. ipsi: on their own motion, i.e. without waiting for the governor to act.
  6. cum primum: i.e. as soon as.
  7. omnium: as (masc.) noun, modifying assēnsū.
  8. quī: cf. p. 5, l. 3.
  9. īrātum: in (his) anger.
  10. fortasse: adv., perhaps.
  11. interfectūrum: sc. esse.
  12. cōpiās: (his) troops.
  13. quod: this (noun).
  14. supplicium: supplicium, -i, n., punishment.
  15. : lit. from. supplicium sūmere is the converse of poenās dare.