Pater dicit prudentem senatorem salutem civitatis magis quam gloriam suam spectare debere.

Because this sentence uses indirect statement after dicit.

After verbs of saying, thinking, knowing, hearing, and similar verbs, Latin often does not use that + a finite verb the way English does. Instead, it uses:

• an accusative subject
• plus an infinitive

So in:

Pater dicit prudentem senatorem ... spectare debere

the person who is doing the action inside the reported statement is prudentem senatorem, and because it is the subject of an indirect statement, it goes into the accusative.

If this were a direct statement, it would be:

Prudens senator salutem civitatis magis quam gloriam suam spectare debet.

There, prudens senator is nominative because it is the normal subject of the sentence.

For the same reason: this is an indirect statement.

In a normal direct statement, Latin would use a finite verb:

• debet = he ought
• spectat = he looks at / considers

But after dicit, Latin changes the reported clause into an accusative-and-infinitive construction. So the finite verb becomes an infinitive:

• spectare
• debere

That is why Latin says, in effect:

Father says [the wise senator ought to consider ...]

with the reported part expressed by infinitives instead of a finite verb like debet.

Because debeo can take another infinitive, just like English ought or must can.

So:

• spectare = to consider / to look to
• debere = to ought / to have to

Together they mean:

• spectare debere = to ought to consider

Inside the indirect statement, prudentem senatorem is the subject of both infinitives.

So the structure is basically:

• Pater dicit
• prudentem senatorem
• salutem civitatis magis quam gloriam suam
• spectare debere

= Father says that the wise senator ought to consider the safety of the state more than his own glory.

Salutem is accusative singular of salus, and civitatis is genitive singular of civitas.

So:

• salutem = safety, welfare, well-being
• civitatis = of the state / of the community / of the citizen body

Together:

• salus civitatis = the safety/welfare of the state

In this sentence, salutem civitatis is the object of spectare.

Because it shows possession or close relationship: the safety of the state.

Latin often uses the genitive where English uses of. So:

• gloria viri = the glory of the man
• cura matris = the care of the mother
• salus civitatis = the welfare of the state

Here, civitatis tells us whose welfare or safety is meant.

Originally, yes, spectare has the idea of looking, watching, observing. But very often in Latin it develops a broader sense such as:

• to look to
• to have regard for
• to consider
• to aim at

In this sentence, a literal look at would sound odd in English. The sense is more like:

• to consider
• to pay attention to
• to keep in view

So the senator ought to regard the welfare of the state more than his own glory.

Magis ... quam ... means more ... than ...

Here it compares two things that the senator might consider:

• salutem civitatis
• gloriam suam

So:

• salutem civitatis magis quam gloriam suam spectare
  = to consider the welfare of the state more than his own glory

Both nouns are in the accusative because both are tied to spectare and are being compared as objects of consideration.

Because suus, -a, -um normally refers back to the subject of its own clause.

In the indirect statement, the logical subject is prudentem senatorem. So suam refers to the senator's own glory.

That is why:

• gloriam suam = his own glory
  meaning the senator's glory

If Latin wanted to say the glory of someone else, it would more likely use eius.

This is an important point, because English his can be ambiguous, but Latin often makes the reference clearer.

It refers to senatorem.

Even though pater is the subject of dicit, suam belongs inside the indirect statement, where the understood subject is prudentem senatorem.

So the logic is:

• Father says
• that the wise senator ought to consider the welfare of the state more than the senator's own glory

Not:

• more than the father's glory

That would require a different way of expressing it.

Because it has to agree with senatorem.

• nominative singular: prudens senator
• accusative singular: prudentem senatorem

Since senatorem is accusative in the indirect statement, the adjective must also be accusative.

This is a normal example of adjective agreement in Latin: adjectives agree with their nouns in gender, number, and case.

A useful way to break it apart is this:

• Pater dicit = the main clause
• prudentem senatorem ... spectare debere = the indirect statement

Then inside the indirect statement:

• prudentem senatorem = subject accusative
• salutem civitatis = first object / thing to be considered
• magis quam gloriam suam = comparison
• spectare debere = verb phrase, ought to consider

So the skeleton is:

• Pater dicit
• [prudentem senatorem salutem civitatis magis quam gloriam suam spectare debere]

This is a very common Latin pattern.

Not for this ordinary reported statement.

After a verb like dicit, Latin normally uses the accusative + infinitive for reported statements:

• dicit eum venire = he says that he is coming

A clause with ut is used in other situations, especially purpose clauses or certain kinds of result clauses, but not as the regular way to report a statement after dico.

So here the expected construction is exactly what we see: prudentem senatorem ... debere.

Because Latin word order is more flexible, since case endings show the grammatical relationships.

English depends heavily on word order:

• The senator sees the city
  is different from
• The city sees the senator

Latin can move words around more freely because the endings show what each word is doing.

In this sentence, the order helps emphasize ideas:

• Pater dicit first sets up the reporting verb.
• prudentem senatorem comes early, introducing the person being discussed.
• salutem civitatis appears before gloriam suam, which fits the contrast.
• spectare debere comes at the end, where Latin often places the verb.

So the order is natural Latin, even if English would arrange it differently.

Senatorem is accusative singular of senator, senatoris, a third-declension masculine noun.

Its forms include:

• nominative: senator
• genitive: senatoris
• accusative: senatorem

Here it is accusative because it is the subject accusative of the indirect statement after dicit.

It can mean several related things, depending on context:

• safety
• well-being
• welfare
• preservation
• sometimes even salvation in later Latin

In a political sentence like this one, salus civitatis usually means something like:

• the welfare of the state
• the safety of the commonwealth
• the public good

So it is broader and more civic-minded than just physical safety.

It would be:

Prudens senator salutem civitatis magis quam gloriam suam spectare debet.

The changes are:

• prudentem senatorem → prudens senator
• debere → debet

Everything else can stay the same.

That transformation is a good way to understand Latin indirect statement: first imagine the direct version, then convert the subject to the accusative and the verb to the infinitive.