This lovely picture from Wikimediacommons shows us the unwilling sailors being returned to the ship by Ulysses.
a) Ulixés cum ab hórá septimá ad vesperum exspectásset, veritus né socií suí in perículó versárentur, nónnúllós é reliquís mísit, ut quae causa esset morae cógnóscerent. Hí igitur in terram exposití ad vícum quí nón longé aberat sé contulérunt; quó cum vénissent, sociós suós quasi vínó ébriós repperérunt. Tum ubi causam veniendí docuérunt, iís persuádére cónábantur ut sécum ad návem redírent. Illí tamen resistere ac manú sé défendere coepérunt, saepe clámitantés sé numquam ex eó locó abitúrós. Quae cum ita essent, núntií ré ínfectá ad Ulixem rediérunt. Hís rébus cógnitís ipse cum omnibus quí in náví relictí erant ad locum vénit; et sociós suós frústrá hortátus ut suá sponte redírent, manibus eórum post terga vinctís invítós ad návem reportávit. Tum ancorís sublátís quam celerrimé é portú solvit.
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.
cum – introducing a clause in the past tense is often followed by the subjunctive, here exspectasset (see below)
exspectasset – syncopated version of the third person singular pluperfect subjunctive, exspectavisset (the vi is often chopped out of the middle of verbs in this way).
ab hora septima - The seventh hour: the Romans divided the day from sunrise to sunset into twelve hours (horae), and the night, from sunset to sunrise into four watches called vigiliae.
veritus – Past participle of vereor (deponent verb, second conjugation). Since vereor is deponent the past participle is active in meaning and literally means ‘having feared’ but we would probably say ‘fearing that’ in English in this context. Notice also that after a verb of fearing we use ne to mean a positive, ‘fearing that’ (as opposed to fearing that not).
versarentur – third person plural imperfect subjunctive of versor, 'move, live, dwell, be'.
nonnullos – accusative plural, direct object of ‘he sent’ (misit), nonnullos means literally ‘not none’ which means of course ‘some’ or ‘several’.
e reliquis – ablative after e, literally ‘out of the remaining ones’.
cognoscerent – third person plural imperfect subjunctive of cognosco, cognoscere, find out, ascertain; it is plural as this is a purpose clause, ‘in order to find out’.
quasi vino ebrios – ‘as if with wine drunk’ ; vino is (ablative) and ebrios, drunk, is the accusative plural masculine of the adjective ebrius, agreeing with socios).
reppererunt – third person plural perfect tense of the fourth conjugation verb repperio, repperire, repperi, reppertus, learn, find out, discover.
causam veniendi – the cause/reason of (their) coming; veniendi is the genitive gerund of venire.
iis persuadere – verbs of persuading take the dative which is why we have iis here being the dative plural of is, ‘to persuade them’.
conabantur – it looks passive but is active as it is the third person imperfect of the deponent verb conor, conari, try, which could be translated in a variety of ways: ‘they were trying’, or ‘they used to try’ or ‘they kept trying; or ‘they began to try’.
ceoperunt – third person plural perfect tense of coepio, ceopere, coepi, coeptus, begin, commence, initiate; as here, this verb is usually found in the perfect tense ‘they have begun’ which is translated as a simple past tense ‘they began’ with an infinitive ‘to defend themselves’.
ex eo loco – notice that e becomes ex before the vowel and is followed by the ablative case, literally ‘from the place’.
abituros – this is the accusative plural of the future participle abiturus; it is accusative being part of the accusative infinitive construction of indirect or reported speech ‘they said (here = clamitantes, calling out) .... that they =se (accusative)’ and as is often the case the infinitive esse is left out so instead of se abituros esse, we have se abituros. If you think of the whole clause as a sort of Yoda-speak, you can easily understand what is meant: se numquam ex eo loco abituros = they never out of the place going to leave, which we might express as ‘they would never leave the place’.
re infecta – we might want to think that the business was poisoned or infected but the adjective infectus is more likely to mean unaccomplished, incomplete, undone, as Ulysses emissaries have been unable to complete their mission which was to bring the men back.
his rebus cognitis – ablative absolute phrase meaning ‘when this things were known’ or ‘when these matters were ascertained/investigated/looked into/understood’.
hortatus – ‘having urged’ notice that the past participle of the deponent verb hortor is active in meaning.
sua sponte – sponte is the ablative of spons, spontis, the third conjugation feminine noun meaning 'free will' and means of ones own free will, voluntarily, and is used with the adjective sua in agreement, to mean of his/her/their own free will; likewise mea/tua sponte mean of my/your freewill.
ancoris sublatis – ablative construction again to mean ‘when the anchors were weighed’; in English we say weigh anchor meaning to lift/raise the anchor prior to sailing.
c)
cum – introducing a clause in the past tense is often followed by the subjunctive, here exspectasset (see below)
exspectasset – syncopated version of the third person singular pluperfect subjunctive, exspectavisset (the vi is often chopped out of the middle of verbs in this way).
ab hora septima - The seventh hour: the Romans divided the day from sunrise to sunset into twelve hours (horae), and the night, from sunset to sunrise into four watches called vigiliae.
veritus – Past participle of vereor (deponent verb, second conjugation). Since vereor is deponent the past participle is active in meaning and literally means ‘having feared’ but we would probably say ‘fearing that’ in English in this context. Notice also that after a verb of fearing we use ne to mean a positive, ‘fearing that’ (as opposed to fearing that not).
versarentur – third person plural imperfect subjunctive of versor, 'move, live, dwell, be'.
