acta diurna /  by Anthony Gibbins

Meet Monas Brickvir, private detective. This is not the actual minifigure that came with the Detective’s Office; he was wearing less obvious apparel. I bought this fine chap at a Lego Show in Newcastle especially for Legonium. He originally appeared in 2011’s Series 5 of Collectable Minifigures. His real name is 8805-11 Detective and, according to an official Lego publication, he ‘has never met a mystery that he couldn’t solve.’ I was taken by the ridiculous idea of both working and dressing as a 19th century detective.

Not wanting to miss a single stereotype, Monas spends hours of each day sitting at his desk reading the acta diurna newspaper. It’s very cool that the Latin world has adopted the phrase acta diruna for this purpose. The acta part comes from ago, agere, egi, actum to do; acta, from the Fourth Principal Part, means things having been done or acts. diurna means daily. So the whole translates as something like daily acts.

In ancient Rome the acta diurna were the official daily records of events. Beginning around 131 BC, they contained the results of legal proceedings, trials and both the discussions had and the decisions reached within the senate. Over the years they were expanded to include other details such as prominent births, marriages and deaths. The notices were not made public, but taken to the archives and stored for future reference – although none exist today. This changed in 59 BC, when the then-consul Julius Caesar had them made public. From then the acta diurna were published in the Forum and other public places throughout Rome’s empire, becoming something more akin to a modern newspaper.

One of Caesar’s biographers, Suetonius, describes it thus.

inito honore primus omnium instituit ut tam senatus quam populi diurna acta confierent et publicarentur.

initio honore At the beginning of his public office primum omnium first of everything instituit he instituted ut that diurna acta the daily acts tam not only senatus of the senate quam but also populi of the people confierent would be gathered together et and publicarentur made public.

Or, as Donna W. Hurley translates it, Caesar’s very first act on entering office was to ensure that the daily register of affairs, not only of the senate but of the people as well, was written up and made public.

Monas is a private detective. At this very moment he is sitting at his desk reading the newspaper. Monas is rarely busy.

cartulae, cartularum f cards /  by Anthony Gibbins

quis est Monas Brickvir? He is none other than investigator privatus private detective, Ace Brickman. And this Lego set, set 10246-1: Detective’s Office, is named after Ace Brickman and his place of business. It even has his details printed on the window! When it came time to translate Ace into Latin, I went straight to my German-Latin visuelles worterbuch (visual dictionary). It has an entire section dedicated to games, and a section of that to playing cards. Here, then, is a handy summary of card-playing vocabulary.

ioculator joker             eques jack                   regina queen               rex king          

rhombus diamond       spiculum spade           cor heart                     trifolium club

monas ace                   miscere to shuffle       distribuere to deal      ludere to play

vincere to win             perdere to lose           victor winner              victus victa loser       

Here’s an interesting fact. victor winner and victus loser both come from the verb vinco, vincere, vici, victum conquer. The Forth Principal Part – victum – is used to form both words. Drop the -um and you are left with the stem vict-. Add the ending -or and you get victor person who conquers. Add the ending -us or -a and you get victus or victa he or she that has been conquered.

You may recognise the Third Principal Part vici I conquered. It turns up in Caesar’s oft-quoted veni, vidi, vici I came, I saw, I won.

Are you able to read the title which is written on this window? Monas Brickvir Private Detective. This is the office (literally, seat of duty) of Monas Brickvir.

non certus|certa sum or how to sound wise in Latin /  by Anthony Gibbins

True wisdom, it has been said, lies in knowing what you do not know. So, here are three expressions that will help you seem wise when speaking or writing Latin. All three make the point clearly - that you are not 100% certain of what you say - and all three are grammatically unobtrusive. By which I mean that they do not affect the words around them, the way a Verb like puto, putare, putavi, putatum I think might. They are;

mea sententia in my opinion. Note, both words are in the Ablative Case.

nisi fallor unless I am mistaken.

ut opinor as I suppose

So, let’s see each of the three expressions in action.

Marcellus sarcinam habet. Marcellus has the suitcase.

mea sententia, Marcellus sarcinam habet. In my opinion, Marcellus has the suitcase.

nisi fallor, Marcellus sarcinam habet. Unless I am mistaken, Marcellus has the suitcase.

Marcellus, ut opinor, sarcinam habet. Marcellus, as I suppose, has the suitcase.

Now, compare that with a Verb like puto.

puto Marcellum sarcinam habere. I think Marcellus to have the suitcase.

I’m not suggesting for a second that you should actively avoid Verbs like puto, but I do like the ease of using these others expressions. Now, go forth and be uncertain.

But, unless I am mistaken, what is situated on the second floor is completely unknown to you. It is now time, as I suppose, to make you more certain about that floor.

the Dative giveth and the Dative taketh away /  by Anthony Gibbins

Back on February 3rd, I posted a piece on the Dative Case, and its usefulness for Giving, Saying and Showing something To Someone, as well as for Doing something For Someone. There were the following examples;

Claudia donum Mirandae dat. Claudia gives a present to Miranda.

Claudia fabulam Mirandae narrat. Claudia tells a story to Miranda.

Claudia picturam Mirandae ostendit. Claudia shows a picture to Miranda.

Miranda cenam Claudiae parat. Miranda prepares dinner for Claudia.

In the first three Sentences Mirandae is in the Dative Case. In the last Sentence the name in the Dative Case is Claudiae.

What I didn’t touch on in that post is that the Dative Case, which can be used to Give something To Someone, can also be used to Take It Away.

nauta sarcinam viro et feminae dat. The sailor gives the suitcase to the man and woman. Jessica sarcinam viro et feminae aufert. Jessica takes the suitcase from the man and woman.

