RITCHIE'S FABULAE FACILES RITCHIE'S SIMPLE STORIES: 78 RITCHIE’S FABULAE FACILES TRANSLATION – THE ARGONAUTS 78

THE ARGONAUTS 78 – A DANGEROUS EXPERIMENT

Audience update: Visitors to this page currently number over fifty thousand and have come from all corners of the globe:
Welcome!!! to visitors from: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Kyrgyzstan, Luthuania, Malasia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and The United States!

This lovely picture of a relief of the Peliades and Medea is from Wiki Commons.

a)Dum fíliae régis hóc míráculum stupentés intuentur, Médéa ita locúta est: "Vidétis quantum valeat medicína. Vós igitur, sí vultis patrem vestrum in aduléscentiam redúcere, id quod fécí ipsae faciétis. Vós patris membra in vás conicite; ego herbás magicás praebébó." Quod ubi audítum est, fíliae régis cónsilium quod dedisset Médéa nón omittendum putávérunt. Patrem igitur Peliam necávérunt et membra éius in vás aéneum coniécérunt; nihil autem dubitábant quín hóc máximé eí prófutúrum esset. At rés omnínó aliter événit ac spéráverant, Médéa enim nón eásdem herbás dedit quibus ipsa úsa erat. Itaque postquam diú frústrá exspectávérunt, patrem suum ré vérá mortuum esse intelléxérunt. Hís rébus gestís Médéa sé cum coniuge suó régnum acceptúram esse spérábat; sed cívés cum intellegerent quó modó Peliás periisset, tantum scelus aegré tulérunt. Itaque Iásone et Médéá é régnó expulsís Acastum régem creávérunt.

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.

dum ... intuentor – dum in Latin takes a present tense if it means while but can be translated by a past tense in English.

stupentes – present active participle as adjective agreeing with filiae, ‘astounded, stupified, amazed.’

intuentur – third person plural present tense of the deponent verb intueor, ‘look, gaze, regard, stare’ which looks passive but is active ‘they are looking’.

ita locuta est – literally ‘spoke thus’, locuta est being perfect of the deponent verb loquor which looks passive but is active, but we would probably say ‘said this’.

valeat – third person singular present active subjunctive of valeo, valere ‘be well, strong, powerful, effective etc.’

reducere – to bring back.

ipsae – you youselves.

facietis – second person plural future tense of the verb facio, facere, feci, factus, ‘you will do’.

conicite – second person plural imperative present tense of coniciere meaning therefore ‘throw’ (you plural – see Persons in Grammar Notes top right of sidebar).

vos conicite ... ego praebeo – you will have noticed that usually we do not use the personal pronouns (I, you, he etc) as the ending of the verb indicates who the person is but they are used for emphasis and contrast, as here, when the meaning is ‘You do this and I’ll do that’.

Quod ubi auditum est – literally ‘which when it was heard’. Quod is here called a connecting relative as it connects the sentence with the one before, we would probably say ‘when this was heard’.

putaverunt – third person plural perfect tense of putare, meaning therefore ‘they thought’ . Notice the word order – this sentence needs to be turned around to make any sense in English, we would probably say ‘the king’s daughters thought etc.

usa erat – 'she had used', third person singular pluperfect of utor, uti, usus sum, third conjugation deponent verb which takes the ablative case hence we have ‘quibus’.

re vera – really

his rebus gestis – ablative absolute, ‘when these things were done/accomplished/carried out’.

quod feci ipsae facietis – literally: quod – ‘that which’; feci – first person perf facere ‘I have done’; ipsae – yourselves; facietis - second person plural future of the verb facio, facere, feci, factus, ‘you will do’; the indicative future is sometimes used in the way of command (imperative).

aegre tulerunt – tulerunt is third person plural perfect of fero, ‘they took it badly’ or ‘they were very angry/vexed/indignant.

Acastum regem creaverunt - notice the double accusative – ‘they made Acastus king.’

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.

Dum filiae regis

While the king’s daughters

hoc miraculum stupentes intuentur,

observe this miracle amazed,

Medea ita locuta est:

Medea spoke thus:

"Videtis quantum valeat medicina.

You see how effective is the medicine.

Vos igitur, si vultis patrem vestrum

You therefore, if you want your father

in adulescentiam reducere,

to be brought back to youth,

id quod feci ipsae facietis.

that which I have done you youselves will do.

Vos patris membra in vas conicite;

Throw your father’s limbs in a pot;

ego herbas magicas praebebo."

I will supply the magical herbs."

Quod ubi auditum est,

When they heard this,

filiae regis consilium

the king’s daughters - the plan

quod dedisset Medea

which Medea had suggested

non omittendum putaverunt.

ought not to be disregarded - they thought

Patrem igitur Peliam necaverunt

Therefore they killed their father Pelias

et membra eius in vas aeneum coniecerunt;

and tossed his limbs into a copper pot;

nihil autem dubitabant

for they did not in the slightest doubt

quin hoc maxime ei profuturum esset.

but that this would do him the utmost good.

At res omnino aliter evenit ac speraverant,

But the affair turned out completely other than they had hoped,

Medea enim non easdem herbas dedit

For Medea did not give the same herbs

quibus ipsa usa erat.

which she herself had used.

Itaque postquam diu frustra exspectaverunt,

And so after they waited for a long time in vain,

patrem suum re vera

their father really

mortuum esse intellexerunt.

was dead they realized.

His rebus gestis Medea se

When these things had been done Medea herself

cum coniuge suo

together with her spouse

regnum accepturam esse sperabat;

was hoping she would take over the kingdom;

sed cives cum intellegerent

but the citizens when they realized

quo modo Pelias periisset,

in what way Pelias had perished,

tantum scelus aegre tulerunt.

at such great wickeness were indignant.

Itaque Iasone et Medea

And so Jason and Medea

e regno expulsis

being driven out from the kingdom

Acastum regem creaverunt.

they made Acastus king.

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