English word (CSV #56): after → Latin: post (preposition + accusative) Function: Preposition of temporal sequence and spatial position
Welcome to Lesson 56 of the Latinum Institute Conversational Latin Course. This lesson focuses on post, one of the most fundamental and frequent prepositions in the Latin language. A single indeclinable word, post does the work that English spreads across two: “after” (in time) and “behind” (in space). Mastering post opens up not only everyday Latin conversation but also a vast swath of classical literature, where the movement of time and the arrangement of bodies in space are constant preoccupations.
Etymology and English connection. Post derives from Proto-Italic *posd, ancestral to the Latin adjective posterus (coming after, following) and the noun posteritas (those who come after — posterity). The same root entered English wholesale as the prefix post-: postpone, postwar, postscript, post-mortem, postmodern, posterior. Every time you write “PM” (post meridiem) on a clock, you are using this lesson’s word. Latin is everywhere.
Two uses, one form. Unlike English, which uses two different words (”after” and “behind”), Latin uses post for both:
Temporal: Post cenam — after dinner (sequence in time) Spatial: Post murum — behind the wall (position in space)
Context makes the distinction clear. A sentence about time uses temporal post; a sentence describing where something is located uses spatial post.
post as an adverb. When post appears without a following noun, it functions as an adverb meaning “afterwards” or “later”: Veniet post — “He will come later.” This adverbial use is common in informal Latin conversation and in historical narrative.
The key rule — accusative always. Post governs the accusative case without exception. Whatever noun or pronoun follows post must be in the accusative. This lesson will train your ear and eye to recognise accusative forms naturally.
A note on pronunciation. This course follows Classical restored pronunciation throughout. The most important points for this lesson: Latin c is always /k/ (never /s/ or /tʃ/); Latin v is pronounced /w/; ae is a diphthong /ae̯/.
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Key Takeaways -
post + accusative = “after” (time) or “behind” (space) — always accusative -
post alone (no noun) = “afterwards,” “later” — adverbial use -
post- in English (postpone, postwar, PM) comes directly from this Latin word -
Do not confuse with ante (before) or prae (in front of) -
Temporal post is among the most common prepositions in Latin prose and poetry
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post [poːst] — The vowel is long; both consonants in the final cluster are fully sounded. Rhymes approximately with “coast” but with a clean /oː/ rather than a diphthong. Do not reduce the final -st.
Key vocabulary for this lesson:
post [poːst] — after; behind cenam [ˈkeː.nam] — dinner (accusative of cena) bellum [ˈbel.lum] — war (accusative = same form, neuter) pax [paks] — peace (nominative) venit [ˈweː.nit] — came; comes (3rd person singular) veni [ˈweː.niː] — I came (1st person singular perfect) lucem [ˈluː.kem] — light (accusative of lux) tenebrae [ˈte.neb.rae̯] — darkness (nominative plural) laborem [laˈboː.rem] — work, toil (accusative of labor) quies [ˈkwi.eːs] — rest, quiet (nominative) dulcis [ˈdul.kis] — sweet (nominative singular) proelium [ˈproe̯.li.um] — battle (accusative = same form, neuter) milites [ˈmiː.li.teːs] — soldiers (nominative/accusative plural, 3rd declension) exsilium [ekˈsiː.li.um] — exile (accusative) meridiem [meˈriː.di.em] — midday (accusative of meridies) hiemem [ˈhie̯.mem] — winter (accusative of hiems) victoriam [wikˈtoː.ri.am] — victory (accusative of victoria) ambulare [am.buˈlaː.re] — to walk (infinitive) cupio [ˈku.pi.oː] — I long for, I desire
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Post after equitem horseman-ACC sedet sits atra dark/black-NOM-F Cura Anxiety/Care-NOM-F
Pronunciation: Post (poːst) equitem (ˈe.kwi.tem) sedet (ˈse.det) atra (ˈa.tra) Cura (ˈkuː.ra)
Part
Each Latin sentence is given with a fluent idiomatic English translation. Read the Latin aloud first, then check your understanding against the translation.
