John Gibson - Hylas Surprised by the Naiades - 1827–36
a)Postrídié éius diéí Iásón tempestátem satis idóneam esse arbitrátus (summa enim tranquillitás iam cónsecúta erat), ancorás sustulit, et pauca mília passuum prógressus ante noctem Mýsiam attigit. Ibi paucás hórás in ancorís exspectávit; á nautís enim cógnóverat aquae cópiam quam sécum habérent iam déficere, quam ob causam quídam ex Argonautís in terram égressí aquam quaerébant. Hórum in numeró erat Hylás quídam, puer fórmá praestantissimá. Quí dum fontem quaerit, á comitibus paulum sécesserat.
Nymphae autem quae fontem colébant, cum iuvenem vídissent, eí persuádére cónátae sunt ut sécum manéret; et cum ille negáret sé hóc factúrum esse, puerum ví abstulérunt.
Comités éius postquam Hylam ámissum esse sénsérunt, mágnó dolóre adfectí diú frústrá quaerébant. Herculés autem et Polyphémus, quí vestígia puerí longius secútí erant, ubi tandem ad lítus rediérunt, Iásonem solvisse cógnóvérunt.
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)
Postridie eius diei – You could just have postridie alone to mean ‘on the following day’ but this expression ‘on the day following that day.' is a fuller expression and is more formal.
tempestatem – this doesn’t just mean storm as you might think because of tempest in English which is obviously derived from this word, it also means, as here, ‘weather’.
tempestatatem esse – we have an accusative infinitive construction here as this is an example of indirect discourse after arbitratus, perfect participle of the first declension deponent verb arbitror, -ari, -atus, meaning ‘consider, think, judge.’ literally ‘he thought the weather to be ‘etc.
ancoras sustulit – literally this means ‘he raised the anchors’; sustulit being third person singular perfect indicative active of the irregular verb tollo, tollere, sustuli, sublatus meaning lift, raise; take away, remove; ancorás tollere is a phrase which can be conveyed with the idiomatic phrase in English ‘to weigh anchor.’
pauca milia passuum – a few thousand of miles; milia is the plural of mille and is followed by the genitive, literally this means ‘a few thousands (plural noun) of miles’.
ibi paucas horas – accusative plural to express duration of time ‘a few hours.’
in ancoris - 'at anchor.'
a nautis – ‘from the sailors’; we migh say ‘he was informed by the sailors’..
cognoverat – ‘he found out’ The pluperfect of this verb is translated as perfect in English.
haberent. – this is subjunctive being another example of indirect discourse; in direct speech they would have said ‘we think that, and this is reported as ‘they thought/considered that.’
aquae copiam – literally ‘of water (genitive of aqua) the supply (accusative of copia); we would say something like ‘the water supply’ or ‘the amount of water’.
ex Argonautis – Quidam, like unus, often has ex or de and the ablative, instead of the partitive genitive to convey the idea of ‘out of’.
Qui – we can translate this simply as 'he.' The relative is often used in Latin to connect a new sentence with the one preceding. When used in this way, it is generally best rendered by 'and' or 'but' and a demonstrative or personal pronoun.
dum quaerit - 'while looking for.' The present indicative with dum is often to be translated by a present participle.
fontem – accusative singular of fons, fontis the third declension feminine noun which means fountain and also, as here, ‘spring.’
a comitibus – ‘from his friends’. You will remember that the possessive is not expressed in Latin when it is obvious that the things or people referred to are belonging or associated with the subject as here ‘his friends’. The ablative case is used after a, indicating ‘from’ or ablative of separation.
secesserat – third person singular pluperfect indicative active of secedo, -cedere, -cessi, -cessus, ‘go apart, withdraw’ meaning therefore ‘he had gone away from’.
colebant – third person plural imperfect tense indicative active of colo, colere, colui, cultus we have translated as ‘were looking after’, but the verb implies much more; literally it means till, cultivate; inhabit; worship, and the meaning is something like ‘were carrying out their duties of looking after the spring, or something of the sort.
cum ..vidissent – ‘when they saw.’ We expect the subjunctive after cum introducing a clause in he past and here we have the third person plural pluperfect subjunctive as Latin makes it plain that the seeing the young man (and falling in love) came before the attempt to persuade him to stay.
