Discipula dicit se personam reginae magis amare quam personam ducis, quia illa mitior videtur.

Because Latin is using indirect statement.

After verbs like dicit (says), Latin often says:

• subject in the accusative
• verb in the infinitive

So:

• Discipula dicit = The student says
• se ... amare = that she loves ...

Here se refers back to discipula, the subject of dicit. It is the reflexive pronoun, so it means herself / she in this reported statement.

If Latin had eam instead, it would usually mean some other woman, not the student herself.

It breaks down like this:

• Discipula = subject of the main verb
• dicit = main verb
• se = subject of the infinitive amare
• personam reginae = object of amare
• magis ... quam personam ducis = comparison
• amare = infinitive, completing the indirect statement

So literally it is something like:

• The student says herself to love the queen’s persona more than the duke’s persona

More natural English is:

• The student says that she loves the queen’s persona more than the duke’s persona

A useful way to see it is to imagine the direct version:

• Ego personam reginae magis amo quam personam ducis.
• I love the queen’s persona more than the duke’s persona.

Reported after dicit, that becomes:

• se ... amare

• personam is accusative singular
• reginae is genitive singular
• ducis is genitive singular

Why?

personam

It is the direct object of amare:

• amare personam = to love the persona/personality/character

reginae

This depends on personam and means of the queen:

• persona reginae = the queen’s persona

Although reginae can be either dative or genitive by form, here the sense clearly makes it genitive.

ducis

Likewise:

• persona ducis = the duke’s persona

This is the genitive singular of dux, ducis.

Because the sentence is comparing how much she loves one thing with how much she loves another thing.

• magis = more
• quam = than

So:

• magis amare quam ... = to love more than ...

Latin often uses magis when the comparison belongs to the verb or the whole action:

• She loves X more than Y

That is different from comparing an adjective, as in:

• mitior quam ... = gentler than ...

So here magis modifies amare, not personam.

Not always, but it is very helpful.

Latin often omits a repeated noun if the meaning is clear. So a shorter version could be understood. But repeating personam does two useful things:

• it makes the comparison clearer
• it balances the two halves neatly

So:

• personam reginae ... quam personam ducis

is very explicit and easy to follow.

Without the repeated personam, a learner might hesitate for a moment about what exactly is being compared.

Most naturally, it refers to regina, the queen.

Why?

• illa is feminine singular nominative
• it must match the subject of videtur
• it most naturally points to the queen as the person being described as mitior

So:

• quia illa mitior videtur = because she seems gentler

Also, Latin often uses a demonstrative like illa when there is more than one possible person or thing in the context. It helps point more clearly to the intended referent.

Because illa is more pointed.

• ea can simply mean she
• illa means something more like that woman / she there / that one

In context, illa can help distinguish one person from another. Since the sentence mentions both a queen and a duke, Latin may use illa to make the reference clearer or more emphatic.

It can also carry the sense of the former one or that earlier-mentioned one, depending on context.

So illa is not just a bare pronoun; it has a slightly demonstrative force.

mitior is the comparative form of mitis, meaning gentle, mild, or kind.

So:

• mitis = gentle
• mitior = gentler

This comparative form is the same for masculine and feminine nominative singular, so with illa it means:

• she is gentler
• or more naturally here, she seems gentler

Because Latin does not always state the second half of a comparison if it is already obvious from context.

So mitior can mean:

• gentler
• rather gentle
• more gentle than the other one under discussion

Here the comparison is understood from the earlier contrast between the queen and the duke, or between their respective personas.

So illa mitior videtur naturally means:

• she seems gentler

with the comparison left implicit.

Because videri, the passive of video, is very commonly used in Latin to mean to seem.

Literally:

• videtur = is seen

But idiomatically:

• mitior videtur = she seems gentler

This is a very common Latin pattern:

• bonus videtur = he seems good
• stultus videtur = he seems foolish
• venire videtur = he seems to be coming

So here videtur is not about literal eyesight; it is the normal Latin verb for seems.

Because quia introduces its own subordinate clause:

• quia = because
• illa = subject
• videtur = finite verb

So Latin treats this as an ordinary because-clause.

A beginner-friendly way to see it is:

• The student says [that she loves the queen’s persona more], because [that woman seems gentler].

Only the reported statement after dicit is put into the accusative + infinitive pattern. The quia clause is built as a regular clause.

If you later study more advanced reported speech, you may meet more complicated patterns in classical prose, but at this level this structure is very normal and straightforward.

Because Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order.

English depends heavily on position:

• The girl loves the queen
• The queen loves the girl

Latin depends much more on endings, so words can move around without changing the basic grammatical roles.

In this sentence, the order helps group ideas:

• Discipula dicit sets up the main statement
• se ... amare gives the indirect statement
• magis ... quam ... keeps the comparison together
• quia introduces the reason
• videtur comes at the end of its clause, which is very common in Latin

So the order may feel unusual to an English speaker, but it is quite natural in Latin.