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206 MARCUS LENTULUS IS SHIPWRECKED

discēdébat. Itaque sub clārō Italiae sōle Pūblius et Lȳdia, amīcī fidelissiml, per campōs collīsque cotidiē vagābantur. Modo in silvā finitimā ludēbant ubi Pūblius sagittīs^[1] celeribus avīs dēiciēbat et Lȳdia corōnis variōrum flōrum comās suas ōrnābat; modo aquam et cibum portābant ad Dāvum servōsque dēfessōs quī agrōs colēbant; modo in casā parvā aut horās laetās in lūdō cōnsūmēbant aut auxilium dabant Lesbiae, quae cibum virō et servīs parābat vel aliās rēs domesticās agēbat.

LXIII. MARCUS LENTULUS, THE FATHER OF PUBLIUS, IS SHIPWRECKED • JULIA RECEIVES A LETTER FROM HIM

Iam Pūblius decem annōs habēbat^[2] cum M. Cornelius Lentulus, pater eius, quī quīnque annōs^[3] grave bellum in Asia gerēbat, nōn sine glōriā domum^[4] revertēbātur. Namque multa secunda proelia fēcerat, maximās hostium cōpiās dēlēverat, multās urbīs populō^[5] Rōmānō inimīcās cēperat. Prīmum nūntius pervēnit quī ā Lentulō^[6] missus erat^[7] ut profectiōnem suam nuntiāret. Deinde plūrīs diēs^[8] reditum virī optimī māter fīliusque exspectābant et animīs^[9] sollicitīs deōs immortālīs frūstrā colēbant. Tum dēmum hās litterās summō cum gaudiō accēpērunt:

“Mārcus lūliae suae salūtem dīcit. Sī valēs, bene est; ego valeō.^[10] Ex Graeciā, quō^[11] praeter spem et opiniōnem hodiē pervēnī, hās litterās ad tē scrībō. Namque nāvis nostra frācta est; nōs autem — dis est grātia^[12] — incolumēs sumus. Ex Asiae^[13] portū nāvem lēnī ventō solvimus. Postquam^[14] "altum mare tenuimus nec iam^[15] ūllae terrae appāruerunt, caelum undique et undique fluctūs, subitō magna tempestās coorta est et nāvem vehementissimē adflīxit. Ventīs fluctibusque

1. sagittīs, § 501. 24
2. was ten years old.
3. annōs, § 501. 21.
4. domum, § 501. 20.
5. populō, dat. with inimīcās, cf. § 501. 16.
6. Lentulō, § 501. 33.
7. ut nūntiāret, § 501. 40.
8. diēs, cf. annōs, I.9.
9. animīs, abl. of manner. Do you see one in line 15?
10. This is the usual form for the beginning of a Latin letter. First we have the greeting, and then the expression Si vales, etc. The date of the letter is usually given at the end, and also the place of writing, if not previously mentioned in the letter.
11. quō, where.
12. dīs est grātia, thank God, in our idiom.
13. Asia refers to the Roman province of that name in Asia Minor.
14. altum mare tenuimus, we were well out to sea.
15. nec iam, and no longer.