His brow was sad; his eye beneath,
Flashed like a falchion from its sheath,
And like a silver clarion rung
The accents of that unknown tongue,

                  Excelsior!

Fro:ns tri:stis, micat oculus
Velut e:  va:gi:na:  gladius;
Sonantque simile:s tubae
Accentu:s lingu(ae) incognitae,

                  Excelsior!

In happy homes he saw the light
Of household fires gleam warm and bright;
Above, the spectral glaciers shone,
And from his lips escaped a groan,

                  Excelsior!

In domibus videt cla:ra:s
Foco:rum lu:ce:s calida:s;
Relucet glacie:s a:cris,
Et rumpit gemitu:s labri:s,

                  Excelsior!

“Try not the Pass!” the old man said;
“Dark lowers the tempest overhead,
The roaring torrent is deep and wide!”
And loud that clarion voice replied,

            Excelsior!

Di:cit senex, “Ne:  tra:nsea:s! 
Supra:  nigre:scit tempesta:s;
La:tus et altus est torre:ns.” 
Cla:ra ve:nit vo:x responde:ns,

            Excelsior!

At break of day, as heavenward
The pious monks of Saint Bernard
Uttered the oft-repeated prayer,
A voice cried through the startled air,

            Excelsior!

Iam lu:ce:sce:bat, et fra:tre:s
Sa:ncti:  Bernardi:  vigile:s
O:ra:bant prece:s solita:s,
Cum vo:x cla:ma:vit per aura:s,

            Excelsior!

A traveler, by the faithful hound,
Half-buried in the snow was found,
Still grasping in his hand of ice
That banner with the strange device,

            Excelsior!

Se:mi-sepultus via:tor
Can(e) a:  fi:do:  reperi:tur,
Compre:nde:ns pugno:  gelido: 
Illud ve:xillum cum signo:,

            Excelsior!

There in the twilight cold and gray,
Lifeless, but beautiful, he lay,
And from the sky, serene and far,
A voice fell, like a falling star,

            Excelsior!

Iacet corpus exanimum
Sed lu:ce fri:gida:  pulchrum;
Et caelo:  procul exie:ns
Cadit vo:x, ut Stella cade:ns,

        Excelsior!

    [Footnote 6:  Translation by C. W. Goodchild in Praeco Latinus,
    October, 1898.]

PART II

WORDS AND FORMS

LESSON I

FIRST PRINCIPLES

19. Subject and Predicate.
  1.  Latin, like English, expresses thoughts by means of sentences. 
  A sentence is a combination of words that expresses a thought, and in
  its simplest form is the statement of a single fact.  Thus,