6

Given the following sentence:

Fundamentum justitiae est fides.

Is there a unique subject for this sentence? As far as I can see, both fides and fundamentum could be the subject.

m26a
  • 307
  • 1
  • 4
  • 1
    I've seen this exact sentence in Portuguese.Where is that from? The subject, at least, in Portuguese is "fundamentum" –  May 21 '23 at 03:51
  • 1
    @ManuelCauãRebouças Fundamentum autem est iustitiae fides – Cic. De officiis 1, 23. – Sebastian Koppehel May 21 '23 at 07:06
  • So if it's a reference to "Fundamentum autem est iustitiae fides", we can point out that the word "autem" is really a postpositive particle that is used to show the beginning of the sentence. Thus "autem" clearly indicates that "Fundamentum" is the first word of a sentence, and might imply that "Fundamentum" is the subject. In short, I think that a postpositive particle like "autem" can be used to mark the subject of a sentence. – ktm5124 May 21 '23 at 21:20
  • 2
    @ktm5124 Fundamentum is indeed the first word of the sentence, but if course that does not mean it is necessarily the subject. – Sebastian Koppehel May 21 '23 at 23:08
  • 1
    @ManuelCauãRebouças, it's on lesson 23, exercise 27, in Napoleão Mendes de Almeida's Gramática Latina. – m26a May 22 '23 at 10:14
  • @sidney do you speak portuguese? –  May 22 '23 at 23:10
  • 1
    @ManuelCauãRebouças, yes, I do. – m26a May 22 '23 at 23:26

1 Answers1

1

Excellent question. I would translate the sentence as

Fundamentum justitiae est fides.

(1) The foundation of justice is honesty.

(2) The foundation of justice is faith.

(3) The beginning of justice is honesty.

(4) The beginning of justice is faith.

In our translation, the subject is "The foundation of justice" and the predicate is "is honesty".

Technically speaking, we could also translate the sentence as "The honesty of justice is the foundation", since "fides" is in the nominative case. But this is a little awkard, given the word order that was used.

So from a grammatical perspective, there are two possible subjects. But from a practical perspective, there might just be one subject that makes sense.

On a different note, the word "fundamentum" can be translated as "foundation" or "beginning". If we take the second meaning ("beginning") then the sentence sounds like a proverb.

Fundamentum justitiae est fides.

The beginning of justice is honesty.

ktm5124
  • 12,014
  • 5
  • 35
  • 74
  • 5
    Nobody really doubts that iustitiae modifies fundamentum. But either (as you say) the subject is fundamentum iustitiae, or it is fides. You do not really discuss the latter possibility. – Sebastian Koppehel May 21 '23 at 23:14