06 RITCHIE'S FABULAE FACILES TRANSLATION, PERSEUS 06 - THE SEA-SERPENT WITH NOTES AND INTERLINEAR TRANSLATION

PERSEUS 06 - THE SEA-SERPENT


a)  Pictured below is Neptune who sent the sea-serpent to punish Cepheus.

Post haec Perseus in fínís Aethiopum vénit. Ibi Cépheus quídam illó tempore régnábat. Híc Neptúnum, maris deum, ólim offenderat; Neptúnus autem mónstrum saevissimum míserat. Hóc cottídié é marí veniébat et hominés dévorábat. Ob hanc causam pavor animós omnium occupáverat. Cépheus igitur óráculum deí Hammónis cónsuluit, atque á deó iússus est fíliam mónstró trádere. Éius autem fília, nomine Andromeda, virgó fórmósissima erat. Cépheus ubi haec audívit, mágnum dolórem percépit. Volébat tamen cívís suós é tantó perículó extrahere, atque ob eam causam imperáta Hammónis facere cónstituit.

b) We have picked out some words for special consideration below. For the words not included in this list please refer to the WORDLIST in PAGES TOP RIGHT SIDE BAR.

haec – these things literally, translated usually as simply ‘this’

in finis – into the territory.
illo tempore - At that time = ablative of time.
regnabat - Description of how things were, the state of things in past time, therefore imperfect tense.
Hic. -'he' Pronoun, masculine, nominative, he, this man, is the subject (see Grammar Notes) of offenderat ‘he had offended, given offence to, angered, vexed’ etc.
maris deum – lit of the sea the god i.e. god of the sea.
olim – ‘once, at one time, once upon a time’.
Saevissimum – superlative adj., most savage, extremely savage.
Hoc - Pronoun neuter nominative, ‘this’ as it stands for ‘monstrum’ it means ‘this monster’.
Veniebat -  ‘Used to come out of the sea’ etc. the imperfect is used to show customary or habitual action followed here by another imperfect devorabat – used to eat.
omnium - 'of all ' or 'of all.men', an adjective can be used as a noun.
oraculum dei Hammonis – the oracle of the god Hammon. It was believed in ancient times that the will of the gods and a knowledge of the future events could be learned at certain shrines, of which the most famous were those of Apollo at Delphi, of Zeus or Jupiter at Dodona, and of Hammon in Egypt. Hammon was an Egyptian god, with the horns of a ram, but he was identified by the Greeks with Zeus and by the Romans with Jupiter.
filiam.- ‘his daughter’. Where there is no ambiguity, the possessive is often omitted in Latin.
autem – sometimes means ‘however’ and often introduces an explanation ('now').
nomine - 'by name.'
civis suos - 'his subjects.' Latin uses ‘suum, etc.’ for his when the the ‘his’ refers to the subject of the sentence, ‘his (own) citizens’. ‘His’ in Eius (autem) filia earlier in the passage ‘now his daughter ... was ..’ does not refer to the subject of the sentence, Andromeda is the subject of erat.  

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.

Post haec Perseus in fínís Aethiopum vénit.
After this Perseus came to the territory of Ethiopians.
Ibi Cépheus quídam illó tempore régnábat.
Here at that time a certain Cepheus was ruler.
Híc Neptúnum, maris deum, ólim offenderat;
This man had once offended Neptune, god of the sea,
Neptúnus autem mónstrum saevissimum míserat.
Neptune moreover had sent a savage monster.
Hóc cottídié é marí veniébat et hominés dévorábat.
This (monster) used to come out of the sea every day and eat men.
Ob hanc causam pavor animós omnium occupáverat.
For this reason fear filled the hearts of all.
Cépheus igitur óráculum deí Hammónis cónsuluit,
Cepheus therefore consulted the oracle of Hammon,
atque á deó iússus est fíliam mónstró trádere.
and he was told by the god to hand over his daughter to the monster.
Éius autem fília, nomine Andromeda,
Now his daughter, called Andromeda,
virgó fórmósissima erat. Cépheus ubi haec audívit,
was a very lovely girl. Cepheus when he heard this,
mágnum dolórem percépit. Volébat tamen
felt great grief. But he wanted to
cívís suós é tantó perículó extrahere,
get his citizens out of such great danger,
atque ob eam causam imperáta Hammónis facere cónstituit.
so for this reason he decided to do as Hammon ordered.

d) This section is for you to copy and compose your own translation..


Post haec Perseus in finis Aethiopum venit.

Ibi Cepheus quidam illo tempore regnabat.

Hic Neptunum, maris deum, olim offenderat;

Neptunus autem monstrum saevissimum miserat.

Hoc cottidie e mari veniebat et homines devorabat.

Ob hanc causam pavor animos omnium occupaverat.

Cepheus igitur oraculum dei Hammonis consuluit,

atque a deo iussus est filiam monstro tradere.

Eius autem filia, nomine Andromeda,

virgo formosissima erat.

Cepheus ubi haec audivit, magnum dolorem percepit.

Volebat tamen civis suos e tanto periculo extrahere,

atque ob eam causam

imperata Hammonis facere constituit.