Word
Magistra dicit se arbitrari senatorem meliorem esse, si opinionem civium et mandata legis simul audiat.
Meaning
The teacher says that she thinks a senator is better if he listens both to the opinion of the citizens and to the commands of the law.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Magistra dicit se arbitrari senatorem meliorem esse, si opinionem civium et mandata legis simul audiat.
esse
to be
et
and
magistra
the female teacher
si
if
Questions & Answers about Magistra dicit se arbitrari senatorem meliorem esse, si opinionem civium et mandata legis simul audiat.
Why is dicit followed by se arbitrari instead of a clause with quod or an English-style that?
Because Latin very often uses indirect statement after verbs like dicit (says), putat (thinks), scit (knows), and so on.
The usual pattern is:
- accusative subject
- infinitive verb
So here:
- se arbitrari = that she thinks
- senatorem meliorem esse = that a senator is better
Latin does not need a separate word for that here.
Why is se used? Does it mean herself?
Here se is the reflexive pronoun, and it refers back to magistra.
So:
- Magistra dicit se arbitrari...
= The teacher says that she thinks...
It does not mean that she is doing something to herself. In this sentence, se is the subject of the infinitive arbitrari inside indirect statement.
A native English speaker may want to read se as an object, but here it is better understood as:
- she in reported speech, not herself in the emphatic English sense.