 

On the roof, moreover, are (versantur) these two people, to whom (quibus) the sailor gave a suitcase and [from whom (quibus)] Jessica took it away. You are able to see them now through the door of the room.

index verborum – aedificia et cetera /  by Anthony Gibbins

A couple of days ago I decided it would be a sensible idea to start making lists of the words that have appeared in Legonium. I was speaking with a Latin teacher in Boston who uses a great deal of spoken Latin in her classroom. One of the reasons Legonium was popular with her students, she said, was the high level of repetition of vocabulary. I started making lists of Nouns.  I have only worked through the first four episodes, but already have an extensive list concerning the town itself, the buildings, the parts of buildings, and furniture.

Legonium ipsum

oppidum                                  town

via                                           street

aedificium                               building

argentaria                               bank

caupona                                  restaurant

lavatrina vestimentorum       laundromat

taberna                                   tavern

tonstrina                                 barbershop

monumentum                         monument (this was in reference to ancient ruins)

 

Parts of a Building

tabulatum                               story (building)

tectus                                      roof

caminus                                  chimney

maenianum                            balcony

pedeplana                               ground floor

cenaculum                              attic room

conclave                                  room

cubiculum                               room

culina                                      kitchen

sedes officii                            office

scallae                                     stairs/ladder

gradus                                     step

paries                                      wall

ianua                                       door

posticum                                 back door

fenestra                                  window

pavimentum                           floor

 

Things Found in a Building

lectus                                      bed

sella                                        chair

focus                                       fireplace

scrinium                                  desk (in Roman times it referred to a case for papers)

horologium                             clock

pictura                                     picture

 

Without a doubt this building is already well known to you. Situated on the ground floor are a tavern, named the Highlander, and the barbershop of Alan.

The Story So Far: All you need to know before reading Episode Eight /  by Anthony Gibbins

Okay. There's been some pretty crazy stuff going down in Legonium of late. A few days ago a sailor came into town carrying a suitcase full of money. He gave it to this couple who have a hideout on the roof of a building, in exchange for a huge diamond. But then a woman dressed entirely in black – with a mask and some awesome ninja skills – snuck into their hideout and stole it away from them. Her name is Jessica, but that’s about all we know. Jessica was spotted climbing down the side of the building by Miranda, Legonium’s police officer. There was a  brief confrontation - Jessica knows Miranda's name, and Miranda wants to know how - then Jessica made a run for it. She hid the suitcase in a garbage dumpster to get away; she needed both hands free to climb a drain-pipe. But then, when she came back for the suitcase, Marcellus, a local artist with significant bank debts, had already found it. And the money! By the way, the couple from the hideout were following Jessica too. Although we don't know how much they saw. Yet.

What was Marcellus doing in the dumpster? That’s a really long story, and one I won’t get into here. But it involves the (above mentioned) sailor, an ancient history enthusiast named Claudia, and a barber named Alan. Alan is really cool. A reader from Boston recently commented that he looks like Ron Swanson from Parks and Rec. I can see what she means. Alan has a son named Scipio who once asked for money to see a movie. Is that important? Not really, but it shows he likes movies. Anyway, the couple on the roof have lost a suitcase and Marcellus has recently come into a lot of money. What will he do with it? Wait and see. What should he do with it? That, freinds, is a far more complicated question.

Be well reader. I see that you have returned again. Bravo! Today I have in mind to introduce to you a private investigator.

the (actual) end of episode 7 /  by Anthony Gibbins

See you back in Legonium, March 1st. quis est Monas Brickvir?

Miranda, the letter having been read through, closed her eyes and fell asleep in her chair. She thought not-at-all about the previous day. She saw nothing in her dream except the ancient city.

(almost) the end of episode 7 /  by Anthony Gibbins

With today’s page we come to the end of Claudia’s letter, and almost to the end of episode 7. I want to say a huge gratias tibi ago to the Nicholson Museum for allowing Claudia’s visit, and of course to all of you who read and shared and liked this month’s posts. As of this moment, the Squarespace stat-bar tells me that the story itself has been read 1,896 times. euge! The most popular post this month was Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii, which has been read 219 times. My favourites were urbanitas – you either have it or you don’t, Estelle Lazer and the Bathhouse of Horror and How Claudia met Mary Beard : The Untold Story. I also thank Caroline Brehaut for her excellent posts on Water and Pompeii. It was the perfect start to what I hope will be a long tradition of Legonium Guest Posters. Please, get in touch, if you or a student would like to contribute something (visitLegonium@gmail.com). And finally, thank you to Mary Beard and Estelle Lazer, for agreeing to be a part of Claudia’s journey. See you all soon, back in Legonium!

The sun was now setting and it was time to depart. I am so happy because I visited Pompeii. It was an excellent opportunity.

The Lego model of Pompeii is housed in the Nicholson Museum of The University of Sydney, Australia. Entry to the museum is entirely free, and you may visit Monday to Friday between 10:00 and 4:30. The Nicholson is Australia’s oldest University museum and contains the largest collection of antiquities in the Southern Hemisphere. 

The Pompeii model was commissioned by the Nicholson and constructed by LEGO Professional Builder Ryan McNaught. It is the third such model the museum has exhibited, following the Colosseum and Acropolis.  The Colosseum was returned to McNaught and recently exhibited around Australia. The Acropolis was denoted by the Nicholson to the Acropolis Museum in Athens. The Pompeii model is estimated to include 190 000 bricks and took 420 hours to complete.