56.1 Post cenam. After dinner.
56.2 Post bellum pax venit. After the war, peace came.
56.3 Veni post te. I came after you.
56.4 Post lucem tenebrae venerunt. After the light, darkness came.
56.5 Post multos annos rediit. He returned after many years.
56.6 Post laborem quies dulcis est. After work, rest is sweet.
56.7 Post proelium milites quieverunt. After the battle, the soldiers rested.
56.8 Cicero post exsilium Romam rediit. Cicero returned to Rome after his exile.
56.9 Post meridiem ambulabo. I will go for a walk after midday.
56.10 Post haec verba discipulus tacuit. After these words, the student fell silent.
56.11 Post longam hiemem ver gratum advenit. After the long winter, welcome spring arrives.
56.12 Post victoriam dux populum laudavit. After the victory, the general praised the people.
56.13 Post cibum ambulare medici laudant. Doctors praise walking after a meal.
56.14 Quid facis post ludum hodiernum? What are you doing after today’s lesson?
56.15 Post tot annos amicos meos videre cupio. After so many years, I long to see my friends.
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Read each sentence aloud in Latin without looking at the translation. Test your comprehension directly.
56.1 Post cenam.
56.2 Post bellum pax venit.
56.3 Veni post te.
56.4 Post lucem tenebrae venerunt.
56.5 Post multos annos rediit.
56.6 Post laborem quies dulcis est.
56.7 Post proelium milites quieverunt.
56.8 Cicero post exsilium Romam rediit.
56.9 Post meridiem ambulabo.
56.10 Post haec verba discipulus tacuit.
56.11 Post longam hiemem ver gratum advenit.
56.12 Post victoriam dux populum laudavit.
56.13 Post cibum ambulare medici laudant.
56.14 Quid facis post ludum hodiernum?
56.15 Post tot annos amicos meos videre cupio.
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The core rule. Post is an indeclinable preposition. It never changes its form, regardless of the gender, number, or declension of the noun that follows it. The noun or pronoun following post must always be in the accusative case.
Accusative forms by declension:
First declension (feminine, e.g., victoria, victory): Nominative: victoria — Accusative: victoriam Plural nominative: victoriae — Plural accusative: victorias
Second declension masculine (e.g., amicus, friend): Nominative: amicus — Accusative: amicum Plural nominative: amici — Plural accusative: amicos
Second declension neuter (e.g., bellum, war): Nominative: bellum — Accusative: bellum (same form for neuter!) Plural nominative: bella — Plural accusative: bella (same)
Third declension (e.g., labor, work; pax, peace): labor: nominative labor — accusative laborem pax: nominative pax — accusative pacem miles: nominative miles — accusative militem; plural milites — accusative milites (same!)
Temporal vs. spatial post. The preposition post is identical in both uses; only context tells you which meaning applies: -
Temporal: Post cenam ambulabo. (After dinner I will walk.) — post marks sequence in time. -
Spatial: Domus mea est post templum. (My house is behind the temple.) — post marks position in space.
When the subject matter is time (meals, battles, seasons, years), read post as “after.” When the subject matter describes location (buildings, landmarks, roads), read post as “behind.”
Post as adverb. Without a following noun, post becomes an adverb meaning “afterwards” or “later”: Veni! Post intelleges. — Come! You will understand afterwards. Non multo post — not much later (a common set phrase in prose)
The conjunction postquam. When English says “after he arrived” (a full clause with a subject and verb), Latin does not use post but the conjunction postquam (= post + quam, “after which”) followed by the indicative. This lesson focuses only on the prepositional use; postquam will be treated in a future lesson.
Common time expressions with post: post tres dies — after three days post multos annos — after many years post brevem horam — after a short hour post meridiem — after midday (our modern “PM”) non multo post — not long after (set phrase)
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Post meridiem and the Roman clock. The Romans divided both day and night into twelve equal hours each, so a “hour” varied in length depending on the season. Midday (meridies) was the fixed anchor point. Post meridiem — after midday — was one of the most common time references in daily speech, specifying the afternoon half of the day. When you write “PM” on any clock or document, you are writing abbreviated Latin: post meridiem.
Post cenam — the dinner hour and what followed. The principal meal of the Roman day was the cena, taken in the afternoon, typically from the ninth to the eleventh hour (roughly 2–5 PM in summer). What happened post cenam was a matter of some social importance. The comissatio (drinking party) might follow, or learned conversation (sermo). Philosophers and aristocrats considered post-dinner intellectual discourse a mark of civilisation. The triclinium (dining room) was designed for reclining and extended conversation — post cenam was not the end of the social occasion but often its richest moment.
