RITCHIE's FABULAE FACILES - with notes and interlinear translation.
PERSEUS O3 - PERSEUS IS SENT ON HIS TRAVELS
3 a). Perseus igitur multós annós ibi habitábat, et cum mátre suá vítam beátam agébat. At Polydectés Danaén mágnopere amábat, atque eam in mátrimónium dúcere volébat. Hóc tamen cónsilium Perseó minimé grátum erat. Polydectés igitur Perseum dímittere cónstituit. Tum iuvenem ad sé vocávit et haec díxit: "Turpe est hanc ígnávam vítam agere; iam dúdum tú aduléscéns es. Quó úsque híc manébis? Tempus est arma capere et virtútem praestáre. Hinc abí, et caput Medúsae mihi refer."
b) I have picked out some words for consideration below. For the words not included in this list pease refer to the WORDLIST in PAGES TOP RIGHT SIDE BAR. Also see ESSENTIAL GRAMMAR NOTES in PAGES.
Igitur - ‘therefore’, ‘and so’, comes second in a sentence as here, not first.multos annos – ‘For many years’. Duration of time is expressed in the accusative case.
Danaen - Greek accusative case for the Proper name Danae.
Eam – ‘Her’ (accusative case). For further info. see is, ea, id in WORDLIST (in PAGES top right side bar).
In matrimonium ducere - literally means to lead into marriage but we would say simply ‘to marry’.
haec - The literal translation would be 'these things,' but we would say 'thus', ‘this’, or 'as follows.'
Es - With iam dudum and similar expressions of duration, the present indicative is often used in Latin to denote an action or state begun in the past but continuing in the present whereas in English we would use the perfect tense: it has been some time since you became a young man, or you have already for some time been a young man, or it is long since you were a young man.
Quo usque - until what time, till when.
Hic - is not here the pronoun ‘he’, but an adverb meaning ‘here’.
Hinc - adverb meaning from here, hence.
mihi - to me (dative case).
Refer - Imperative mood meaning ‘Bring’. Dico, duco, facio, and fero have the imperative forms dic, duc, fac, and fer, instead of dice, etc.
c) 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.
Perseus igitur multós annós ibi habitábat,
And so Perseus lived many years there,
et cum mátre suá vítam beátam agébat.
and with his mother lived a blessed life.
At Polydectés Danaén mágnopere amábat,
But Polydectes greatly loved Danae
atque eam in mátrimónium dúcere volébat.
and wanted to marry her.
Hóc tamen cónsilium Perseó minimé grátum erat.
This plan however was not in the least pleasing to Perseus.
Polydectés igitur Perseum dímittere cónstituit.
Polydectes therefore decided to send Perseus away.
Tum iuvenem ad sé vocávit et haec díxit:
Then he called the young man to him and said this:
"Turpe est hanc ígnávam vítam agere;
‘It is disgraceful leading this lazy life;
iam dúdum tú aduléscéns es.
It has been a while since you became a young man.
Quó úsque híc manébis?
How long will you stay here?
Tempus est arma capere et virtútem praestáre.
It is time to take up arms and show (your) valour.
Hinc abí, et caput Medúsae mihi refer."
Go away from here, and bring me the head of Medusa.
d) The following section is for you to copy and compose your own translation.
Perseus igitur multos annos ibi habitabat,
et cum matre sua vitam beatam agebat.
At Polydectes Danaen magnopere amabat,
atque eam in matrimonium ducere volebat.
Hoc tamen consilium Perseo minime gratum erat.
Polydectes igitur Perseum dimittere constituit.
Tum iuvenem ad se vocavit et haec dixit:
"Turpe est hanc ignavam vitam agere;
iam dudum tu adulescens es.
Quo usque hic manebis?
Tempus est arma capere et virtutem praestare.
Hinc abi, et caput Medusae mihi refer."
5 comments:
according to wiktionary
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hic#Latin
hóc is ablative.
Since consilium is nominative, why would not hoc be short?
bv
Thank you for your comment. Hoc is indeed ablative case form of the masculine demonstrative pronoun/adjective hic, and is also the nominative case form of the neuter pronoun, which is what we have here, agreeing with the nominative neuter noun consilium - this is confusing I know. The other most common confusion is between haec, feminine nominative case form, and haec neuter plural. See Grammar Notes in the sidebar for a list of the case forms of the Demonstrative pronouns. Hope this helps. Angela
Thanks.
I guess wiktionary, which I use constantly for translation, having no actual dictionary, is just wrong, then.
They have short hoc as neuter nominative.
BTW,
Thank you so much for this web site.
I just started 5 weeks ago to learn Latin (at 66, in early retirement stages).
My goal is to memorize these stories.
bv
In this passage hoc is nom sing neuter agreeing with consilium. Therefore, the vowel is short and should be written without a macron.
In the passage it is written as "hóc". There seems to be a typographical error in the Latin passage.
hoc - nom or acc sing neuter
hóc - abl sing masc or neuter
Hi Sandy,
Thank you so much for your comment and for bringing up the thorny issue of the quantity of the vowel in neuter hoc. Although I am sure there must be many typos in the pages I have published, in this instance, hoc with a long o is not a typo as I have faithfully reproduced the original text of Fabulae Faciles as published in 1903, Ed J Kirkland. You can check it out from a copy here: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8997
What of course is the crux of the matter is whether the o of neuter hoc should be long or short, though of course in languages we cannot talk of what should and should not be but sometimes just have to accept what is and try to make sense of the anomalies. You will find in your reading that the neuter hoc is sometimes spelled with a long o and sometimes with a short o and the inconsistency is quite simply often historical: grammarians of the nineteenth and early twentieth century often spell neuter hoc with a long o whereas the modern tendency is to use a short o and Classicists wishing to reproduce Classical Latin use the short o. Compare say, Wheelock and Cambridge which use short o with this excerpt from Allen and Greenhough, (also early twentieth century).
146 hīc, this
SINGULAR PLURAL
M. F. N. M. F. N.
NOM. hīc haec hōc hī hae haec
GEN. hûius hûius hûius hōrum hārum hōrum
DAT. huic huic huic hīs hīs hīs
ACC. hunc hanc hōc hōs hās haec
ABL. hōc hāc hōc hīs hīs hīs [*] NOTE 1.-- Hīc is a compound of the stem ho- with the demonstrative enclitic -ce. In most of the cases final e is dropped, in some the whole termination. But in these latter it is sometimes retained for emphasis: as, hûius-ce , hīs-ce . In early Latin -c alone is retained in some of these ( hōrunc ). The vowel in hīc , hōc , was originally short, and perhaps this quantity was always retained. Ille and iste are sometimes found with the same enclitic: illic , illaec, illuc; also illoc . See a, p. 67.
[*] NOTE 2.--For the dative and ablative plural of hīc the old form hībus is sometimes found; haec occurs (rarely) for hae .
I expect that this is now as clear as mud but hope I have not muddied the waters too much! Thanks again for taking the trouble to write.
Regards.
Angela
Post a Comment