Questions & Answers about Orator in rostris stat et de novo decreto clara voce loquitur.
Why is orator in the nominative case?
Because orator is the subject of the sentence: it is the person who stands and speaks. In Latin, the subject of a finite verb is normally put in the nominative case. Here orator is nominative singular, meaning the speaker / orator.
Why does Latin not use a word for the before orator or the other nouns?
Latin has no definite article (the) and no indefinite article (a / an). Whether a noun should be understood as a speaker, the speaker, a decree, or the decree depends on context. That is very normal in Latin, and learners from English often need time to get used to it.
Why is it in rostris and not in rostra?
After in, Latin uses different cases depending on the meaning:
- in + ablative = location, in / on
- in + accusative = motion toward, into / onto
Here the idea is location: the speaker is standing on the rostra, not moving onto it. So Latin uses the ablative: in rostris.
What does rostris mean here, and why is it plural?
Rostra was the public speaking platform in the Roman Forum. The word is often used in the plural, so means . English speakers may expect a singular noun here, but Latin commonly uses this plural form.