ei persuadere – ‘to persuade him’; persuadere is an intransitive verb which takes the dative .
ut secum maneret – ‘that he remain with them’, which is in the subjunctive as the verb follows persuadere.
cum ille negare – cum meaning since is followed by subjunctive, ‘since he said he would not’. Negare is often used instead of dico when a negative statement follows; it should be translated by 'say' with the appropriate negative, here 'said that he would not.’
puerum vi abstulerunt – ‘they took away the boy by force’. Vi is ablative singular of the third declension feminine noun vis, vis, which can be translated in many ways and has the general meaning of , violence, force; virtue, potency, efficacy in the singular, and in the plural vires –ium, means something like strength
comites eius – ‘his companions’; notice ‘his’ in this instance is the genitive of is (see is, ea, id in Grammar Notes), and not genitive of suus because ‘his’ does not refer to the subject of the main clause.
eum amissum senserunt – accusative infinitive after verb of perceiving (senserunt); literally ‘when they perceived him to be lost’.
magno dolore adfecti – something like ‘suffered great sadness’ or ‘felt great grief’, adfecti is the past participle of adficio, -ficere, -feci, -fectus, do to, move, affect; visit, afflict.
longius – adverb ‘longer’
secuti erant – third person plural pluperfect of the deponent verb sequor, sequí, secutus, follow, meaning therefore ‘they had followed.’.
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.
Postridie eius diei Iason
The following day Jason
tempestatem satis idoneam esse arbitratus
thinking the weather to be suitable enough
(summa enim tranquillitas iam consecuta erat),
(for now there was a great calm),
ancoras sustulit, et pauca milia passuum
he raised the anchors, after a few miles
progressus ante noctem Mysiam attigit.
advanced he reached Mysia before nightfall.
Ibi paucas horas in ancoris exspectavit;
There for a few hours he waited at anchor;
a nautis enim cognoverat
for he knew that the sailors
aquae copiam quam secum haberent
the amount of water which they had with them
iam deficere, quam ob causam
was alrealy lacking, for which reason
quidam ex Argonautis in terram egressi
certain men from the Argonauts went out into the land
aquam quaerebant. Horum in numero
to look for water. Of this number
erat Hylas quidam, puer forma praestantissima.
was a certain Hylas, a boy of oustanding beauty.
Qui dum fontem quaerit,
While he was looking for a spring,
a comitibus paulum secesserat.
he moved a little away from his friends.
Nymphae autem quae fontem colebant,
Now the nymphs who were looking after the spring,
cum iuvenem vidissent,
when they saw the young man,
ei persuadere conatae sunt
tried to persuade him
ut secum maneret;
to remain with them;
et cum ille negaret se hoc facturum esse,
and when he said he would not do this,
puerum vi abstulerunt.
they took the boy by force.
Comites eius postquam
His companions after
Hylam amissum esse senserunt,
they perceived that Hylas was lost,
magno dolore adfecti
felt great sadness
diu frustra quaerebant.
for a long time looked in vain.
Hercules autem et Polyphemus,
Hercules however and olyphemus,
qui vestigia pueri longius secuti erant,
who had followed the footprints of the boy longer,
ubi tandem ad litus redierunt,
when at length they returned to the shore
Iasonem solvisse cognoverunt.
realized that Jason had set sail.
d) The following section is for you to copy and translate.
Postridie eius diei Iason
tempestatem satis idoneam esse arbitratus
(summa enim tranquillitas iam consecuta erat),
ancoras sustulit, et pauca milia passuum
progressus ante noctem Mysiam attigit.
Ibi paucas horas in ancoris exspectavit;
a nautis enim cognoverat
aquae copiam quam secum haberent
iam deficere, quam ob causam
quidam ex Argonautis in terram egressi
aquam quaerebant. Horum in numero
erat Hylas quidam, puer forma praestantissima.
Qui dum fontem quaerit,
a comitibus paulum secesserat.
Nymphae autem quae fontem colebant,
cum iuvenem vidissent,
ei persuadere conatae sunt
ut secum maneret;
et cum ille negaret se hoc facturum esse,
puerum vi abstulerunt.
Hylam amissum esse senserunt,
magno dolore adfecti
diu frustra quaerebant.
Hercules autem et Polyphemus,
qui vestigia pueri longius secuti erant,
Iasonem solvisse cognoverunt.
