Nolite in via morari; pluvia enim mox cadet.

Nolite is used to give a negative command to more than one person: do not ...

It is the plural imperative of nolo, nolle (to be unwilling), and Latin commonly uses:

• noli
  • infinitive = do not ... (to one person)
• nolite
  • infinitive = do not ... (to more than one person)

So:

• Noli morari = Do not delay / don’t linger (to one person)
• Nolite morari = Do not delay / don’t linger (to several people)

This is one of the most common ways to form a prohibition in Latin.

Because that is the normal construction with noli / nolite.

Latin expresses this kind of negative command as:

• noli
  • infinitive
• nolite
  • infinitive

So nolite ... morari literally means something like be unwilling to delay, but in natural English it means do not delay or don’t linger.

Even though morari is an infinitive, the whole phrase functions as a command.

Morari is a deponent verb.

A deponent verb:

• has passive-looking forms
• but an active meaning

So although morari looks passive in form, it means to delay, to linger, to stay, to tarry.

Its dictionary form is usually given as:

• moror, morari, moratus sum = delay, linger

This is why morari ends in -ari, which may look unusual if you are expecting a normal active infinitive like monere or audire.

Because in can take either the ablative or the accusative, depending on the meaning.

• in + ablative = in / on a place, indicating location
• in + accusative = into / onto a place, indicating motion toward

Here the idea is being in/on the road, not going into the road, so Latin uses the ablative:

• in via = on the road / in the road / on the way

If it were motion into the road, you would expect in viam.

Via is in the ablative singular.

It is governed by in, which here means in/on with a sense of location. Since in with location takes the ablative, via must be ablative:

• nominative: via = road
• ablative: via = on the road / by the road

Because via is a first-declension noun, the nominative singular and ablative singular happen to look the same. So you identify the case from the preposition in and the meaning.

Via literally means road, way, street, route.

In this sentence, in via most naturally means:

• on the road
• on the way
• possibly in the street, depending on context

A learner should notice that Latin via is the source of English words like via and appears in many Roman road names, such as Via Appia.

Enim means for, you see, or after all. It gives the reason for what comes before.

So the structure is:

• Nolite in via morari = Don’t linger on the road
• pluvia enim mox cadet = for it will rain soon / for rain will soon fall

A very important point: enim usually comes second in its clause, not first. So Latin often places it after the first word:

• pluvia enim mox cadet

That word order is very normal.

Because enim is one of those Latin particles that usually prefers the second position.

So instead of:

• enim pluvia mox cadet

Latin more naturally says:

• pluvia enim mox cadet

This does not mean pluvia is especially emphatic by itself; it is just normal Latin placement for enim.

Cadet is future tense, third person singular, from cado, cadere (to fall).

The ending -et here is the future ending for a 3rd-conjugation verb:

• cado = I fall / am falling
• cadet = he/she/it will fall

Since the subject is pluvia (rain), the meaning is the rain will fall or more naturally it will rain / rain will come down.

Yes, literally it does mean rain will fall.

Latin often uses ordinary concrete expressions where English may prefer a more idiomatic weather expression like:

• it will rain
• rain will soon fall

So pluvia cadet is perfectly natural Latin. English usually does not say rain will fall in everyday speech unless it wants a slightly poetic or descriptive tone, but Latin can.

Pluvia is nominative singular, because it is the subject of cadet.

• pluvia = rain
• cadet = will fall

So pluvia cadet = rain will fall.

Again, since pluvia is a first-declension noun, its nominative singular ends in -a.

Mox means soon or shortly.

It modifies cadet, so:

• pluvia enim mox cadet = for rain will soon fall

Latin adverbs like mox are fairly flexible in position. Here it sits between enim and cadet, which is perfectly normal.

Not really. It is quite natural Latin.

The sentence is:

• Nolite in via morari; pluvia enim mox cadet.

A very literal order would be:

• Do not on the road linger; rain for soon will fall.

Latin word order is much freer than English because endings show grammatical relationships. Still, there are some patterns here that are very normal:

• nolite before the infinitive it governs
• in via kept together
• enim in second position
• cadet at the end of its clause, a common place for a verb

So while the order is not the same as English, it is not strange for Latin.

Yes. Depending on context, morari can mean:

• to delay
• to linger
• to stay
• to tarry
• to hold back

So nolite in via morari could be translated in several natural ways:

• Don’t delay on the road
• Don’t linger on the road
• Don’t stay on the road
• Don’t stop on the way

The best choice depends on the context, but the grammar stays the same.

The semicolon simply separates the command from the reason for it.

You can think of the sentence as:

• Don’t linger on the road; for it will rain soon.

Latin manuscripts in antiquity did not use modern punctuation the way we do, so this punctuation is editorial and meant to help the reader. The grammar itself is carried by the words and endings, not by the semicolon.