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. If you need help with points of grammar raised in today's excerpt, consult ESSENTIAL GRAMMAR NOTES also top right side bar.
c)
Haud – ‘not’, negative particle.
Argonautae – notice that this is feminine plural, because nauta, nautae is a feminine first declension noun, though it refers to male sailors and if it was with an adjective the adjective would be in the masculine form: e.g. nauta bonus – a good sailor. There are not many masculine first declension nouns, another which comes to mind is agricola, farmer.
appellabantur – third person plural imperfect indicative passive of appello, appellare meaning therefore ‘they were called’. Vehebantur is the same form, from veho, behere, vexi, vectus, third conjugation verb, meaning ‘carry, bear, transport; sail’.
in ista navi – in takes the ablative so we have ista ‘that’ and ‘navi’ which ends in i as it is one of the third declension i-stem nouns which take i in the ablative, called parasyllabic nouns which just means that they have the same number of syllables in the genitive as they have in the nominative: navis, navis (f.). They also have ium in the genitive plural.
insulam quandam – indefinite adjective accusative case agreeing with accusative of insula, ‘a certain island’.
nomine – ablative of nomen means ‘by the name of’, or simply ‘called’.
e navi egressi – e the preposition followed by ablative case (navi of navis again); egressi is the past participle of the third conjugation deponent egredior, egredi, egressus sum adn can be translated by something like ‘having disembarked’.
illius regionis – genitive case ‘of that region’.
hospitio – ablative of hospitium, ii , neuter noun of the second declension, meaning ‘with hospitality’.
excepti sunt – third person plural passive of excipio, excipere, excepi, exceptus, meaning therefore ‘they were received’.
paucas horas – there is no need for a preposition when a time word is used for indicating duration of time, as here, the accusative case is sufficient, ‘for few hours’.
ad solus ocasum – literally towards the setting of the sun, meaning appraoching sunset, when referring to time when.
pauca milia passuum – literally translated this is ‘few’, agreeing with ‘thousands’ and the genitive plural ‘of paces’ which is how the Romans expressed a distance which we would approximate to ‘mile’, so it is better expressed as ‘a few miles’.
tanta ...ut ... non possent – tanta is one of those signal words which indicate to us that there is a subjunctive coming up which will be introduced by ut: ‘such a .... that they could not etc.’; this is called a result clause.
profecti erant – pluperfect of the deponend verb profiscor, ‘they had set out’.
deicerentur – third person plural imperfect indicative passive of deiicio, ‘they were thrown back/down’.It is third person subjunctive as it is part of the result clause following tanta tempestas...ut ... such a storm that etc.
incolae – neuter plural nominative case of another feminine noun referring to both male and females here ‘the inhabitants’.
cum nox esset obscura – cum meaning ‘since’ is followed by the subjunctive, here the third person singular of sum meaning ‘it was’, altogether ‘since it was dark night’.
navem inimicam venisse – accusative infinitive construct after ‘they thought’, meaning literally ‘they thought a hostile ship to have come’, but we would say ‘they thought a hostile ship had come’.
arbitrati - The perfect participle of deponent verbs is often best rendered into English by a present participle, for example we might put ‘thinking that’.
egredi - 'from disembarking.'
pugnatum est - 'the battle raged' or 'they fought,' literally 'it was fought,' Intransitive verbs are often used impersonally in the passive, with the subject implied in the verb itself.
senserunt se errare – after verbs of knowing, feeling and similar verbs, we have the accusative infinitive again; se is the accusative pronoun referring to the subject of the sentence , incolae ‘the inhabitants’: they perceived that they had made a mistake’.
abiecerunt – they threw down, compare this with the verb we mat earlier ‘deiecerunt and you will see that they are derived from the same source verb with prepositions prefixed.
cum iam dilucesceret – here we have the conjunction cum ‘since’ introducing a clause in the past which must have its verb in the subjunctive, here the third person imperfect subjunctive of the verb dilucesco. You may remember we have met this type of verb before, they are called inceptive or inchoative verbs, recognizable by the ‘esc’ which denote the beginning of something, ‘since it was now growing light’.
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.
Haud multo post Argonautae
Not long after the Argonauts
(ita enim appellabantur qui
(for so are called those who
in ista navi vehebantur)
in that ship were transported)
insulam quandam, nomine Cyzicum,
a certain island, called Cyzicum,
attigerunt; et e navi egressi
they reached, and having disembarked from the ship
a rege illius regionis
by the king of that region
hospitio excepti sunt.
they were received with hospitality
Paucas horas ibi commorati
Having lingered a few hours there
ad solis occasum rursus solverunt;
towards sunset they set sail again;
sed postquam pauca milia passuum
but after a few miles
progressi sunt, tanta tempestas
they travelled, such a storm
subito coorta est
suddenly arose
ut cursum tenere non possent,
that they could not keep their course,
et in eandem partem insulae
and into that same part of the island
unde nuper profecti erant
from where they had set out
magno cum periculo deicerentur.
with great danger they were thrown down.
Incolae tamen, cum nox esset obscura,
The inhabitants however, since it was dark night,
Argonautas non agnoscebant,
did not recognize the Argonauts,
et navem inimicam venisse arbitrati
and thinking that a hostile ship had come
arma rapuerunt et eos egredi prohibebant.
seized their arms and prevented them from disembarking.
Acriter in litore pugnatum est,
There was a fiece battle on the shore,
et rex ipse, qui cum aliis decucurrerat,
and the king himself, who will the others had run down,
ab Argonautis occisus est.
by the Argonauts was killed.
Mox tamen, cum iam dilucesceret,
Soon however, since it was now growing light,
senserunt incolae se errare
the inhabitants saw that they were wrong,
et arma abiecerunt; Argonautae autem
and threw down their arms; the Argonauts however
cum regem occisum esse viderent,
when they saw the king was dead,
magnum dolorem perceperunt.
felt great grief.
d) The following section is for you to copy and translate.
Haud multo post Argonautae
(ita enim appellabantur qui
in ista navi vehebantur)
insulam quandam, nomine Cyzicum,
attigerunt; et e navi egressi
a rege illius regionis
hospitio excepti sunt.
Paucas horas ibi commorati
ad solis occasum rursus solverunt;
sed postquam pauca milia passuum
progressi sunt, tanta tempestas
subito coorta est
ut cursum tenere non possent,
et in eandem partem insulae
unde nuper profecti erant
magno cum periculo deicerentur.
Incolae tamen, cum nox esset obscura,
Argonautas non agnoscebant,
et navem inimicam venisse arbitrati
arma rapuerunt et eos egredi prohibebant.
Acriter in litore pugnatum est,
et rex ipse, qui cum aliis decucurrerat,
ab Argonautis occisus est.
Mox tamen, cum iam dilucesceret,
senserunt incolae se errare
et arma abiecerunt; Argonautae autem
cum regem occisum esse viderent,
magnum dolorem perceperunt.
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