Legendo orationem consulis et interpretando verba eius, discipuli discunt quam difficilis ars bene dicendi sit.

They are gerunds in the ablative singular.

A gerund is a verbal noun, and in Latin the ablative gerund often expresses the idea of by doing something or through doing something.

So:

• legendo = by reading
• interpretando = by interpreting

Together, Legendo ... et interpretando ... explains how the students learn.

A native English speaker may be tempted to think of them as ordinary present participles, but they are not. Latin is not saying reading and interpreting, the students learn in the same way English might. It is using gerunds to express means: by reading ... and by interpreting ...

Both word orders are possible in Latin. Latin word order is much freer than English word order because case endings show the grammatical relationships.

Here:

• orationem is accusative singular, so it is the direct object of legendo
• consulis is genitive singular, so it means of the consul

So orationem consulis means the speech of the consul.

This order is natural and clear, but consulis orationem would also be grammatically possible.

Consulis is genitive singular of consul, consulis.

You know this because in the phrase orationem consulis, the noun consulis is showing possession or association: the consul’s speech or the speech of the consul.

This is a very common use of the genitive in Latin.

A learner might briefly wonder whether consulis could be something else, but here the structure makes the genitive meaning the correct one.

Eius means his, her, or its, depending on context. Here it refers back to consulis.

So:

• verba eius = his words
• that is, the words of the consul

Latin often uses eius where English might repeat the noun or use a possessive like his.

Notice that eius stays the same for masculine, feminine, and neuter in the genitive singular form, so the context tells you the meaning.

Both are possible.

Latin adjective-like words and possessives can often appear before or after the noun. So both of these can mean his words:

• verba eius
• eius verba

The chosen order may reflect emphasis or style, but both are normal Latin.

The subject is discipuli.

You can tell because:

• discipuli is nominative plural
• discunt is third person plural

So discipuli discunt = the students learn.

Even if discipuli were omitted, the ending -unt in discunt would still tell you the verb has a plural subject: they learn.

This is a common Latin construction for an indirect question.

• quam difficilis = how difficult
• sit = is, but in the subjunctive

After verbs like discunt, rogant, sciunt, nesciunt, Latin often introduces an indirect question with a question word such as:

• quid = what
• cur = why
• ubi = where
• quam = how

And in an indirect question, the verb normally goes into the subjunctive.

So discunt quam difficilis ... sit means they learn how difficult ... is.

Because it is inside an indirect question.

The direct-question version would be something like:

• Quam difficilis est ars bene dicendi?
• How difficult is the art of speaking well?

But when this idea becomes embedded after discunt, Latin changes the verb to the subjunctive:

• discunt quam difficilis ... sit

This is standard Latin grammar. The subjunctive here does not mean doubt; it is simply required by the indirect-question construction.

It means the art of speaking well.

Break it down:

• ars = art, skill
• bene = well
• dicendi = of speaking, from the gerund of dicere

So ars bene dicendi is literally the art of well-speaking, but more natural English is the art of speaking well or the art of eloquence.

Because Latin often uses the genitive gerund after ars to express the art/skill of doing something.

So:

• ars dicendi = the art of speaking
• ars bene dicendi = the art of speaking well

English often uses the infinitive, as in the art to speak well, but that is not how Latin normally expresses this idea. Latin prefers the gerund here.

Yes. Bene modifies dicendi.

• dicendi = of speaking
• bene dicendi = of speaking well

So the adverb bene belongs closely with the verbal idea in dicendi.

This is important because bene is not describing ars. The sentence is not saying a good art. It is saying the art of speaking well.

They are all gerunds, but they are in different cases and therefore have different jobs.

At the beginning:

• legendo
• interpretando

These are ablative gerunds, expressing means: by reading, by interpreting.

Later:

• dicendi

This is a genitive gerund, depending on ars: the art of speaking.

So the same verbal noun appears in different cases for different functions.

Yes, very literally it is something like:

• by reading the consul’s speech and by interpreting his words

That literal version helps show the grammar clearly:

• ablative gerunds for means
• direct objects with each gerund

But in smoother English, one might say something like by reading the consul’s speech and interpreting his words.

Because gerunds still keep their verbal force. Even though they are nouns in form, they come from verbs and can still govern objects.

So:

• legendo orationem = by reading the speech
• interpretando verba = by interpreting the words

This is perfectly normal Latin.

However, learners should know that Latin often prefers a gerundive construction instead when a gerund would take an object. So a more classically elegant alternative might use a gerundive, though the sentence as given is still easy to understand and is often seen in teaching contexts.

Often, yes. Classical Latin frequently prefers replacing a gerund + object with a gerundive agreeing with the object.

So instead of:

• legendo orationem

you may often find:

• oratione legenda

And instead of:

• interpretando verba

you may find:

• verbis interpretandis

That would give something like:

• oratione consulis legenda et verbis eius interpretandis

This is a stylistic preference of Classical Latin, especially when the gerund would otherwise have a direct object. Still, the original sentence is grammatically transparent and useful for learners.

Yes, in sense it is what the students learn.

More precisely, it is an indirect question clause functioning as the content of discunt:

• discipuli discunt = the students learn
• quam difficilis ars bene dicendi sit = how difficult the art of speaking well is

So the whole clause answers what do they learn?

A helpful way is to divide it into three parts:

1. Legendo orationem consulis et interpretando verba eius

   • by reading the consul’s speech and by interpreting his words

2. discipuli discunt

   • the students learn

3. quam difficilis ars bene dicendi sit

   • how difficult the art of speaking well is

So the sentence is built like this:

By doing X and Y, the students learn Z.

That is often the easiest way for an English speaker to understand the syntax.