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Angela
Angela
THE ARGONAUTS 75 - A FEARFUL EXPEDIENT
This is a rather lovely picture of Medea - it hardly seems possible that she could be guilty of murder does it? (Painting of Medea is by Evelyn de Morgan 1855 – 1919 from Wiki Commons).
a)Erat in náví Argonautárum fílius quídam régis Aeétae, nómine Absyrtus, quem, ut suprá démónstrávimus, Médéa ex urbe fugiéns sécum abdúxerat. Hunc puerum Médéa interficere cónstituit eó cónsilió, ut membrís éius in mare coniectís cursum Colchórum impedíret; certó enim sciébat Aeétem, cum membra fílí vídisset, nón longius prósecútúrum esse. Neque opínió Médéam fefellit, omnia enim ita événérunt ut spéráverat. Aeétés ubi prímum membra vídit, ad ea conligenda návem tenérí iussit. Dum tamen ea geruntur, Argonautae nón intermissó rémigandí labóre mox é cónspectú hostium auferébantur, neque prius fugere déstitérunt quam ad flúmen Éridanum pervénérunt. Aeétés nihil sibi prófutúrum esse arbitrátus sí longius prógressus esset, animó démissó domum revertit, ut fílí corpus ad sepultúram daret.
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)
erat – this can mean ‘he/she/it was’ and also, as here, ‘there was’.
Argonautarum – remember that this is the plural form of the first declension noun Argonauta which though it looks feminine is masculine.
quidam – ‘a certain’.
regis Aeetae – ‘of King Aeetes’. I expect you can work out why regis ends as it does being the genitive form of the third declension masculine noun rex, regis, but what about Aeetes? Well this is the genitive of the Greek form of the noun and you will come across Greek nouns quite a lot, especially with regard to names. The endings for Aeetes are: Nom.ēs; Voc.ē ; Acc. ēn; Gen. ae ; Dat. ae ; Abl. ē
nomine – ablative, ‘by the name’, simply ‘called’.
quem – accusative case singular masculine of quis, quae, quod, ‘whom’. It is accusative as it is the object of abduxerat – ‘whom ... she had led away’.
secum – remember that cum is joined to pronouns so here we have se – herself joined by the preposition cum.
in mare – in, is here followed by the accusative mare of the third declension neuter noun mare, maris, n., sea. to indicate motion into. If in were indicating place where and not suggesting movement to, but place at rest, it would be ‘in mari’ because where the nominative singular of a third declension noun is the stem plus e, as in mar+e, the ablative singular will end in i, the nominative plural in –ia and the genitive plural in –ium.
fefellit – third person singular perfect tense of the verb fallo, fallere, fefelli, falsus, deceive.
omnia enim – in English ‘for everything’ but notice that in Latin enim comes second.
hunc puerum – this line is literally ‘this boy Medea to kill decided etc’ sounds very clumsy but I hope you get the sense of it through this gist translation and can better phrase it youself.
ubi primum – ‘when at first’, or put more simply ‘as soon as’.
ad ea colligenda – ad with the gerundive often denotes purpose, ‘to (in order to) collect them’ ea here is neuter plural accusative in agreement with the second declension neuter noun membrum, i ‘limb’, plural membra, ‘limbs’).
dum ea geruntur – dum followed by the present in Latin is often translated by the past in English, with the idea of ‘whilst this was going on’ ea being neuter plural to mean ‘these things’.
remigandi – genitive of the gerund of the verb remigo, -are, -avi, atum ‘of rowing’.
auferebantur – third person plural imperfect passive of aufero, ‘they were carried’.
prius .... quam – notice that here the conjugation priusquam has been split into two words but means the same as if it were one word ‘before, until’.
profuturum esse – ‘to be of advantage’ or ‘to be of benefit’ from the verb prosum, prodesse (notice the d before e), profui, profuturus, with sibi dative of advantage
progressus esset – this is the pluperfect subjunctive of the verb progredior, if .. ‘he had advanced’.
ut ... daret – ut here introduces a purpose clause which we know requires the verb to be in the subjunctive, ‘in order that he might give’.
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.
Erat in navi Argonautarum
There was in the ship of the Argonauts
filius quidam regis Aeetae,
a certain son of King Aeetes
nomine Absyrtus,
called Absyrtus,
quem, ut supra demonstravimus,
whom, as we have explained above,
Medea ex urbe fugiens secum abduxerat.
Medea, when fleeing out of the city, had led away with her
Hunc puerum Medea interficere constituit eo consilio,
This boy, Medea decided to kill, with this design,
ut membris eius in mare coniectis
that when his limbs were thrown into the sea
cursum Colchorum impediret;
the course of the Colchi she might hinder;
certo enim sciebat Aeetem,
for she knew for sure that Aeetes,
cum membra fili vidisset,
when he saw his son’s limbs
non longius prosecuturum esse.
would no longer pursue
Neque opinio Medeam fefellit,
And the belief did not deceive Medea,
omnia enim ita evenerunt ut speraverat.
for everything turned out just as she had hoped.
Aeetes ubi primum membra vidit,
Aeetes when he first saw the limbs,
ad ea conligenda navem teneri iussit.
ordered that the ship hold course to collect them.
Dum tamen ea geruntur,
While however these things are going on,
Argonautae non intermisso remigandi labore
The Argonauts by not interrupting the work of rowing
mox e conspectu hostium auferebantur,
soon out of sight of the enemy were carried,
neque prius fugere destiterunt quam
and did not stop fleeing until
ad flumen Eridanum pervenerunt.
they reached the river Eridanus.
Aeetes nihil sibi profuturum esse arbitratus
Aeetes thought nothing could be of advantage to him
si longius progressus esset,
if he had longer advanced,
animo demisso domum revertit,
with a dowcast spirit returned homewards,
ut fili corpus ad sepulturam daret.
in order that he might give his son’s body burial.
d) The following section is for you to copy and compose your own translation.
Erat in navi Argonautarum
filius quidam regis Aeetae,
nomine Absyrtus,
quem, ut supra demonstravimus,
Medea ex urbe fugiens secum abduxerat.
Medea had led from the town with her.
Hunc puerum Medea interficere constituit eo consilio,
ut membris eius in mare coniectis
cursum Colchorum impediret;
certo enim sciebat Aeetem,
cum membra fili vidisset,
non longius prosecuturum esse.
Neque opinio Medeam fefellit,
omnia enim ita evenerunt ut speraverat.
Aeetes ubi primum membra vidit,
ad ea conligenda navem teneri iussit.
Dum tamen ea geruntur,
Argonautae non intermisso remigandi labore
mox e conspectu hostium auferebantur,
neque prius fugere destiterunt
quam ad flumen Eridanum pervenerunt.
Aeetes nihil sibi profuturum esse
arbitratus si longius progressus esset,
animo demisso domum revertit,
ut fili corpus ad sepulturam daret.
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