nox adest

I thought it was a fun idea to ask the reader about the painting. I also wanted to end this story with the end of the day.

For those of you new to Latin, pingit, pinxit and picta are all forms of the same verb. pignit - he or she paints, pinxit - he or she (has) painted, picta - painted. If you were to look the word up in a dictionary your would see: pingo, pingere, pinxi, pictum (verb) to paint. This is the detail you need to form this verb in its myriad of mutations. The noun pictor, too, is formed from pictum and means 'person who paints'.

Marcellus has now painted for many hours. Does the painting, painted by Marcellus, please you? Night is now here and Marcellus is tired.

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Marcellus pictor est

Here we see Marcellus painting in his attic studio. The artwork, created by Lego and supplied with the Parisian Restaurant set, is hilarious. You might think, of course, that if you are painting in Lego, your options are limited to squares and rectangles. But, as we will later discover, this is only one of Marcellus' styles.

From a grammar point of view, I really enjoy the variis coloribus ablative of description. And the way it rolls nicely off the tongue. 

Marcellus is painting inside. Marcellus is painting squares and rectangles of various colours. As I said, it pleases Marcellus greatly to paint.

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Google Translate

Some years ago, I read a book called Google Planet by Randall Stross. Among many other things, it explained how Google Translate works. Well, kind of. What it did explain was that like so much at Google, the secret was an algorithm. Instead of teaching the computer how to translate from, say, English to French, they taught the computer how to compare huge amounts of texts in both languages to learn how to translate between them. The computer reads through everything it can get its hands on that is available in more than one language. United Nation reports are particularly useful because they are so broadly translated. As is a lot of popular fiction.

This is the reason why Google Translate is so bad at translating between Latin and English. There just isn't enough to read available in both languages for the computer to get a real sense of how to do it. Just for kicks, here is today's page translated by Google;

Marcellus, the door open, enters the upper chamber . Perhaps you are looking for the name of happiness , which stands in the furnace . He Pico said.

And here it is translated by a human being;

Marcellus opens the door (ablative absolute!) and enters the cenaculum. Perhaps you are asking for the name of the cat who is standing on the chimney. He is Pico.

pars interior

I love the attention to detail in these Lego modulars, and I want to showcase them as best as possible in my stories and illustrations. The attic room at the top of the Parisian Restaurant has a fold down wall that allows the artist's workplace to be seen. Note the stove that backs onto the chimney and the rack for storing completed paintings. I wanted the reader to be able to imagine this as a liveable space, so I invented a tiny sleeping area that is just out of sight, behind the entrance way.

I was reading this story yesterday with a group of seniors who have just completed their trial examinations. One of them responded immediately to the use of the supine - mirabile dictu - by saying that it was 'very Virgilian'. I hadn't thought of it that way, but I pleased that he did.

This - miraculous to see - is the interior part. You are able to see the stove, flowers and two pictures. You are not able to see the sleeping room.

usque ad cenaculum

The journey of Marcellus to his attic apartment is complete. Now we are asked if we want to see inside.

I was reading pars secunda of this story with my Form III class yesterday, and one of them commented after reading yet another question - 'This book is very interactive'. I smiled to hear that.

This might be the best shot we've had so far of the other neighbouring building. I wonder what goes on there!

Finally he climbs more steps all the way to the cenaculum. His home, as I said, is small. Do you wish to the the interior part (inside)?

in maeniano

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I first encountered the word maenianum at Rusticatio. Rusticatio is a one week full Latin emersion held annually in West Virginia. Living in the beautiful Claymont Mansion, participants eat, drink, laugh, play, work, cook, learn, teach and tell stories entirely in Latin. And the best place for telling and hearing stories is, sine dubio, the maenianum. After the sun goes down, and the glow bugs begin to circle the trees, participants drag up a chair and a glass of wine to listen to and enjoy the sharing of tales, Latine tantum.

In our story nemo alius is on the balcony as Marcellus crosses it. At Rusticatio it seems that there is always someone on the balcony, ready to hear a tale or to tell one.

And for those of you still new to Latin, note that elegant ablative of time when, hoc tempore. Its almost as beautiful as the flowers hanging from the lamp posts. ;)

Then Marcellus walks across the balcony. At this time no one else is on the balcony.

pars cauponae

One of the challenges of beginning a new story is world building. Legonium is a very small town, but it  is important to me that readers have a sense of place as the characters move around within it. The long journey from the street to the cenaculum gives the reader a chance to learn the 'geography' of the restaurant building.

Firstly, Marcellus climb the stairs to the balcony. The balcony is part of the restaurant.

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cenaculum

When I went looking for a word to describe Marcellus' small home at the top of the building, I remembered that Quintus and Flaccus had rented this type of room in Rome in Chapter 18 of the Oxford Latin Course. The line is ibi erat cenaculum, parvum et sordidum. The definition in the margin defines cenaculum as garret or attic room. The Oxford Latin Dictionary adds that they were often let as lodgings.

The Cassell's Latin Dictionary says that a cenaculum literally means 'an eating room', of the same family as cena, dinner and cenare, to dine. And as the 'eating room' was commonly at the top of the building, it came to mean 'the upper story of a house' or 'attic'.

This is the reason that I decided to go with the passive verb vocatur, is called, rather than the more direct est, is.

Perhaps you are asking what a cenaculum is. A small room situated on the top floor of a building is called a cenaculum.