RITCHIE'S FABULAE FACILES RITCHIE'S SIMPLE STORIES: 84 RITCHIE’S FABULAE FACILES TRANSLATION 84

84 - THE ONE-EYED GIANT

This picture of Polyphemus shows quite clearly his single eye in the middle of his forhead; it is from Wikimedia and was painted by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein 1802.

a)Postquam eá tótá nocte rémís contendérunt, postrídié ad terram ígnótam návem appulérunt. Tum, quod nátúram éius regiónis ígnórábat, ipse Ulixés cum duodecim é sociís in terram égressus loca explóráre cónstituit. Paulum á lítore prógressí ad spéluncam ingentem pervénérunt, quam habitárí sénsérunt; éius enim introitum et nátúrá locí et manú múnítum esse animadvertérunt. Mox, etsí intellegébant sé nón sine perículó id factúrós, spéluncam intrávérunt; quod cum fécissent, mágnam cópiam lactis in vásís ingentibus conditam invénérunt. Dum tamen mírantur quis in eá séde habitáret, sonitum terribilem audívérunt, et oculís ad portam tortís mónstrum horribile vídérunt, húmáná quidem specié et figúrá, sed ingentí mágnitúdine corporis. Cum autem animadvertissent mónstrum únum oculum tantum habére in mediá fronte positum, intelléxérunt hunc esse únum é Cyclópibus, dé quibus fámam iam accéperant.

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.

ea tota nocte – ablative to indicate time during which, during the whole night, or, the whole night long.

remis contenderunt – remis dat/abl pl of remus remi noun masculine of the second declension followed by third person plural perfect of contendere , stretch, strain, hurry, together meaning something like ‘they plied the oars strenuously.’

navem appulerunt – accusative (as object of the verb) of navis feminine noun of the third declension, followed by third person perfect of the third conjugation verb appulere which means force/draw towards or put ashore/land a ship.

in terram – accusative after in indicates motion into, he went into the territory, whereas ablative after in would indicate place where.

egressus – past participle of the deponent verb egredior, go out, has an active meaning, so something like ‘he, having gone out’.

paulum- adverb meaning ‘not very far’ or ‘a little way’.

a litore – ablative of the third declension neuter noun litor, litoris, after a ‘from the shore’.

progressi – masculine plural of the past participle of the verb progredior, go forward, advance; it is active as it is the participle of a deponend verb and it is plural as it refers not only to Ulysses but also to his companions so means something like ‘they advanced’.

habitari – this is the passive infinitive ‘to be inhabitated’ which should not be confused with habitare which is the active infinitive ‘to inhabit’.

senserunt – this is the third person plural perfect of sentio, sentire, sensi, sensus, think, perceive, etc. ‘they perceived, felt, thought’.

eius – genitive of the pronoun ea (see is,ea,id), meaning ‘of it’ referring to the cave.

et natura ... et manu – et ...et in close proximity means both; natura is ablative, by the nature, kind of, type of; et manu and by (human) hand.

etsi – conjunction meaning even if, though, although.

quod cum fecissent -The relative qui, quae, quod often stands at the beginning of a sentence, serving to connect it with the sentence that precedes (Allen and Greenough §308f). So here quod = et id (and when they had done this). Thanks to Mr Beyer and his Latin student for these notes!

intellegebant ... se..id facturos – as we know the Accusative Infinitive construction is required after a verb of knowing so we have here se=they followed by id facturos which is short for id facturos esse literally it going to be doing. Later in the passage we have a similar construction: intellexerunt hunc esse - ‘they knew him to be’ or we might say ‘they realized he was.’

dum ...mirantur – dum followed by the third person present tense of the deponent verb miror, wonder, which you will remember looks passive but is active ‘while they are wondering’, as dum takes a present tense but we would probably translate as a past tense ‘while they wondered.’

humana quidem specie et figura - Thanks to Mr Beyer and his Latin student for the following notes. This is a tricky use of quidem. Acc. to the OLD quidem can be used to introduce a concession: "admittedly, indeed, it is true." The example they give is Cicero, "factus est ille quidem consul, sed a fide iustitiaque discesset," "Admittedly / it is true that he was made consul, but he departed etc." So maybe "admittedly / it is true" of a human appearance ... but ...."

cum animadvertissent monstrum ...habere – notice the pluperfect subjunctive after cum introducing a clause in the past and Accusative Infinitive construction after a verb of sense perception, literally ‘they noticed the monster to have’ but we would probably express the thought as ‘they noticed that he had’.

de quibus – de is here followed by the ablative plural of the personal pronoun qui (who) as de takes the ablative, meaning ‘about whom’ or ‘concerning whom’.

iam acceperant – iam can mean now or as here, already and it is followed by the third person pluperfect of accipio, grasp, accept, hear etc. so it means something like ‘they had already heard.about’, meaning they already had knowledge of for it wasn’t the first time they had heard of the Cyclops.

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. Note that sentences marked with * need especially to be reworked to turn them into 'proper' English.

Postquam ea tota nocte remis contenderunt,

Afterwards through the whole night they rowed,

postridie ad terram ignotam navem appulerunt.

and on the following day they put the ship ashore/landed at an unknown land

Tum, quod naturam eius regionis ignorabat,

Then, since they did not know the nature of this region

ipse Ulixes cum duodecim e sociis

Ulysses himself with twelve of his allies

in terram egressus loca explorare constituit.

having left she ship and gone into the land he decided to explore the place

Paulum a litore progressi

Having advanced a little way from the shore

ad speluncam ingentem pervenerunt,

they arrived at a huge cave

quam habitari senserunt;

which they perceived to be inhabited;

eius enim introitum et natura loci

for the entrance of it, both by the nature of the place

et manu munitum esse animadverterunt.

and by (human) hand had been fortified, they noticed.

Mox, etsi intellegebant se non sine periculo

Soon, even though they knew that they not without danger*

id facturos, speluncam intraverunt;

going to be doing this, they entered the cave*

quod cum fecissent, magnam copiam lactis

when they had done this, a great amount of milk

in vasis ingentibus conditam invenerunt.

stored in huge urns they discovered.*

Dum tamen mirantur quis in ea sede habitaret,

While however they wondered who lived in this dwelling,

sonitum terribilem audiverunt,

they heard a terrible noise,

et oculis ad portam tortis

and with eyes turned towards the opening

monstrum horribile viderunt,

they saw a horrible monster,

humana quidem specie et figura,

admittedly with a human appearance and face,

sed ingenti magnitudine corporis.

but with an enormous size of body.*

Cum autem animadvertissent monstrum

When they noticed the monster however

unum oculum tantum habere

had only one eye

in media fronte positum,

placed in the middle of his forehead,

intellexerunt hunc esse unum e Cyclopibus,

they knew him to be one of the Cyclops,

de quibus famam iam acceperant.

of whose fame/reputation they had already heard.

d) The following section is for you to copy and translate.