THIS VASE PAINTING DEPICTS THE HESPERIDES IN THEIR GARDEN
a)
Atlás intereá abierat et ad hortum Hesperidum, quí pauca mília passuum aberat, sé quam celerrimé contulerat. Eó cum vénisset, causam veniendí exposuit et fíliás suás vehementer hortátus est ut póma tráderent. Illae diú haerébant; nólébant enim hóc facere, quod ab ipsá Iúnóne (ita ut ante dictum est) hóc múnus accépissent. Atlás tamen aliquandó iís persuásit ut sibi párérent, et póma ad Herculem rettulit. Herculés intereá cum plúrís diés exspectávisset neque úllam fámam dé reditú Atlantis accépisset, hác morá graviter commótus est. Tandem quíntó dié Atlantem vídit redeuntem, et mox mágnó cum gaudió póma accépit; tum, postquam grátiás pró tantó benefició égit, ad Graeciam proficíscí mátúrávit.
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)
abierat – ‘he had departed, he had left’ this is third person pluperfect active of abeo, abire, abii, abiturus, go away, depart.
pauca milia passum – pauca milia is accusative plural as extent of space, like duration of time, is expressed by the accusative case; passuum meaning ‘of paces’ is what we call the ‘partitive genitive’; literally meaning 'a few thousand of paces' can be translated 'as a few miles'.
aberat – not to be confused with abierat comes from absum, abesse, abfui abfuturus, be away, absent; literally, ‘he/she/it was away’.
quam celerrime – superlative of the adverb after quam is translated by ‘as (something) as possible’ here ‘as quickly as possible.’
se .... contulerat – pluperfect third person singular from se conferre meaning ‘he had made his way.’
eo- this is an adverb meaning ‘to the place, thither’.
cum venisset – cum introducing verb in the past tense, the verb must be in the subjunctive, here pluperfect of veneo, venire ‘ he had arrived.’
causam veniendi – causam with gerund in the genitive is often used to express the reason for tomething, ‘the cause of his coming, the reason for his coming.’
hortatus est – remember hortor, hortari, hortatus sum, is a deponent verb and though it looks passive it is active, so hortatus est, being the third person singular of the perfect tense, means ‘he urged, he exhorted.’
vehementer – adverb telling us more about the verb 'he urged', ‘violently, vehemently; earnestly; exceedingly, greatly’.
ut poma traderent – after many verbs of urging and persuading, we require the subjunctive mood, here third person plural imperfect subjunctive of tradere, ‘that they hand over.’
Illae – feminine nominative plural of the pronoun illa referring to ‘filias suas’ meaning ‘those women’ quite simply ‘they’.
haerebant – third person imperfect active of the verb haereo, haerere, haesi, haesurus, stick; hesitate, literally ‘they were hesitating’.
ab ipsa Iunone – ablative after a (ab before a vowel) meaning from, ipsa herself, Iunone ablative of Iuno, together meaning ‘by/from Juno herself.’
ita ut ante dictum est – as was said before, if you look at Hercules 45 again you will see that the golden apples were mentioned there as having been given by Juno to the Hesperides.
quod .... accepissent – so far we have found the indicative in causal clauses introduced by quod; the use of the subjunctive here indicates that the reason is quoted; the Hesperides said to Atlas: ‘quod accépimus’, ‘because we received/accepted’ etc.
aliquando - adverb, ‘at some time or other; finally, at length.’
iis persuasit – the verb persuadeo, persuadere, persuasi takes the dative, so we have iis, dative feminine plural of the pronoun ea, ‘he persauded them’.
ut sibi parerent – ut ...parerent is third person plural subjunctive of the verb parere ‘to obey’ meaning ‘that they obey’ and as parere takes the dative case of the person to be obeyed, here ‘sibi’ means ‘him’ referring to Atlas, the subject of the clause.
rettulit – third person perfect of refero, referre , rettuli, relatus, bring or carry back.
acceppisset – third person singular pluperfect subjunctive of accipio, -cipere, -cepi, -ceptus , receive, accept; hear ‘he had heard’.
quinto die – ablative of time when ‘on the fifth day’.
reduntem – present participle accusative agreeign with Atllantem, Atlas coming back.
magno cum gaudio – the preposition cum, which takes the ablative case, is sandwiched between the adjective and noun ‘with great joy.’
gratias ...egit – ‘ he thanked’ third person perfect of gratias ago.
maturavit – it can mean it ripened but that wouldn’t make much sense here and as maturo, are, avi, atus also means hasten, we will translate as ‘he hastened.’
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.
Atlas interea abierat et ad hortum Hesperidum,
Atlas meanwhile had departed and towards the garden of the Hesperides
qui pauca milia passuum aberat,
which was a few miles away,
se quam celerrime contulerat.
he made his way as fast as possible.
Eo cum venisset,
When he had reached the place,
causam veniendi exposuit
he explained the reason he had come
et filias suas vehementer hortatus est
and he earnestly urged his daughters
ut poma traderent.
to hand over the apples.
Illae diu haerebant;
They hesitated for a long time;
nolebant enim hoc facere,
for they didn’t want to do this,
quod ab ipsa Iunone
because from Juno herself
(ita ut ante dictum est)
as has been related before
hoc munus accepissent.
they had received this gift.
Atlas tamen aliquando iis persuasit
Atlas however finally persuaded them
ut sibi parerent,
to obey him,
et poma ad Herculem rettulit.
and he took the apples back to Hercules.
Hercules interea cum pluris dies exspectavisset
Hercules meanwhile since he had been waiting several days
neque ullam famam
and no report
de reditu Atlantis accepisset,
had heard of the return of Atlas
hac mora graviter commotus est.
was seriously upset by this delay.
Tandem quinto die Atlantem vidit redeuntem,
At length on the fifth day he saw Atlas coming back,
et mox magno cum gaudio poma accepit;
and soon with great joy accepted the apples;
tum, postquam gratias pro tanto beneficio egit,
then, after having thanked him for such great kindness
ad Graeciam proficisci maturavit.
he hastened to set out to Greece.
d) The following section is for you to copy and translate.
Atlas interea abierat
et ad hortum Hesperidum,
qui pauca milia passuum aberat,
se quam celerrime contulerat.
Eo cum venisset,
causam veniendi exposuit
et filias suas vehementer hortatus est
ut poma traderent.
Illae diu haerebant;
nolebant enim hoc facere,
quod ab ipsa Iunone
(ita ut ante dictum est)
hoc munus accepissent.
Atlas tamen aliquando iis persuasit
ut sibi parerent,
et poma ad Herculem rettulit.
Hercules interea cum pluris dies exspectavisset
neque ullam famam de reditu Atlantis accepisset,
hac mora graviter commotus est.
Tandem quinto die Atlantem vidit redeuntem,
et mox magno cum gaudio poma accepit;
tum, postquam gratias pro tanto beneficio egit,
ad Graeciam proficisci maturavit.
