a)Post breve tempus Peliás, veritus né régnum suum tantá ví et fraude occupátum ámitteret, amícum quendam Delphós mísit, quí óráculum cónsuleret. Ille igitur quam celerrimé Delphós sé contulit et quam ob causam vénisset démónstrávit. Respondit óráculum núllum esse in praesentiá perículum; monuit tamen Peliam ut sí quis únum calceum geréns veníret, eum cavéret. Post paucís annís accidit ut Peliás mágnum sacrificium factúrus esset; núntiós in omnís partís dímíserat et certam diem conveniendí díxerat. Dié cónstitútá mágnus hominum numerus undique ex agrís convénit; in hís autem vénit etiam Iásón, quí á pueritiá apud centaurum quendam habitáverat. Dum tamen iter facit, únum é calceís in tránseundó nesció quó flúmine ámísit.
b)
Some words have been chosen for special consideration and are listed below. For the words not included in this list please refer to the WORDLIST in PAGES TOP RIGHT SIDE BAR. If you need help with points of grammar raised in today's excerpt, consult ESSENTIAL GRAMMAR NOTES also top right side bar.
c)
veritus ne – verbs of fearing are followed by ‘ne’ to mean that and ‘ut’ to mean that ...not, so this means ‘fearing that’.
amitteret – subjunctive after verbs of fearing, here third person singular imperfect subjunctive of amitto, amittere ‘to lose’ meaning therefore ‘that he might lose.’
amicum quendam – ‘a certain friend’, quendam is accusative singular masculine of the indefinite adjective quidam, agreeing with amicum.
Delphos – you will remember that the accusative is used when idnicating motion towards, or place to which, for example Romam means ‘to Rome’ and this also applies where the name of the town is always plural as here where Delphi Delphorum, masculine noun plural of the second declension means the place Delphi and the accusative plural Delphos means therefore ‘to Delphi.’
se contulit – third person perfect of se conferre, ‘he made his way’.
qui ... consuleret – subjunctive can give reason for the main verb, ‘in order to consult’.
oraculum - we have already met the oracle at Delphi who ordered Hercules to obey Eurystheus and carry out his commands after he killed his children.
quam celerrime – quam with a superlative means as (something) as possible, here as quickly as possible.
venisset ... demonstravit – turn these two around and you will see that the meaning is that he made known, or explained the reason why he had come which is an example of indirect discourse which we know is associated with all verbs of saying, explaining, telling, relating etc. and so we must have the verb in the subjunctive ‘venisset’ third person singular pluperfect of venire, ‘he had come’.
nullum esse – there was no.
si quis ...veniret – third person singular imperfect subjunctive of venire after si quis, ‘if anyone ... should come’.
Post paucís annís – Post is here an adverb and not a preposition and this phrase means literally 'later by a few years.' or as we would say ‘a few years later’, paucis annis being ablative of degree of difference. The expression is equivalent to post paucos annos, which is the preposition post followed by the accusative.
accidit – is one of several impersonal verbs which take for their subject a clause of result : it happened that .. he was intending to make ..accidit ut ..facturus esset.
facturus – is the future participle of facere and means something like, ‘going to make’ or 'intending to make.' The future participle is used in the way with a form of the verb sum to express an intended or future action. This is called the active periphrastic construction.
certam diem – feminine as we are talking about a specific day, an appointed day, otherwise dies, diem is usually masculine.
conveniendi – this is the genitive of the gerund which you will remember corresponds to the ‘ing’ verbal noun in English, so this means ‘of assembling’.
Die constituta - ablative of time when, ‘the appointed day’.
a pueritia - ablative ‘from childhood’.
dum ... facit – dum is followed by a present tense but translated with a past tense.
nescio – you may remember that we met a similar expression with nescio last week and that when nescio comes with the interrogative pronoun it is equivalent to an indefinite pronoun.
Note: This section is not translated into idiomatic English but is intended, together with the notes, to give you the gist of the meaning; you can then come up with your own improved translation.
Post breve tempus Pelias,
After a short time Pelias,
veritus ne regnum suum
fearing that his kingdom
tanta vi et fraude occupatum amitteret,
taken with such great force and deceit he might lose,
amicum quendam Delphos misit,
sent a certain friend to Delphos.
qui oraculum consuleret.
who was to consult the oracle.
Ille igitur quam celerrime
He therefore as fast as possible
Delphos se contulit et quam ob causam
made his way to Delphi and the reason why
venisset demonstravit.
he had come he made known.
Respondit oraculum nullum esse
The oracle replied that there was no
in praesentia periculum;
danger at present;
monuit tamen Peliam ut
she warned however that Pelias
si quis unum calceum gerens veniret,
if anyone should come wearing one shoe
eum caveret.
he should beware of him.
Post paucis annis accidit ut Pelias
A few years later it happened that Pelias
magnum sacrificium facturus esset;
was going to make a great sacrifice;
nuntios in omnis partis dimiserat
he had sent heralds to all parts
et certam diem conveniendi dixerat.
and he had announced a specific day to assemble
Die constituta magnus hominum numerus
The appointed day a great number of men
undique ex agris convenit;
from all directions out of the countryside gathered
in his autem venit etiam Iason,
amongst these came also Jason,
qui a pueritia apud
who since childhood at the home
centaurum quendam habitaverat.
a certain centaur had lived.
Dum tamen iter facit,
However while he was making his journey
unum e calceis in transeundo
one of his shoes when crossing
nescio quo flumine amisit.
who know what river he lost.
d) The following section is for you to copy and translate.
Post breve tempus Pelias,
veritus ne regnum suum
tanta vi et fraude occupatum amitteret,
amicum quendam Delphos misit,
qui oraculum consuleret.
Ille igitur quam celerrime
Delphos se contulit et quam ob causam
venisset demonstravit.
Respondit oraculum nullum esse
in praesentia periculum;
monuit tamen Peliam ut
si quis unum calceum gerens veniret,
eum caveret.
Post paucis annis accidit ut Pelias
magnum sacrificium facturus esset;
nuntios in omnis partis dimiserat
et certam diem conveniendi dixerat.
Die constituta magnus hominum numerus
undique ex agris convenit;
in his autem venit etiam Iason,
qui a pueritia apud
centaurum quendam habitaverat.
Dum tamen iter facit, unum e calceis in
transeundo nescio quo flumine amisit.
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