eo anno = the year is A.U.C. 456 or 296 BCE

prodigium, -i n.
unnatural event portending disaster; portents.

averrunco, (1)
ward off, avert; quorum averruncandorum is a gerundive construction in the genitive case after causa.

supplicatio, -onis f.
an offering of propitition to a deity; supplication.

biduum, -i n.
a two day period.

publice adverb
by or for the state; at public expense.

tus, turis n.
incense.

praebeo, -bere, -bui, -bitum
offer, provide. Supply est.

supplico (1)
entreat, worship, make supplication. Supplicatum is the supine (4th principle part); the ending in -um is used to express purpose after verbs of motion (iere).

iere: contracted form of ierunt.

frequens, frequentis
numerous.

insignis, e
distinguished, conspicuous; translate as a predicate adjective.

certamen, -inis n.
contest; rivalry, contention.

sacellum, -i n.
shrine.

Pudicitia, -ae f.
the female virtue of chastity or modesty personified as a goddess.

patricius, -a, -um
patrician; the first or aristocratic class of Roman society.

bovarius, -a, -um
of cattle. Though its name, Forum Bovarium or Boarium, indicates this was the cattle market, Richardson (A New Topographical Dictionary of Rome) notes that there is no evidence that it ever functioned as such. It was located along the Tiber, from the base of the Capitoline Hill to the Aventine Hill.

aedes/aedis, -is f.
temple; in the plural = house.

matrona, ae f.
married woman; matron, lady.

rotundus, -a, -um
round.

orior, oriri, ortus/a sum
arise; begin; ortum modifies certamen.

Aulus, -i m.
Aulus Verginius, Verginia’s father, descended from a family of consuls and tribunes, the first of whom, A. Verginius Tricostus Caeliomontanus, served as consul in 494 BCE, in the early days of the Republic (consult Roman names and the consular list).

plebeius, -a, -um
plebian, the lowest citizen level of Roman society. Plebeians were excluded from consular office until a law was passed admitting them in 366 BCE.

nubo, -ere, nupsi, nuptum (+ dat.)
be married to, to be the bride of.

L. Volumnius, -i m.
Lucius Volumnius Flamma Violens, Verginia’s husband, ascended the cursus honorum as a plebeian to be elected consul twice, once in 307 BCE and again in 296, the very year in which the patrician matronae insult his wife by forbidding her access to the ceremony honoring the female virtue pudicitia.

enubo, -ere, -nupsi, -nuptum
to marry out of (rank); translate with e patribus. At one time intermarriage between the orders was strictly forbidden by law; although it is no longer illegal, the elite women feel confident that they can show their disproval by disqualifying Verginia, even though she is the consul’s wife.

arceo, -ere, -ui, --
keep at a distance; hinder, prevent; the thing one is kept at a distance from is in the ablative case, sacris.

altercatio, -onis f.
dispute; wrangling.

iracundia, -ae f.
state of anger.

contentio, -onis f.
effort; combat.

exardesco, -ere, -arsi, -arsum
break out; become hot, glow; be excited, be inflamed.

pudicus, -a, -um
chaste, pure.

ingredior, ingredi, ingressu/a sum
enter, go in; ingressam: understand esse in indirect discourse; se is the subject; introduced by gloriaretur.

ut adverb before a relative pronoun and the subjunctive
as is natural for one who; seeing that she (se nuptam).

uni: supply viro; in late Latin the expression will become the noun univira, a woman who has only had a single husband.

deduco, -ere, -duxi, -ductum
lead; lead forth (in marriage); subjunctive in a relative clause of characteristic. Notice her careful insistence on her qualifications of “married” and “chaste” with nuptam and virgo.

vir, viri m.
husband.

res gestae, rerum gestarum f. pl.
deeds, accomplishments. Not only was Volumnius a consul twice, but he was a successful general, leading the war against the Sallentines as consul in 307 BCE and fighting notably in the 4th Samnite was and against the Etruscans in 299 BCE.

paeniteo, -ere, -ui, -- + genitive
regret, be sorry; the subject is se (accusative of the person who is sorry), the objects are viri, honorum, rerum gestarum (genitive of the thing one regrets).

glorior, -ari, gloriatus/a sum
boast, pride oneself; glory in; the subject is Verginia.

factum, -i n.
deed, act.

magnificus, -a, -um
grand, splendid; boastful, pompous.

adaugeo, -ere, -auxi, -auctum
increase, augment.

Vico Longo: located in Rome in Regio VI, it ran southwest/northeast through the valley between the Quirinal and Viminal Hills; the street on which Verginia’s house sits.

quod: understand id, antecedent; object of exclusit, followed by a potential subject.

satis adjective + genitive
enough.

modicus, -a, -um
moderate in size; small scale.

sacellum, -i n.
chapel, shrine. Establishing this women’s cult within her home would increase Verginia’s reputation as a pious matrona and be potentially beneficial to her husband's career.

excludo, -ere, -clusi, -clusum
shut out, shut off.

ara, -ae f.
altar.

conqueror, -i, conquestus/a sum
complain bitterly of; bewail.

dedico, (1)
dedicate, consecrate.

hortor ut: introduces sit . . . detis, subjunctives in an indirect command.

hoc: understand certamen.

opera, -ae f.
exertion, service, work; as an idiom with do=take pains, do one’s best.

ut…dicatur: a purpose clause.

illa: understand ara, the altar of Pudicitia Patricia.

si quid potest = an idiom, “to the extent possible.”

castioribus: understand matronis.

colo, -ere, colui, cultum
worship.

ferme adverb
almost.

ritus, -us m.
religious custom, rite; antecedent of quo.

ut ...haberet: purpose clause.

specto (1)
watch carefully, observe; consider; spectatae pudicitiae is genitive of quality. Note the importance of the public validation of individual female chastity.

ius, iuris n.
right, privilege.

sacrificandi: a gerund in the genitive case.

volgo (1)
make common, make available to all (with the effect of cheapening or devaluating).

pollutus, -a, -um
defiled; unchaste.

ordo, -inis f.
order, rank, class.

postremo adverb
afterwards.

oblivio, -onis f.
forgetfullnes, oblivion.

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