THIS VASE PAINTING DEPICTS HERCULES AND THE STYMPHALIAN BIRDS
a)
Post paucós diés Herculés ad oppidum Stymphálum iter fécit; imperáverat enim eí Eurystheus ut avís Stymphálidés necáret. Hae avés róstra aénea habébant et carne hominum véscébantur. Ille postquam ad locum pervénit, lacum vídit; in hóc autem lacú, quí nón procul erat ab oppidó, avés habitábant. Núlla tamen dabátur appropinquandí facultás; lacus enim nón ex aquá sed é límó cónstitit. Herculés igitur neque pedibus neque lintre prógredí potuit.
Ille cum mágnam partem diéí frústrá cónsúmpsisset, hóc cónátú déstitit et ad Volcánum sé contulit, ut auxilium ab eó peteret. Volcánus (quí ab fabrís máximé colébátur) crepundia quae ipse ex aere fabricátus erat Herculí dedit. Hís Herculés tam ácrem crepitum fécit ut avés perterritae ávolárent. Ille autem, dum ávolant, mágnum numerum eárum sagittís tránsfíxit.
b)
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.
Post – followed by accusative case, paucos.
Oppidum Stymphalum – In English we say ‘the town of Stymphalus
Imperáverat … ei – pluperfect of imperare ‘he had ordered’ which is followed by an indirect object or dative case ei to express the person ordered i.e. ‘him’. See DATIVE CASE GRAMMAR NOTES top left sidebar under PAGES , also see PRONOUNS is, ea, id.
ordered (eí).
Ut necaret – ‘that he kill’, ut introduces the clause saying what has been commanded which is expressed by the verb in the subjunctive mood necaret: ‘ordered him that he kill’ which we have translated ‘ordered that he kill’.
Avis - note that the ending 'is' is an alternative accusative plural ending (you might understandably have expected aves).
Avis - note that the ending 'is' is an alternative accusative plural ending (you might understandably have expected aves).
Stymphálides – from Stymphalis, gen. -idis, adj., of Stymphalus, Stymphalian.
Hae aves – ‘these birds’ hae feminine plural nominative of hic haec hoc (see GRAMMAR NOTES) agreeing with aves, feminine plural noun of the third declension.
Rostra aenea – ‘bronze beaks’, from rostrum gen. –i, neut. noun, second declension in agreement with aeneus, -a, -um adjective, of copper or bronze.
Vescebantur – third person plural imperfect of the deponent verb vescor (REMEMBER these verbs look passive but are active in meaning) feed on, eat. It is an intransitive verb and governs the ablative, hence we have here carne the ablative form of the third declension noun caro, carnis.
In hoc lacu – ‘in this lake’ we can tell that lacus is a fourth declension noun as we know that in when referring to place where, governs a noun in the ablative (if it was a second declension noun it would end in o). See DECLENSIONS in GRAMMAR NOTES, top left of sidebar under PAGES.
Nulla - looks a bit tricky at first as we don’t know if we are to construe it to mean ‘no things’ neuter plural pronoun, or ‘no …’ as an adjective, but when you put it with the feminine noun facultas (opportunity, chance) it simply means ‘no opportunity’.
Dabatur – ‘he was given’ passive active third pers. Sing: dabat would mean ‘he gave, he was giving, he used to give etc.
facultas, -tatis – third declension f. noun, possibility, opportunity, chance, means.
appropinquandi – this is the the genitive of the gerund, which is a verbal noun with the meaning ‘of approaching’. It modifies facultas: the opportunity of approaching.
ex aqua ... e limo – ablative of material (what something is made from) after preposition e, ex before a vowel.
Constitit – third pers. sing. perf. tense of con-sisto, -sistere, -stiti, -stitus, which means ‘station oneself, take one's stand; and , as here, ‘consist’, meaning therefore ‘it consisted of mud.’
Pedibus … lintre – pedibus is ablative plural of pes, pedis meaning ‘with the feet’ or as we would say ‘on foot’ and lintre is ablative sing of linter, lintris meaning ‘with/by a boat’ or as we would say ‘by boat.’
