# Exemplum memoratur Titus



## german.gabriel

I am having difficulties understanding the structure of this sentence, taken from Orberg's Lingua Latina:

_Eius rei exemplum memoratur Titus Manlius Torquatus._

The verb is passive (memoratur) but there seems to be two subjects (exemplum / Titus) and no agent (ab Tito?)

I will be really greatful if anyone could help me.

Thank you very much.


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## fdb

exemplum = as an example.


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## Cagey

In this case, _memoratur_ is the passive:  _"Titus Manlius Torquatus is remembered as an example of this matter/thing."_

The missing context would clarify this:

_Olim ius eat patri familias non modo servos, sed etiam liberos suos interficere. Eius rei exemplum memoratur Titus Manlius Torquatus, qui filium suum coram exercitu necari iussit quia contra imperium patris cum hoste pugnaverat! Sane pater crudelis fuit Manlius, sed illo supplicio severissimo ceteri milites deterrebantur ne officium desererent."

At one time it was legal for the pater familias to slay not only slaves, but even his own children.  Titus Manlius Torquatus is remembered as an example of this, [Torquatus] who ordered his own son to be executed before the army because he [the son] had fought the enemy against his father's orders. Clearly Manlius was a cruel father, but by that extremely savage punishment the rest of the soldiers were deterred from deserting their post. 
_​
See the Wiki article: Titus Manlius Torquatus (consul 347 BC) especially paragraph 5.


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## german.gabriel

Thank you very much for your anwers. I understand the meaning of the sentence. It seems odd to me the way "exemplum" acts as an adverbial phrase, without any preposition or special declension. Am I getting it right?


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## Scholiast

salvete omnes!


german.gabriel said:


> It seems odd to me the way "exemplum" acts as an adverbial phrase


By whose, or what, grammatical system can a noun such as _exemplum_ be an "adverbial phrase"?

Honestly, in perplexity.

Σ


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## german.gabriel

Scholiast said:


> By whose, or what, grammatical system can a noun such as _exemplum_ be an "adverbial phrase"?



Sorry, it is my fault. My poor grammar knowledge and a quick Google search led me to believe that "for example" and "as an example" acted like adverbs.

I apologize.


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## exgerman

german.gabriel said:


> Sorry, it is my fault. My poor grammar knowledge and a quick Google search led me to believe that "for example" and "as an example" acted like adverbs.
> 
> I apologize.



_Exemplum_ functions as a predicate complement in your sentence. English mainly uses predicate complements with forms of the verb _be_, but Latin uses predicate complements with a much wider range of verbs. _

Memoror_ is one of those where Latin uses predicate complements, but English doesn't. So we have to fudge in our translations by using a phrase like _as an example_, translating the meaning rather than the grammatical form.


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## german.gabriel

Thank you very much for all your answers.
Now I understand it.
Thank you and Season's Greetings !


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