nonnullos – accusative plural, direct object of ‘he sent’ (misit), nonnullos means literally ‘not none’ which means of course ‘some’ or ‘several’.
e reliquis – ablative after e, literally ‘out of the remaining ones’.
cognoscerent – third person plural imperfect subjunctive of cognosco, cognoscere, find out, ascertain; it is plural as this is a purpose clause, ‘in order to find out’.
quasi vino ebrios – ‘as if with wine drunk’ ; vino is (ablative) and ebrios, drunk, is the accusative plural masculine of the adjective ebrius, agreeing with socios).
reppererunt – third person plural perfect tense of the fourth conjugation verb repperio, repperire, repperi, reppertus, learn, find out, discover.
causam veniendi – the cause/reason of (their) coming; veniendi is the genitive gerund of venire.
iis persuadere – verbs of persuading take the dative which is why we have iis here being the dative plural of is, ‘to persuade them’.
conabantur – it looks passive but is active as it is the third person imperfect of the deponent verb conor, conari, try, which could be translated in a variety of ways: ‘they were trying’, or ‘they used to try’ or ‘they kept trying; or ‘they began to try’.
ceoperunt – third person plural perfect tense of coepio, ceopere, coepi, coeptus, begin, commence, initiate; as here, this verb is usually found in the perfect tense ‘they have begun’ which is translated as a simple past tense ‘they began’ with an infinitive ‘to defend themselves’.
ex eo loco – notice that e becomes ex before the vowel and is followed by the ablative case, literally ‘from the place’.
abituros – this is the accusative plural of the future participle abiturus; it is accusative being part of the accusative infinitive construction of indirect or reported speech ‘they said (here = clamitantes, calling out) .... that they =se (accusative)’ and as is often the case the infinitive esse is left out so instead of se abituros esse, we have se abituros. If you think of the whole clause as a sort of Yoda-speak, you can easily understand what is meant: se numquam ex eo loco abituros = they never out of the place going to leave, which we might express as ‘they would never leave the place’.
re infecta – we might want to think that the business was poisoned or infected but the adjective infectus is more likely to mean unaccomplished, incomplete, undone, as Ulysses emissaries have been unable to complete their mission which was to bring the men back.
his rebus cognitis – ablative absolute phrase meaning ‘when this things were known’ or ‘when these matters were ascertained/investigated/looked into/understood’.
hortatus – ‘having urged’ notice that the past participle of the deponent verb hortor is active in meaning.
sua sponte – sponte is the ablative of spons, spontis, the third conjugation feminine noun meaning 'free will' and means of ones own free will, voluntarily, and is used with the adjective sua in agreement, to mean of his/her/their own free will; likewise mea/tua sponte mean of my/your freewill.
ancoris sublatis – ablative construction again to mean ‘when the anchors were weighed’; in English we say weigh anchor meaning to lift/raise the anchor prior to sailing.
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.
Ulixes
cum ab hora septima ad vesperum exspectasset,
Ulysses, when he had waited from the seventh hour
till evening,
veritus
ne socii sui in periculo versarentur,
fearing that his allies were in danger
nonnullos
e reliquis misit,
sent several of the men left,
ut quae
causa esset morae cognoscerent.
in order to find out what was the reason for the
delay.
Hi
igitur in terram expositi
So when these men were put down on land
ad
vicum qui non longe aberat se contulerunt;
they marched to the village which was not far away;
quo cum
venissent,
and when they arrived there,
socios
suos quasi vino ebrios reppererunt.
they found their allies as if drunk on wine.
Tum ubi
causam veniendi docuerunt,
Then when they told them the reason for their
coming,
iis
persuadere conabantur
they kept trying to persuade them
ut
secum ad navem redirent.
to return to the ship with them.
Illi
tamen resistere ac manu se defendere coeperunt,
They however began to resist and defend themselves
with their fists
saepe
clamitantes se numquam ex eo loco abituros.
calling out often that they would never leave the
place.
Quae
cum ita essent,
Since this was so,
nuntii
re infecta ad Ulixem redierunt.
messengers reported their unaccomplished mission to
Ulysses.
His
rebus cognitis ipse cum omnibus
When he knew these matters, he himself with all
qui in
navi relicti erant ad locum venit;
those who remained in the ship, came to the place;
et
socios suos frustra hortatus
and having urged his allies in vain
ut sua
sponte redirent,
to return of their own free will,
manibus
eorum post terga vinctis
after their hands were tied behind their backs,
invitos
ad navem reportavit.
he brought them back unwilling to the ship.
Tum
ancoris sublatis quam celerrime e portu solvit.
Then when the anchors were weighed he sailed from
the port as quickly as possible.
d) The following section is for you to copy and translate.
Ulixes cum ab
hora septima ad vesperum exspectasset,
veritus ne
socii sui in periculo versarentur,
nonnullos e
reliquis misit,
ut quae causa
esset morae cognoscerent.
Hi igitur in
terram expositi
ad vicum qui
non longe aberat se contulerunt;
quo cum
venissent,
socios suos
quasi vino ebrios reppererunt.
Tum ubi causam
veniendi docuerunt,
iis persuadere
conabantur
ut secum ad
navem redirent.
Illi tamen
resistere ac manu se defendere coeperunt,
saepe
clamitantes se numquam ex eo loco abituros.
Quae cum ita essent,
nuntii re
infecta ad Ulixem redierunt.
His rebus
cognitis ipse cum omnibus
qui in navi
relicti erant ad locum venit;
et socios suos
frustra hortatus
ut sua sponte
redirent,
manibus eorum
post terga vinctis
invitos ad
navem reportavit.
Tum ancoris sublatis quam celerrime e portu solvit.