Cum … consumpsisset – the pluperfect subjunctive is used after cum ‘when’ or ‘since’ when referring to the past and may introduce the reason for the action of the main verb.
hoc conatu – ‘this attempt’ is in the ablative as it is governed by destitit ‘he gave up, stopped, desisted’ being a verb of separation.
Ad Volcanum – accusative of Volcanus after ad ‘to Vulcan.’
Peteret – third pers. Sing. Of verb petere used after ut which here means ‘in order to’ introducing a clause which expresses purpose and is followed by the subjunctive ‘in order that he might ask’ which is best translated in English by the infinitive
Auxilium ab eo – literally ‘help from him’, eo being ablative after ab, see IS, EA , ID
crepundia, -orum – neut. Noun plural, ‘rattle.’
Aere – ablative again of material, what something is made from from aes, aeris, neut noun, copper, bronze, meaning therefore ‘of copper’, or ‘of bronze.’.
Crepitum – acc. Case from crepitus, -us (crepo, rattle)], m., rattle, clatter.
Avolarent – subjunctive of result clause introduced by tam, they were so terrified that …. Tam will often signpost a subjunctive result clause in this way.
Dum avolant – dum ‘while’ is followed by the present indicative but we have translated with a past tense.
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 paucós diés Herculés ad oppidum Stymphálum iter fécit;
After a few days Hercules made the journey to the town of Stymphalus
imperáverat enim eí Eurystheus ut avís Stymphálidés necáret.
for Eurystheus had ordered him to kill the Stymphalian birds.
Hae avés róstra aénea habébant et carne hominum véscébantur.
These birds had brass beaks and fed on the flesh of men.
Ille postquam ad locum pervénit, lacum vídit;
After he reached the place he saw a lake;
in hóc autem lacú, quí nón procul erat ab oppidó,
Now on this lake, which was not far from the town,
avés habitábant.
the birds lived.
Núlla tamen dabátur appropinquandí facultás;
He was afforded no opportunity of approaching however;
lacus enim nón ex aquá sed é límó cónstitit.
For the lake was not water but slime
Herculés igitur neque pedibus neque lintre prógredí potuit.
Hercules therefore could not proceed on foot or by boat.
Ille cum mágnam partem diéí frústrá cónsúmpsisset,
Since he had spent a large part of the day in vain,
hóc cónátú déstitit et ad Volcánum sé contulit,
he gave up this attempt and took himself off to Vulcan
ut auxilium ab eó peteret.
In order to ask for his help
Volcánus (quí ab fabrís máximé colébátur)
Vulcan (who is most highly worshipped by craftsmen)
crepundia quae ipse ex aere fabricátus erat Herculí dedit.
Gave Hercules rattles which he himself had made from bronze
Hís Herculés tam ácrem crepitum fécit
With these Hercules made such a din,
ut avés perterritae ávolárent.
That the terrified birds flew off.
Ille autem, dum ávolant,
But he, while they were flying away,
mágnum numerum eárum sagittís tránsfíxit.
Pierced a great number of them with his arrows.
d) The following section is as a) but without the macrons for you to copy and translate.
Post paucos dies Hercules ad oppidum Stymphalum iter fecit; imperaverat enim ei Eurystheus ut avis Stymphalides necaret. Hae aves rostra aenea habebant et carne hominum vescebantur.
Ille postquam ad locum pervenit, lacum vidit; in hoc autem lacu, qui non procul erat ab oppido, aves habitabant. Nulla tamen dabatur appropinquandi facultas; lacus enim non ex aqua sed e limo constitit. Hercules igitur neque pedibus neque lintre progredi potuit. Ille cum magnam partem diei frustra consumpsisset, hoc conatu destitit et ad Volcanum se contulit, ut auxilium ab eo peteret.
Volcanus (qui ab fabris maxime colebatur) crepundia quae ipse ex aere fabricatus erat Herculi dedit.
His Hercules tam acrem crepitum fecit ut aves perterritae avolarent.
Ille autem, dum avolant, magnum numerum earum sagittis transfixit.
