02 RITCHIE'S FABULAE FACILES TRANSLATION - PERSEUS 02 - JUPPITER SAVES HIS SON - with notes and interlinear translation

PERSEUS 02 - RITCHIE'S FABULAE FACILES - JUPPITER SAVES HIS SON - with notes and interlinear translation
PERSEUS 2 - JUPITER SAVES HIS SON

a).  Iuppiter tamen haec omnia vídit, et fílium suum serváre cónstituit. Tranquillum igitur fécit mare, et arcam ad ínsulam Seríphum perdúxit. Húius ínsulae Polydectés tum réx erat. Postquam arca ad lítus appulsa est, Danaé in haréná quiétem capiébat. Post breve tempus á piscátóre quódam reperta est, et ad domum régis Polydectis adducta est. Ille mátrem et puerum benígné excépit, et iís sédem tútam in fínibus suís dedit. Danaé hóc dónum libenter accépit, et pró tantó benefició régí grátiás egit.

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.

Filium suum ‘his son’ meaning his own son; if ‘his son’ meant someone else’s son it would be filius eius.
Seriphum . Notice that Latin says 'the island Seriphos,' but in English we say 'the island of Seriphos.'
Huius insulae of this island is genitive case.
appulsa est . Had been driven (to the shore). Postquam is regularly followed by the perfect or present indicative, but the English translation usually requires the pluperfect.
Quodam is the ablative case of Quidam, meaning a 'certain' as applied to someone or something indefinite. 'The ablative is here used after the preposition a meaning 'by'. A piscatore quodam = by a certain fisherman.
Reperta est : was found, reperta is the past participle of reperió, reperíre, repperí, repertus, find, discover.
ad domum . This means 'to the house, accusative case indicates motion towards.'
Ille 'he.'
Pro tanto beneficio . For such kindness.
Gratias egit thanked, from gratias agere, to thank.



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.
Iuppiter tamen haec omnia vídit,
Juppiter however saw all these things
et fílium suum serváre cónstituit.
 and resolved to save his son.
Tranquillum igitur fécit mare,
So he made the sea calm
et arcam ad ínsulam Seríphum perdúxit.
and drew the ark to the island of Seriphos
Húius ínsulae Polydectés tum réx erat.
Polydectes was at that time king of this island
Postquam arca ad lítus appulsa est,
after the ark had been driven on to the shore,
Danaé in haréná quiétem capiébat
Danae took a rest upon the sand
Post breve tempus á piscátóre quódam reperta est,
after a short time she was discovered by a certain fisherman
et ad domum régis Polydectis adducta est.
and was taken to the home of the king Polydectes
Ille mátrem et puerum benígné excépit,
He welcomed the mother and boy kindly
et iís sédem tútam in fínibus suís dedit.
and gave them a safe place within his territories
Danaé hóc dónum libenter accépit,
Danae accepted this gift gladly
et pró tantó benefició régí grátiás égit.
and for such kindness thanked the king

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

Iuppiter tamen haec omnia vidit,

et filium suum servare constituit.

Tranquillum igitur fecit mare,

et arcam ad insulam Seriphum perduxit.

Huius insulae Polydectes tum rex erat.

Postquam arca ad litus appulsa est,

Danae in harena quietem capiebat.

Post breve tempus a piscatore quodam reperta est,

et ad domum regis Polydectis adducta est.

Ille matrem et puerum benigne excepit,

et iis sedem tutam in finibus suis dedit.

Danae hoc donum libenter accepit,

et pro tanto beneficio regi gratias egit.

01 FABULAE FACILES TRANSLATION, PERSEUS 01 - THE ARK - with notes and interlinear translation

PERSEUS 01

PART ONE OF RITCHIE's FABULAE FACILES. PERSEUS 01 -  THE ARK - with notes and interlinear translation

Acrisius, an ancient king of Argos, had been warned by an Oracle that he would be killed by his grandson. When he discovered, therefore, that his daughter Danae had given birth to a son, Acrisius endeavoured to escape his fate by putting both mother and child in a wooden ark and setting them adrift on the sea.
THE PICTURE ABOVE IS OF PERSEUS AND HIS MOTHER DANAE BEING PUT INTO THE ARK BEFORE BEING CAST ADRIFT AT SEA.
They were saved, however, with the help of Jupiter;
and Perseus, the child, grew up at the court of Polydectes,
king of Seriphos, an island in the Aegean Sea. On reaching
manhood, Perseus was sent by Polydectes to fetch the head
of Medusa, one of the Gorgons. This dangerous task he
accomplished with the help of Apollo and Minerva, and on
his way home he rescued Andromeda, daughter of Cepheus,
from a sea-monster. Perseus then married Andromeda,
and lived some time in the country of Cepheus. At length he
returned to Seriphos, and turned Polydectes to stone by
showing him the Gorgon's head; he then went to the court of
Acrisius, who fled in terror at the news of his grandson's
return. The oracle was duly fulfilled, for Acrisius was
accidentally killed by a discus thrown by Perseus.

  1. THE ARK

a).

