Legatus respondet se mandatum imperatoris cum fide ferre et veritatem celare nolle.

Because this sentence uses indirect statement after respondet.

In Latin, when someone says, thinks, reports, or answers something, Latin often uses:

accusative subject + infinitive

So se ... ferre means that he is carrying / delivering ...

Here se is the accusative reflexive pronoun, and it refers back to the subject of the main verb, legatus. So:

• Legatus respondet = The envoy replies
• se ... ferre = that he carries / is carrying ...

Latin needs se here because the subject of the infinitives must be expressed in the accusative.

After respondet, Latin is using an indirect statement.

The pattern is:

• a main verb of saying/thinking/reporting
• then an accusative subject
• then one or more infinitives

So in this sentence:

• respondet = the main reporting verb
• se = the accusative subject of the indirect statement
• ferre
• celare
• nolle

All of that together gives the content of what the envoy replies.

A native English speaker often expects that + a normal clause, but Latin often prefers this infinitive construction instead.

Because they are inside the indirect statement.

In English we say something like:

• He replies that he carries the commander’s order faithfully and does not want to hide the truth.

In Latin, instead of using that plus finite verbs, the verbs usually become infinitives:

• se ... ferre
• ... celare nolle

So ferre and celare are not the main verbs of the sentence. They depend on respondet.

Nolle means to be unwilling or to not want. It is the infinitive of nolo.

Here it works with celare:

• celare nolle = to be unwilling to hide
• or more naturally, not to want to hide

Since this is inside indirect statement, the full idea is:

• se veritatem celare nolle = that he does not want to hide the truth

So celare is the infinitive that depends on nolle, and nolle is one of the infinitives inside the indirect statement after respondet.

Because Latin has a special verb for not want:

• volo = I want
• nolo = I do not want
• malo = I prefer

So nolle is simply the infinitive form of nolo. Latin often uses this built-in negative verb rather than non velle.

Mandatum is accusative singular neuter.

It is the direct object of ferre:

• mandatum ... ferre = to carry / bear / deliver the order

So the thing being carried is mandatum.

Imperatoris is genitive singular, and it depends on mandatum.

It tells whose order it is:

• mandatum imperatoris = the commander’s order / the order of the commander

This is a very common Latin use of the genitive: possession or close relationship.

Cum is a preposition that takes the ablative, so fide is ablative because of cum.

The phrase cum fide means something like:

• faithfully
• with loyalty
• in good faith

It describes how the envoy carries out the order.

A learner may be tempted to translate fides only as faith, but in many contexts it has the sense of trustworthiness, loyalty, or good faith.

Because it is the direct object of celare.

• celare = to hide, conceal
• what is being hidden? veritatem

So:

• veritatem celare = to hide the truth

That is why veritatem is accusative singular.

Et links two parts of the content of the envoy’s reply.

He replies:

• se mandatum imperatoris cum fide ferre
• et veritatem celare nolle

So the two linked ideas are:

1. that he carries / delivers the commander’s order faithfully
2. and that he does not want to hide the truth

More precisely, et connects ferre with the phrase celare nolle.

No. Ferre is the present active infinitive of the irregular verb fero, ferre, tuli, latum.

It means to carry, to bear, and in some contexts to bring or deliver.

So this is a form worth memorizing separately, because it does not look like a regular third-conjugation infinitive in the way learners may expect.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because Latin endings show grammatical function.

So Latin can place words for emphasis, rhythm, or style rather than relying mainly on position.

In this sentence:

• Legatus comes first to introduce the subject.
• respondet comes early to establish the main action.
• se begins the indirect statement.
• nolle comes at the end, giving a strong finish to the second idea.

An English speaker often wants to rearrange it into a more familiar order, but in Latin the endings already tell you how the parts fit together.

The subject of those infinitives is se.

And se refers back to legatus.

So the envoy is the one who:

• carries the order
• does not want to hide the truth

This is an important point in indirect statement: the subject of the infinitive is usually in the accusative, not the nominative.

Most naturally, it goes with ferre:

• mandatum imperatoris cum fide ferre = to carry/deliver the commander’s order faithfully

That is the closest and most straightforward connection.

A reader might feel that the phrase also colors the whole reply, suggesting the envoy is acting loyally in general, but grammatically it most directly modifies ferre.