A Latin Reader

39. Alexander’s Horse

Equ­us Alexan­dri rēgis et capite et nōmine Būcephalus fuit. Ēmp­tum Charēs scrīp­sit tal­en­tīs tre­dec­im et rēgī Philip­pō dōnā­tum — hoc autem aeris nos­trī sum­ma est ses­ter­tia tre­cen­ta duodec­im.

Super hōc equō dīgnum mem­o­riā vīsum, quod, ubi ōrnā­tus erat armā­tusque ad proeli­um, haud umquan īnscendī sēsē ab aliō, nisi ab rēge, pas­sus est.

Id eti­am dē istō equō mem­o­rā­tum est: Īnsi­d­ens in ēo Alexan­der bel­lō Indicō et faci­no­ra faciēns for­tia in hostium cuneum nōn satis sibi prōvidēns sē inmīsit. Coniec­tīs undique in Alexan­drum tēlīs, vul­ner­ibus altīs in cervīce atque in lat­ere equ­us per­fos­sus est. Mori­bun­dus tamen ac prope iam exsan­guis, ē mediīs hostibus rēgem vīvās­simō cursū ret­tulit, atque, ubi eum extrā tēla extuler­at, īlicō con­cid­it, et, dom­inī iam super­sti­tis sēcūrus, qua­si cum sēn­sūs hūmānī sōlā­ciō ani­mam exspīrāvit.

Tum rēx Alexan­der, partā eius bel­lī vīc­toriā, oppidum in īsdem locīs con­did­it, idque ob equī honōrēs Būcephalon appellāvit.

capite et nōmine: Abla­j­tive of Specification.

Būcephalus: the word means “hav­ing an ox-like head,” i.e. a broad head.

ēmp­tum: esse is under­stood. This is the indi­rect form(Indirect Dis­course) of what Chares wrote.

tal­en­tīs tre­dec­im: Abla­tive of Price, for thir­teen talents.

A ses­ter­tium was a thou­sand ses­ter­ces. As the ses­ter­ce amount­ed to about five cents of our mon­ey, the 312,000 ses­ter­ces rep­re­sent­ed $15,600. [Remak: $15,000 in 1913, when the book was pub­lished, is worth about $412,000 today]

īnscendī: to be mounted.

nōn satis sibi prōvidēns: giv­ing lit­tle heed to his own safety.

dom­inī … sēcūrus: cer­tain of his master’s safety.

partā: per­fect par­tici­ple of par­iō.