Haec nárrantur á poétís dé Perseó. Perseus fílius erat Iovis, máximí deórum; avus éius Acrisius appellábátur. Acrisius volébat Perseum nepótem suum necáre; nam propter óráculum puerum timébat. Comprehendit igitur Perseum adhúc infantem, et cum mátre in arcá lígneá inclúsit. Tum arcam ipsam in mare coniécit. Danaé, Perseí máter, mágnopere territa est; tempestás enim mágna mare turbábat. Perseus autem in sinú mátris dormiébat.

b)  some words have been chosen for special consideration and are listed below. For the words not included in this list pease refer to the WORDLIST in PAGES TOP RIGHT SIDE BAR.

Haec, is a pronoun, neuter plural, ‘these things’, can be translated as ‘this’.
Narrantur, is present tense, third person plural passive = they are told. The present tense is often used for dramatic effect when telling a story’.
A poetis and de Perseo: 'a' and 'de' are followed by the ablative case. Also 'in', as 'in sinu' in the last line and 'cum' as in 'cum matre'.
filius … Iovis: son (nominative case) Iovis (genitive case = of Juppiter); matris in the last line is also in the genitive case ‘of (his)mother’. Latin doesn't put in possessive adjectives (his, her etc)when it is obvious; here it is obvious Perseus is on 'his' mother's lap.
maximi ‘greatest’ is a superlative adjective.
avus eius appellabatur: his grandfather was called (passive).
nepotem suum: his grandson, suum is used here because it is the subject of the verb to kill: he wanted to kill = same subject.
Danae is a name borrowed by Latin from Greek.
Igitur often comes second in the sentence as does enim (see below) and autem in the last line.
turbabat and dormiebat are in the imperfect tense because they describe the state of things existing at a past time and are not reporting a completed action.

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.

Haec nárrantur á poétís dé Perseó.
These things are told by the poets about Perseus
Perseus fílius erat Iovis, máximí deórum;
Perseus was the son of Juppiter, the greatest of the gods;
avus éius Acrisius appellábátur.
his grandfather was called Acrisus.
Acrisius volébat Perseum nepótem suum necáre;
Acrisius wanted to kill Perseus his grandson;
nam propter óráculum puerum timébat.
for, on account of an oracle, he feared the boy
Comprehendit igitur Perseum adhúc infantem,
He therefore seized Perseus, when still an infant,
et cum mátre in arcá lígneá inclúsit.
and with his mother closed him up in a wooden ark.
Tum arcam ipsam in mare coniécit.
Then that same ark, he hurled into the sea.
Danaé, Perseí máter, mágnopere territa est;
Danae, Perseus’ mother, was very frightened;
tempestás enim mágna mare turbábat.
for a great storm was stirring up the sea.
Perseus autem in sinú mátris dormiébat.
Perseus however, on his mother’s lap, was sleeping.

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

Haec narrantur a poetis de Perseo.

Perseus filius erat Iovis, maximi deorum;

avus eius Acrisius appellabatur.

Acrisius volebat Perseum nepotem suum necare;

nam propter oraculum puerum timebat.

Comprehendit igitur Perseum adhuc infantem,

et cum matre in arca lignea inclusit.

Tum arcam ipsam in mare coniecit.

Danae, Persei mater, magnopere territa est;

tempestas enim magna mare turbabat.

Perseus autem in sinu matris dormiebat.

00 RITCHIE'S FABULAE FACILES INTRO.

As a learner of Latin I have been disappointed by the lack of easy-to-read latin stories and having discovered RITCHIE’S FABULAE FACILES or RITCHIE’S EASY STORIES I have embarked on an exciting project to resurrect the stories which I believe are as relevant and interesting to learners of Latin today, as they were when they were first published over a hundred years ago. I hope you like them as much as I do.
There are 4 stories based on 4 Greek myths: PERSEUS; HERCULES; THE ARGONAUTS; and ULYSEES. I have adopted the same division of the stories into numbered chapters but I have altered the format dramatically in the following ways: The first titled paragraph is called section a) and presents the section with macrons and no notes; section b) provides detailed notes on vocabulary and grammar relating to the paragraph and any vocab not found in this section will be found in the WORDLIST under PAGES and further grammar exlanations can be found in ESSENTIAL GRAMMAR NOTES also under PAGES (top right of sidebar). Section c) provides an interlinear translation of the text (which is non-existent in the orginal) which I have prepared, as I think this is an excellent way to learn new vocabulary without spending an inordinate amount of time looking up words in the dictionary and it also enables the learner to clear up any unresolved difficulties encountered on initial reading. It sounds rather clumsy in places but I have sacrificed idiomatic English in favour of a close translation as I think it makes it easier to learn this way and you can, I am sure, invent your own improved translations once you have the gist of the meaning. I personally love interlinear translation as I think it saves a lot of time; I know these are not perfect but I hope they make the stories a little more accessible to complete beginners and I welcome comments and corrections. After a short time you should be able to read through section a) with complete understanding without having to refer to sections b) or c).  I have had great fun reading the stories and making sense of them and I hope you will too.