05 RITCHIE'S FABULAE FACILES TRANSLATION, PERSEUS 05 THE GORGON'S HEAD WITH NOTES AND INTERLINEAR TRANSLATION

PERSEUS 05 - THE GORGON'S HEAD

 5. THE GORGON'S HEAD

a). Rés difficillima erat caput Gorgonis abscídere; éius enim cónspectú homines in saxum vertébantur.
Propter hanc causam Minerva speculum Perseó dederat.
Ille igitur tergum vertit, et in speculum ínspiciébat;
hóc modó ad locum vénit ubi Medúsa dormiébat.
Tum falce suá caput éius únó íctú abscídit.
Céterae Gorgonés statim é somnó excitátae sunt,
et ubi rem vídérunt, írá commótae sunt.
Arma rapuérunt, et Perseum occídere volébant.
Ille autem dum fugit, galeam magicam induit;
et ubi hóc fécit, statim é cónspectú eárum évásit.

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.

Res. ‘It was a very difficult thing’ or more loosely, ‘it was by no means an easy thing’ etc. Res, is a difficult work to pin down: it can mean, the thing, the matter, the affair etc.
vertebantur. ‘They were turned’. This verb is imperfect passive plural. The imperfect here denotes customary action, what usually happens, which is one of its regular uses.
Propter. Propter is a preposition meaning ‘on account of’ and is followed by the accusative case.
Ille. He, pronoun.
hoc modo. In this way, ablative of manner.
dormiebat. ‘Was sleeping’ describes the state of things in past time.
fugit. When dum means 'while,' 'as,' it is followed by the present indicative, even when used of past events.
fecit. Like postquam, ubi has the present or perfect indicative, where English would use the pluperfect.

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.

Rés difficillima erat caput Gorgonis abscídere;
It was a very difficult matter to cut off the head of the Gorgon,
éius enim cónspectú homines in saxum vertébantur.
For on seeing it men were turned into stone.
Propter hanc causam Minerva speculum Perseó dederat.
For this reason, Minerva had given Perseus a mirror.
Ille igitur tergum vertit, et in speculum ínspiciébat;
He therefore turned his back and looked into the mirror;
hóc modó ad locum vénit ubi Medúsa dormiébat.
in this way he arrived at the place where Medusa was sleeping.
Tum falce suá caput éius únó íctú abscídit.
Then with his blade he cut off her head with one blow.
Céterae Gorgonés statim é somnó excitátae sunt,
The other Gorgons were roused from sleep immediately,
et ubi rem vídérunt, írá commótae sunt.
and when they saw what had happened, they were filled with anger.
Arma rapuérunt, et Perseum occídere volébant.
They seized their weapons and wanted to kill Perseus.
Ille autem dum fugit, galeam magicam induit;
He meanwhile is making his escape, he puts on the magic helmet
et ubi hóc fécit, statim é cónspectú eárum évásit.
And when he did this immediately he escaped out of their sight.

d) The following section is for you to copy and come up with your own translation.

Res difficillima erat caput Gorgonis abscidere;
eius enim conspectu homines in saxum vertebantur.
Propter hanc causam Minerva speculum Perseo dederat.
Ille igitur tergum vertit, et in speculum ínspiciebat;
hoc modo ad locum venit ubi Medusa dormiebat.
Tum falce sua caput eius uno ictu abscidit.
Ceterae Gorgones statim e somno excitatae sunt,
et ubi rem viderunt, ira commotae sunt.
Arma rapuerunt, et Perseum occidere volebant.
Ille autem dum fugit, galeam magicam induit;
et ubi hoc fecit, statim e conspectu earum evasit.