RITCHIE'S FABULAE FACILES RITCHIE'S SIMPLE STORIES: 36 RITCHIE’S FABULAE FACILES TRANSLATION - HERCULES 36

HERCULES 36 - LAOMEDON AND THE SEA-MONSTER

THIS IS LAOMEDON, KING OF TROY.

Láomedón quídam illó tempore régnum Tróiae obtinébat. Ad hunc Neptúnus et Apolló annó superióre vénerant, et cum Tróia nóndum moenia habéret, ad hóc opus auxilium obtulerant. Postquam tamen hórum auxilió moenia cónfecta sunt, nólébat Láomedón praemium quod próposuerat persolvere.

Neptúnus igitur et Apolló ob hanc causam írátí mónstrum quoddam mísérunt specié horribilí, quod cottídié é marí veniébat et homines pecudésque vorábat. Tróiání autem timóre perterrití in urbe continébantur, et pecora omnia ex agrís intrá múrós compulerant. Láomedón hís rébus commótus óráculum cónsuluit, ac deus eí praecépit ut filiam Hésionem mónstró obiceret.

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.

Laomedon quidam – quidam is in this case the indefinite adjective, ‘a certain Laomedon’.

illo tempore – ablative of time when, ‘at that time’.
regnum obtinere - to rule a kingdom.

ad hunc – ‘to th is man’; preposition ad followed by accusative case of masculine singular pronoun hic – see hic, haec, hoc in GRAMMAR NOTES left sidebar under PAGES.

anno superiore – ablative of time when of masculine second declension noun annus agreeing with comparative of the adjective superus; meaning therefore ‘the previous year’, or ‘the preceding year’ or ‘the year before’.

cum ... haberet – cum meaning since introducing a clause in the past takes the verb in the subjunctive. ‘ since Troy ... did not have’.

obtulerant – careful with this verb you won’t find it under ob in the dictionary because it comes from the verb offero, offerre, obtuli, oblátus; it is a compound of ob + feró and means to bear to, proffer, offer.

horum auxilio – horum is genitive plural of the pronoun see hic, haec, hoc in GRAMMAR NOTES left sidebar under PAGES, so it means ‘of them’ or as here ‘their’; auxilio is ablative ‘by or with help’ with ‘of them’ together best rendered as‘ with their help’

persolvere - means to repay in full, to completely repay. Per prefixed to a verb in this way intensifies or strengthens the meaning so terreo means ‘I frighten’ and perterreo means ‘I terrify’, sequor ‘I follow’ persequor ‘I pursue’.

quod – relative neuter singular ‘which’ referring to the neuter singular noun praemium.

proposuerat – pluperfect tense of propono, -ponere, -posui, -positus, put or set before, offer, propose; etc. meaning therefore ‘he had proposed’.

ob hanc causam – ob = ‘because of’ or ‘on account of’ with hanc – ‘this’ accusative demonstrative adjective (see hic, haec, hoc GRAMMAR NOTES) with feminine accusative causam, literally ‘on account of this reason’.

quoddam – indefinite adjective (compare with quiddam in first line), agreeing with neuter singular accusative noun monstrum ‘a certain monster’.

specie horribili - 'of terrible appearance.' this is ablative of description. remember that the third declension adjectives are very similar to third declension nouns, one difference being that they end in i in the ablative singular (not e).

homines pecudesque – que added to the second of two words joins them, here we have ‘men and beasts’, pecudes from the feminine third declension noun pecus, gen. pecudis, ‘head of cattle, beast, sheep, goat’.

timore perterriti. - 11. timore perterritus. It is not necessary to translate both words.See the note on 14, 11.

continebantur – literally ‘they were contained’ ; this might be translated as ‘kept themselves shut up’ in which case the subject is represented as acting upon itself and this is sometimes referred to as the reflexive use of the passive.

pecora – refers to flocks of sheep or herds of cattle; compare this with pecus, pecudis which refers to single animals (especially sheep).

compulerant – from com-pello, -pellere, -puli, -pulsus, drive together, drive, ‘they were driven’, or ‘they were herded’.

his rebus commotus – rebus from res ‘by these things moved’ or ‘by these events greatly shaken’.

ei praecepit – perfect tense of praecipio, -cipere, -cepí, -ceptus; a compound verb from prae, before + capio meaning, ‘take beforehand, anticipate; order, charge’ which takes the dative and therefore we have ei (see is, ea, id GRAMMAR NOTES top left sidebar under PAGES).

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.

Laomedon quidam illo tempore

at that time a certain Laomedon

regnum Troiae obtinebat.

was ruling the kingdom of Troy

Ad hunc Neptunus et Apollo

To this man Neptune and Apollo

anno superiore venerant,

had come the previous year

et cum Troia nondum moenia haberet,

and since Toy did not as yet have walls

ad hoc opus auxilium obtulerant.

they had given their assistance to this work.

Postquam tamen horum auxilio

After however with their help

moenia confecta sunt, nolebat Laomedon

the walls were made, Laomedon did not want

praemium quod proposuerat persolvere.

to pay the reward which he had offered.

Neptunus igitur et Apollo ob hanc causam irati

Neptune and Apollo therefore angry for this reason

monstrum quoddam miserunt specie horribili,

sent a certain monster of terrible appearance

quod cottidie e mari veniebat

which every day came out of the sea

et homines pecudesque vorabat.

and devoured men/people and animals.

Troiani autem timore perterriti

the Trojans however terrified

in urbe continebantur, et pecora omnia

shut themselves up in the city and all the animals

ex agris intra muros compulerant.

were driven from the fields within the walls

Laomedon his rebus commotus

Laomedon greatly shaken by these events

oraculum consuluit, ac deus ei praecepit

consulted the oracle, and the god ordered him

ut filiam Hesionem monstro obiceret.

to cast his daughter Hesione to the monster.

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