1. Caesar’s English
Lesson 10

2. Roman ruins crumbling in Syria.

3. Caesar’s English
melancholy: sadness
visage: the face
venerate: to respect
abate: to lessen
repose: resting

4. melancholy: sadness Spanish: melancolÍa
The English noun melancholy comes from the Latin melancholia, which came from the ancient Greek mela, black, and chole, bile. The idea was that sadness or dejection is caused by an excess of black bile in the body—something that we know is not true. The idea, however, has survived in the word.

5. Paula Green’s sad and blue person. Melancholy Man, indeed.

6. In Jack London’s 1903 The Call of the Wild, there is “the little melancholy rippling of waves on lonely beaches.” We can see from famous uses of the word that melancholy can describe a person’s feelings, but it can also describe things in the environment that seem sad, or that make us feel sad.

7. One of the most striking melancholy sentences comes from Peter Pan: “His eyes were of the blue of the forget-me-not, and of a profound melancholy.”

8. visage: the face
The English noun visage is a synonym of our friend countenance. Perhaps there is a difference in emphasis in the words, with countenance focusing on the contents of the expression and visage emphasizing the look of the face; after all, visage traces back to the Latin videre, to see. 

9. visage: the face
Even so, the two words both refer to the appearance of the face, and countenance is often used to define visage.

10. Why would someone name a skin care product Visage?

11. One of the greatest visage sentences comes from Charles Dickens, who in A Tale of Two Cities described someone’s “taciturn and ironbound visage.” Taciturn means silent, and so this character’s visage is frozen and metallic—not very pleasant.

12. venerate: to respect
Spanish: venerar
To venerate is to respect or revere, to admire. The word traces all the way back to the Roman’s word venus, love. Veneration is a kind of high, respectful love. 

13. The adjective form of the word is venerable.
venerate: to respect
The adjective form of the word is venerable.
 It is important for many words to see that they are available in different parts of speech: venerate is a verb, veneration is a noun, venerable is an adjective. We often use venerable to describe what is religious.

14. The Roman people venerated Caesar as a war hero and a strong leader
The Roman people venerated Caesar as a war hero and a strong leader. In 46BC, they elected him dictator of Rome. A dictator is a ruler with complete control.
Caesar used his power to make many changes in Rome, often without approval from the Senate.
He instituted the Julian calendar of 365¼ days. Caesar’s calendar is closely related to the calendar we use today. The month of July is named in veneration of Caesar.
A year after his election as dictator, the Roman people elected Caesar “dictator for life.”

15. Venerate
It is important for many words to see that they are available in different parts of speech: venerate is a verb, veneration is a noun, venerable is an adjective. We often use venerable to describe what is religious.

16. abate: to lessen
Our English verb abate means to lessen in amount or degree, but it comes from the Old French abattre, to beat down! This, in turn, came from the Latin batuere, to beat.

17. The need for police work abated as areas were upgraded and improved.

18. Abate
Writers have used abate to describe how things go down, reduce, or recede. Note that in order for something to get smaller, it must first be bigger, and so abate is what big things do. Big storms abate. Big emotions abate.
In Bram Stoker’s Dracula we read, “When the snow storm abated we looked again.”

19. repose: resting
Spanish: reposo
The English word repose traces all the way back to the Latin pausa, to pause. When we re-pose, we pause again. When we use repose as a verb, it means the act of resting, and when we use repose as a noun, it refers to the rest.

20. Ahhhhh… repose…. Need we say more?

21. Repose
Mary Shelley used repose in Frankenstein, to paint a picture of tranquility: “All nature reposed under the eye of the quiet moon.”
In George Orwell’s Animal Farm “Napoleon reposed on a bed of straw.” Napoleon, being a pig, needed his repose.

22. Well, we may need to restate repose this way…

23. Caesar’s Analogies
MELANCHOLY : VISAGE ::
repose : rest
traverse : space
abate : increase
vivid : color

24. Caesar’s Analogies
MELANCHOLY : VISAGE ::
Adjective : closely related noun
repose : rest
traverse : space
abate : increase
vivid : color

25. MELANCHOLY : VISAGE ::
repose : rest
traverse : space
abate : increase
vivid : color

26. STORM : ABATE ::
fear : diminish
traverse : cross
visage : handsome
melancholy : dejected

27. STORM : ABATE ::
Event : decrease in intensity
fear : diminish
traverse : cross
visage : handsome
melancholy : dejected

28. STORM : ABATE ::
fear : diminish
traverse : cross
visage : handsome
melancholy : dejected

29. Caesar’s English
melancholy: sadness
visage: the face
venerate: to respect
abate: to lessen
repose: resting