RITCHIE'S FABULAE FACILES RITCHIE'S SIMPLE STORIES: 74 RITCHIE’S FABULAE FACILES TRANSLATION – THE ARGONAUTS 74

THE ARGONAUTS 74 – THE PURSUIT

a)Hís rébus gestís omnés sine morá návem rúrsus cónscendérunt, et sublátís ancorís prímá vigiliá solvérunt; neque enim satis tútum esse arbitrátí sunt in eó locó manére. At réx Aeétés, quí iam ante inimícó in eós fuerat animó, ubi cógnóvit fíliam suam nón modo ad Argonautás sé recépisse sed etiam ad vellus auferendum auxilium tulisse, hóc dolóre gravius exársit. Návem longam quam celerrimé dédúcí iussit, et mílitibus impositís fugientís ínsecútus est. Argonautae, quí rem in discrímine esse bene sciébant, omnibus víribus rémís contendébant; cum tamen návis quá vehébantur ingentí esset mágnitúdine, nón eádem celeritáte quá Colchí prógredí poterant. Quó factum est ut minimum abesset quín á Colchís sequentibus caperentur, neque enim longius intererat quam quó télum adicí posset. At Médéa cum vídisset quó in locó rés essent, paene omní spé dépositá ínfandum hóc cónsilium cépit.

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.

his rebus gestis – ablative absolute, ‘when these things had been done’.

omnes – ‘all’ or ‘everybody’.

rursus – adverb, ‘again’.

sublatis ancoris – ‘when the anchor had been weighed’ which means when the anchor had been lifted from the sea prior to departing; the expression comes from the ablative plural of the participle of tollo, tollere, sustuli, sublatus with ablative plural of ancora, ae feminine noun of the first declension.

prima vigilia – ‘at first watch’ our equavalent would probably be ‘at sunset’; the Romans divided the night into four watches, so this would mean that they set off at sunset being the first watch.

neque enim - neque enim, means 'for ... not,' as if simply non enim; Latin often uses neque to connect clauses.

ín eos – in this context the preposition in means ‘against’.

inimico animo - ablative of description, ‘hostile to’.

non modo ... sed etiam – ‘not only but also’.

se recipisse – ‘had taken herself off to’ from the verb se recipere, ‘to betake oneself, withdraw’. This is again an accusative infinitive construction after ‘he found out’: he found out/he discovered is followed by accusative ‘her’ and infinitive ‘to have defected’ but of course we would probably say ‘he found out she had defected’

hoc dolore – 'this anger,' i.e. 'anger at this.' .

exarsit – third person singular perfect from the verb exardesco, -ere, -arsi, -arsus, blaze out, be inflamed, rage.

iussit navem longam deduci – notice that iussit ‘he ordered’ third person perfect active from the verb iubere takes the accusative whereas imperare takes the dative. navem longam - Navis longa is the Latin for a warship, sometimes called a war-galley, man-of-war it literally means a long boat.

deduci - the expression navem deducere means ‘to launch a ship’ so we have here an accusative infinitive construction after ‘he ordered’ ... the war ship to be launched (passive infinitive of deducere).

militibus impositis – ablative absolute phrase, ‘when the soldiers had embarked’.

fugientis, used as a noun, 'the fugitives.'

in discrimine – ablative after in, from the third declension noun discrimen, -criminis, n., crisis, peril, danger.

contendebant – third person plural imperfect tense ‘they hastened/hurried’ from the verb contendo, -tendere, -tendi, -tentus, ‘stretch, hasten.’

qua vehebantur – qua is ablative of means ‘by which’ followed by the third person plural imperfect passive ‘they were being borne along’.

quo factus est ... ut – ‘and so it came to pass’.... ‘that’.

ut minimum abesset quin ... caparentur – literally this means ‘that it was very little far from that ... they were seized’, another way of expressing ‘they were almost seized/ they were nearly seized’. Ut ... abesset is a clause of result, the subject of factum est; quin ... caparentur is a form of subordinate clause with subjunctive verb used after quin.

a Colchis sequentibus – by the Colchians who were following

neque ... posset -'for the distance between them was not greater than a javelin could be thrown.' The clause quo ... posset is a result clause; the distance was not so great that a javelin could not be thrown from one ship to the other.

omni spe deposita – ablative phrase ‘with all hope lost’ or ‘with all hope left behind’.

infandum hoc consilium – the monosyllabic demonstrative adjective is sandwiched between the adjective and noun: ‘this unspeakable plan’ from infandus -a, -um – ‘unspeakable, monstrous’.

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.

His rebus gestis

When these things had been done

omnes sine mora

everybody without delay

navem rursus conscenderunt,

made their way again to the ship

et sublatis ancoris

and when the anchors had been weighed

prima vigilia solverunt;

at first watch they set sail

neque enim satis tutum esse arbitrati sunt

for they thought it was not altogether safe

in eo loco manere.

to remain in that place.

At rex Aeetes, qui iam ante

But king Aeetes, who already before now

inimico in eos fuerat animo,

had been hostile against them,

ubi cognovit filiam suam

when he found out that his daughter

non modo ad Argonautas se recepisse

not only had gone over to the Argonauts

sed etiam ad vellus auferendum auxilium tulisse,

but also had given help to steal the fleece

hoc dolore gravius exarsit.

anger at this more seriously inflamed.

Navem longam quam celerrime deduci iussit,

He ordered a war ship be launched as quickly as possible

et militibus impositis

and when the soldiers had embarked

fugientis insecutus est.

he pursued those in flight.

Argonautae, qui rem in discrimine esse

The Argonauts, who, that there was great danger

bene sciebant,

were well aware,

omnibus viribus remis contendebant;

with all their strength took quickly to the oars;

cum tamen navis qua vehebantur

since however the ship by which they being carried

ingenti esset magnitudine,

was of such a huge size,

non eadem celeritate

not with the same speed

qua Colchi progredi poterant.

as the Colchians could they.advance.

Quo factum est ut minimum abesset

With the result that it almost happened

quin a Colchis sequentibus caperentur,

that they were taken by the Colchians following,

neque enim longius intererat

for there was not la greater distance between

quam quo telum adici posset.

but that a spear might be thrown.

At Medea cum vidisset

Now when medea had seen

quo in loco res essent,

how things stood,

paene omni spe deposita

having almost given up all hope

infandum hoc consilium cepit.

hatched this monstrous plan.

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