2021 NDJCL

DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION

Level III/IV Passage

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Pliny and his Mother Escape the Eruption

 

Tum māter ōrāre hortārī iubēre, quōquō modō fugerem; posse enim iuvenem, sē et annīs et corpore gravem bene moritūram, sī mihi causa mortis nōn fuisset. Ego contrā salvum mē nisi ūnā nōn futūrum; dein manum eius amplexus addere gradum cōgō. Pāret aegrē incūsatque sē, quod mē morētur.  Iam cinis, adhūc tamen rārus. Respiciō: dēnsa cālīgō tergīs imminēbat, quae nōs torrentis modō īnfūsa terrae sequēbātur. “Dēflectāmus” inquam “dum vidēmus, nē in viā strātī comitantium turbā in tenebrīs obterāmur.” Vix cōnsīderāmus, et nox — nōn quālis illūnis aut nūbila, sed quālis in locīs clausīs lūmine exstīnctō. Audīrēs ululātūs fēminārum, infantum quirītātūs, clāmōrēs virōrum; aliī parentēs aliī līberōs aliī coniugēs vōcibus requīrēbant, vōcibus nōscitābant; hī suum cāsum, illī suōrum miserābantur; erant quī metū mortis mortem precārentur; multī ad deōs manūs tollere, plūrēs nusquam iam deōs ūllōs aeternamque illam et novissimam noctem mundō interpretābantur.

 

Pliny, Epistulae, VI. 20, 12-15

 

Then my mother begged, encouraged, ordered, that I flee in any way; indeed as a young person I could, that she, heavy due to her years and body would die well, if for me she would not have been the cause of death.  I on the other hand (said) that I would not be safe unless we were together; then having taken her hand I compelled her to add a step.  She gave in reluctantly and reproached herself, that she would delay me.  Now the ash, up to this point however scant.  I look back: a thick darkness was hanging at our backs, which was following us like a torrent, now having been poured on the land.  “Let’s turn away,” I said, “while we are seeing, lest laid low in the street we are trampled on by a crowd of companions in the dark.”  We scarcely are considering, and night--not like one moonless or cloudy, but like in places closed off by light having been destroyed.  You would hear the wailings of women, the plaintive cries of children, the shouts of men; some were looking for their parents, some their children, some their spouses with their voices, they were recognizing with their voices; these were pitying their own misfortune, those (the misfortune) of their families; there were those who out of fear of death were praying for death; many lifted their hands to the gods; more decided that nowhere now were there any gods and for the world that was an everlasting and final night.

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Latin Reading Judging Form 

1. Confidence                                     _____(5)                Comments:

2. Continuity                                     _____(5)

3. Phrasing                                         _____(5)

4. Word Accent                                  _____(5)

5. Vowel Quality                                _____(5)

6. Syllabication                                  _____(5)

7. Consonant Quality                         _____(5)

8. Double Consonants                        _____(5)

9. Overall Effectiveness                      _____(10)

                                             

TOTAL_________