# Primum Afros naval certamine superant [Subject?]



## melonidas

Hello friends,

In: Primum Afros navali certamine superant

Afros: accusative pl of afre 3rd declension Direct object
superant: 3rd person plural present tense
Naval: nom/acc. dg neuter 3rd declension , dock
There has to be a subject that  matches with the verb tense, but I dont see it.

Thx


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## Scholiast

Greetings

This quotation is not immediately identifiable (though possibly from Ps-Caes. _Bell. Afr._?).

Almost certainly we should here read _*navali* certamine_ anyway, but besides that, the subject of _superant_ is probably implicit (or explicit) from the wider context. The default "rule" in Latin prose usage is that the subject will be carried over from the previous sentence, unless there is an unambiguous marker to the contrary (such as a relatively emphatic pronoun, in the nominative). Could we have a precise reference please?


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## Fred_C

No hay.
En latin como en español, no es menester que todas las oraciones tengan un sujeto.

«Al principio vencen *a* los africanos en la batalla naval» --> no sujeto en español tampoco.


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## fdb

It is from Eutropius’ epitome of Roman history, II 12:

M. Aemilio Paulo, Servio Fulvio Nobiliore css. ambo romani consules ad Africam profecti sunt cum trecentarum navium classe; primum Afros navali certamine superant.

The subject, as you can see, is “ambo consules”.


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## melonidas

Yes it was navali, sorry for the mistake. On the other hand, in my pov we should say, "al principio vencen a los africanos", because if we omit the "a" before "los africanos" it can be understood as the subject and not the direct object.


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## wandle

> There has to be a subject that matches with the verb tense


In Latin, the finite verb form *includes its subject*, since it employs different endings according to person and number.
Thus *amo* means 'I love' and does not need a separately expressed subject. 

*M. Aemilio Paulo, Servio Fulvio Nobiliore css. ambo romani consules ad Africam profecti sunt cum trecentarum navium classe; primum Afros navali certamine superant.*

In the present case, *superant* means 'they overcome'. No separate subject is needed to make it a complete sentence.
As this is an example of the historic present, the translation in context should be:

... *primum Afros navali certamine superant.*   '... first, they overcame the Africans in a naval battle.'

By the way, the nom. sing. of *Afros* is *Afer*.


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## Fred_C

wandle said:


> In Latin, the finite verb form *includes its subject*, since it employs different endings according to person and number.
> Thus *amo* means 'I love' and does not need a separately expressed subject.
> 
> *M. Aemilio Paulo, Servio Fulvio Nobiliore css. ambo romani consules ad Africam profecti sunt cum trecentarum navium classe; primum Afros navali certamine superant.*
> 
> In the present case, *superant* means 'they overcome'. No separate subject is needed to make it a complete sentence..



Lo todo exactamente como en Español.


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