Cicero post exsilium. Example 56.8 draws on one of the most dramatic uses of post in Roman history. Cicero was exiled in 58 BC after political enemies exploited the executions he ordered during the Catilinarian conspiracy. His return — post exsilium — in 57 BC was celebrated across Italy. He subsequently delivered speeches explicitly marking the before-and-after structure of his life, using ante and post as organising principles. For Cicero, temporal sequence was not merely grammatical; it was the shape of fate.
Posteritas — posterity. The same root post- underlies posteritas, “those who come after,” which is to say, us — all later generations. Roman authors were acutely conscious of writing for posterity. Cicero opens his philosophical works with appeals to future readers; Horace closes his third book of Odes with the claim non omnis moriar — “I shall not wholly die” — trusting that his poetry would survive beyond his own death. The concept of posteritas gave Latin literature its characteristic gravity: every word might outlast the writer. And indeed it has.
Post in the body and in battle. In military contexts, post frequently appears in the spatial sense: troops positioned post murum (behind the wall) or reserves kept post primam aciem (behind the front line). Caesar’s Gallic War is dense with such usage. The spatial sense also appears in personal description and architecture — Roman houses and temples are often described in terms of what lies post what, mapping space relationally rather than by compass direction.
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Source: Horace, Carmina III.1.40 (Odes, Book III, Ode 1)
Ode III.1 is one of the great Stoic meditations in Latin literature. Written around 23 BC, it opens the third book with a sombre reflection on equality before fate: no wealth, power, or speed can outrun what awaits us. The famous final image of the ode is the line below.
Part F-A: Interlinear Construed Text
Post after equitem horseman-ACC sedet sits atra dark/black-NOM-F Cura Anxiety/Care-NOM-F
Pronunciation: Post (poːst) equitem (ˈe.kwi.tem) sedet (ˈse.det) atra (ˈa.tra) Cura (ˈkuː.ra)
Part F-B: Original Text with Translation
Post equitem sedet atra Cura.
→ “Behind the horseman black Care sits.”
Part F-C: Original Latin Text
Post equitem sedet atra Cura.
(Horace, Carmina III.1.40)
Part F-D: Grammar and Literary Commentary
Here post is used in its spatial sense: “behind.” The eques (horseman, cavalryman) represents the Roman wealthy and powerful — those who might suppose that speed, status, or gold can put distance between themselves and anxiety. Horace’s answer is devastating in its brevity: Cura (Worry, Anxiety — personified and capitalised, treated as a divine or quasi-divine force) rides pillion. She sits (sedet, present tense — she is there now, always, perpetually) post equitem, behind the horseman. The faster you ride, the closer she sits.
The grammar reinforces the meaning. Atra (black, dark, gloomy) agrees in gender and case with Cura (feminine nominative), and its placement before the noun — atra Cura rather than Cura atra — gives the adjective additional weight, as if darkness is Cura’s defining quality. The verb sedet is present tense: Care does not merely ride with you occasionally; she is perpetually seated.
Post in this line does double work. Spatially, it locates Cura behind the horseman. But temporally it also resonates: after you, after your triumphs, after your wealth — there is Cura. The preposition vibrates between its two meanings, which is precisely the kind of compression that made Horace the most admired lyric poet of the Roman world.
The line became proverbial in antiquity and has echoed through European literature ever since. Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, and Kafka all wrote in its shadow, even when they did not know the source. Recognising it as you meet it in later writers is one of the quiet rewards of Latin study.
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Scene: Gaius and Marcus meet at the public baths (thermae) in Rome. They discuss plans for after their various activities — a thoroughly Roman conversation. This section builds a coherent dialogue in fifteen exchanges, all featuring post in its natural conversational contexts.
Part A: Interlinear Construed Text Post after equitem horseman-ACC sedet sits atra dark/black-NOM-F Cura Anxiety/Care-NOM-F
Pronunciation: Post (poːst) equitem (ˈe.kwi.tem) sedet (ˈse.det) atra (ˈa.tra) Cura (ˈkuː.ra)