RITCHIE'S FABULAE FACILES RITCHIE'S SIMPLE STORIES: 71 RITCHIE’S FABULAE FACILES TRANSLATION – THE ARGONAUTS 71

RITCHIE’S FABULAE FACILES TRANSLATION – THE ARGONAUTS 71 – THE FLIGHT OF MEDEA

This is a picture of the Argos on a Greek stamp : HELLAS is Greek for Greece.

a)Réx Aeétés ubi Iásonem labórem própositum cónfécisse cógnóvit, írá graviter commótus est; id enim per dolum factum esse intellegébat; nec dubitábat quín Médéa eí auxilium tulisset. Médéa autem cum intellegeret sé in mágnó fore perículó sí in régiá manéret, fugá salútem petere cónstituit. Omnibus rébus igitur ad fugam parátís mediá nocte ínsciente patre cum frátre Absyrtó évásit, et quam celerrimé ad locum ubi Argó subducta erat sé contulit. Eó cum vénisset, ad pedés Iásonis sé próiécit, et multís cum lacrimís eum obsecrávit né in tantó discrímine mulierem désereret quae eí tantum prófuisset. Ille quod memoriá tenébat sé per éius auxilium é mágnó perículó évásisse, libenter eam excépit, et postquam causam veniendí audívit, hortátus est né patris íram timéret Prómísit autem sé quam prímum eam in náví suá ávectúrum.

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.

ubi ... cognovit – ‘when he got to know’ or ‘when he found out’; after verbs of knowing and the like we have the accusative infinitive, laborem confecisse ‘the work to have been done’.

commotus est – ‘he was very moved’ meaning, as in English, very affected emotionally, here by anger, so we have translated simply, ‘he was very angry’.

nec dubitabat quin Medea - Negative expressions of doubt are regularly followed by quin and the subjunctive.

ei auxilium tulisset – literally, ‘to him help had given’; tulisset is the subjunctive following quin; remember that tulisset is the third person singular pluperfect subjunctive of the irregular verb fero, ferre, tuli, latus; you should try to learn this verb in all its forms as you will come across it very often.

id per dolum ..intellegebat – literally ‘it through a trick ... he knew’ – the principle verb is again a verb of knowing which takes the accusative infinitive ‘id ... factum esse’ literally translated ‘it to have been done’.

cum intellegeret

se ... fore – literally ‘herself ... will be’; accusative infinitive after a verb of knowing again, cum intellegeret ‘when she understood/realised ... that she will be’. Fore is an alternative future infinitive of esse.

in magno ... perículo – ‘in great danger’; the phrase is separated by fore otherwise we would expect the preposition to be between the adjective and noun ‘magno in periculo’.

si in regia maneret – this is a conditional clause which requires that the verb be in the subjunctive, here the third person singular imperfect subjunctive of manere, meaning ‘if she were to remain’.

omnibus rebus ... paratis – the ablative absolute, literally ‘when all things had been got ready’.

insciente patre – ablative absolute ‘without her father knowing’.

quam celerrime – quam qwith the superlative means ‘as ... as possible’ so here ‘as quickly as possible’.

ubi Argo subducta erat – ‘where the Argo had been moored’ from the verb subduco, -ducere, -duxi -ductus, draw up, beach.

quam primum – we have had quam celerrime for as quickly as possible and now we have the same construction with ‘primum’ for 'as soon as possible'; quam with the superlative expressing the highest possible degree.

eo cum venisset – eo, the ablative of is, is used here as an adverb meaning ‘to that place’ and we know that a verb following cum in a past clause takes the subjunctive, here venisset ‘he came’ so together it means ‘when he/she came to that place’.

se proiecit – ‘threw herself’.

multis cum lacramis – monosyllabic preposition between an adjective and its noun.

obsecravit ne – third person singular perfect of obsecro, -secrare, -secraví, -secratus, beseech, entreat ‘begged that he not ..’

in tanto discrimine – in we know will be followed by the ablative, so we have tanto discrimine, from the ablative of the adjective tantus in agreement with ablative of the third declension neuter noun discrimen, -criminis, ‘crisis, peril, danger’ together meaning ‘in such great danger’ and as we know tantus ‘such great’ is a signal word for a following result clause which requires the verb be in the subjunctive and there it is, desereret, third person singular imperfect subjunctive of deserere, from de-sero, -serere, -serui, -sertus, ‘desert’

se per eius auxilium – reflexive pronoun se meaning ‘himself’ followed by eius, genivive singular of the pronominal adjective ‘of him (or her) or more simply ‘his (or her)’ with the second declension neuter noun auxilium ‘help’, altogether in this instance meaning literally ‘himself by her help’.

memoria tenebat – this literally means ‘he was holding in his memory’ but we would probably say ‘he remembered’.

causam veniendi – gerund of venire after causam means ‘the cause of (her) coming’ or ‘the reason for her coming’.

avecturum – this is the abbreviated form of the infinitive ‘avecturum esse’ from the verb aveho, -vehere, -vexi, -vectus, carry away. In infinitives formed with participles esse is often omitted. It is infinitive because this is another example of indirect discourse; the direct speech which is what Jason would have said to Medea would have been : “I will take you away” which in reported speech with a past tense verb in the main clause (he promised) becomes : he would take her away – se eam vecturum esse.

Bit tricky this but with practice it becomes easier.

hortatus est – perfect singular perfect of the deponent verb hortor which looks passive but is active ‘he urged’.

ne ... timeret – verbs of fearing take the subjunctive and ne in the affirmative ‘that she should fear’ (in the negative verbs of fearing take ut, or ut non).

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.

Rex Aeetes ubi Iasonem

King Aeetes, when Jason

laborem propositum confecisse cognovit,

he learned had completed the task he had set,

ira graviter commotus est;

he was very angry;

id enim per dolum factum esse intellegebat;

for he knew it to have been done through a trick;

nec dubitabat quin Medea

nor did he doubt but that Medea

ei auxilium tulisset. Medea autem

had given him help. Now Medea

cum intellegeret se in magno fore periculo

when she knew herself to be in great danger

si in regia maneret,

if she remained in the kingdom,

fuga salutem petere constituit.

resolved to seek safety through flight.

Omnibus rebus igitur ad fugam paratis

When everything was prepared for the flight

media nocte insciente patre

in the middle of the night unknown to her father

cum fratre Absyrto evasit,

with her brother Absyrtus she escaped,

et quam celerrime ad locum

and as fast as possible to the place

ubi Argo subducta erat se contulit.

where the Argo was moored she made her way.

Eo cum venisset,

When she arrived at that place,

ad pedes Iasonis se proiecit,

she threw herself at the feet of Jason,

et multis cum lacrimis

and with many tears

eum obsecravit ne in tanto discrimine

beseeched him that not in such great danger

mulierem desereret quae ei tantum profuisset.

he desert the woman who had helped him so much.

Ille quod memoria tenebat

He because he held in his memory

se per eius auxilium

himself through her help

e magno periculo evasisse,

out of great danger to have escaped,

libenter eam excepit,

welcomed her gladly,

et postquam causam veniendi audivit,

and after he learned the reason for her coming,

hortatus est ne patris iram timeret.

he urged that she should fear her father’s anger.

Promisit autem se quam primum

He promised however that he as soon as possible

eam in navi sua avecturum.

would take her away in his ship.

d) The following section is for you to copy and translate.