110 EASY LATIN STORIES. [part ii.
106. Capitis poena—'penalty of death,' lit. 'of the head.'
Spartani—the ruling race in Laconia, a country of Southern Greece.
dictu—the supine, used as an ablative of respect.
ascivit—from ascisco.
An Adverbial Clause modifies a Principal Sentence like an Adverb, and is introduced by Conjunctions.
(For examples see Lat. Prim. Appendix XI.)
The Adverb shows Why, When, or How; and so does an Adverbial Clause.
The tense of the verb in the Adverbial Clause is determined by the tense of the Principal Verb.
Primary tenses (Present, Future, and Perfect with 'have') are followed by Primary.
Historic tenses (Imperfect, Pluperfect, and Aorist, or Perfect without 'have') are followed by Historic.
107. Cambyses—king of Persia, succeeded Cyrus, the founder of the kingdom,
ut spectarent—'to see,' literally, 'that they might see.'
Memphis—a town in Egypt.
Equidem—'I, for my part.'
108. Magum—one of the priestly order in Persia. Cambyses had put to death his brother Smerdis. In the absence of Cambyses, one of the Magi, taking advantage of an accidental likeness, pretended to be Smerdis, alleging that he had not been put to death as generally believed, and made himself king. Cambyses died before he could put down the revolt, and Smerdis reigned for some months before he was detected and slain by some conspirators, one of whom, Darius, was made king.
Susa, -orum—the capital of Persia, the Shushan of Scripture.
109. quove.—Ve, 'or,' is always written after the word to which it is joined, like que, 'and,' and ne, the interrogative.
haberem.—Lat. Prim. § 153, 1.
ne te doni poeniteat—'lest it should repent thee of thy gift.'
110. Babylon—(Babel) on the Euphrates, the capital of the Chaldean empire, was captured by Cyrus in the reign of Belshazzar, as told in Scripture.
quae panem conficeret—'to make bread.' The reason of the verb