THE APOTHEOSIS OF HERCULES FROM THE LOUVRE PARIS
Today we say goodbye to Hercules and his adventures as his story comes to a sad close ; I hope you have enjoyed reading about his labours as much as I have and that my ‘gist’ translations have helped you. Next week we will continue our Latin journey with Jason and the Argonauts.
a)Herculés nihil malí suspicáns vestem quam Lichás attulerat statim induit; pauló post tamen dolórem per omnia membra sénsit, et quae causa esset éius reí mágnopere mirábátur. Dolóre paene exanimátus vestem détrahere cónátus est; illa tamen in corpore haesit, neque úlló modó abscindí potuit. Tum démum Herculés quasi furóre impulsus in montem Octam sé contulit, et in rogum, quem summá celeritáte exstrúxit, sé imposuit. Hóc cum fécisset, eós quí circumstábant órávit ut rogum quam celerrimé succenderent. Omnés diú recúsábant; tandem tamen pástor quídam ad misericordiam inductus ígnem subdidit. Tum, dum omnia fúmó obscúrantur, Herculés dénsá núbe vélátus á Iove in Olympum abreptus est.
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.
nihil mali – genitive after nihil, literally, ‘nothing of bad’ but we would say ‘nothing bad’.
suspicans – present participle, ‘suspecting’.
vestem – accusative singular of the third declension noun, vestis, -is, f., clothing, dress, robe.
quam – ‘which’, feminine accusative singular as it refers to ‘vestem’.
mirabatur – looks passive as it comes from a deponent verb which you remember looks passive but is active in meaning, so this means ‘he was wondering’.
exanimatus – past participle from the verb exanimo, -animare, -animavi, -animatus, put out of breath, fatigue, tire, exhaust; stupefy; kill., ,meaning therefore something like ‘half-dead’ ... or 'beside himself.'
conatus est – perfect tense of another deponent verb (looks passive but is active in meaning) conor ‘I try’, so it means ‘he tried’.
illa tamen – illa here is feminine nominative as it refers to ‘vestem’ (see above) and could be translated simply as ‘it’.
in corporem – the preposition in can mean ‘in, on or on to’; here it means on to and it is followed by the accusative of the third declension neuter noun corpus, corporis, ‘body’, so together they mean ‘on to his body’.
abscindi – this is the genitive of the gerund of the verb abscindo, -scindere, -scido, -scissus, tear away or off, meaning therefore ‘of tearing off’.
nullo modo – ablative phrase meaning ‘in no way’.
quasi furore - quasi is a conjunction meaning ‘as if’, followed by the ablative of the third declension masculine noun.furor, -oris . rage, fury, frenzy, or madness, together meaning ‘as if in a rage’ or ‘as if in a frenzy’, or ‘as if driven insane’. etc.
impulsus – past participle of the verb impello, -pellere, -puli, -pulsus , drive or urge on, incite, urge, which taken in the context could be translated ‘driven’.
se contulit – third person singular perfect tense of se conferre, meaning to take oneself off, to make one’s way, to betake oneself etc. meaning therefore ‘he made his way’.
ut ... succederent – third person imperfect subjunctive of the verb succendo, -cendere, -cendi, -census, kindle beneath, set on fire, meaning therefore ‘to set (him) on fire’. This is an example of the use of the subjunctive in indirect discourse which is often found with verbs of asking, requesting, as here ‘he asked ... that etc.’.
ad misericordiam inductus – notice the use of ad here before the accusative of the first declension feminine noun misericordia, ‘pity’ or ‘compassion’, to mean ‘because of pity’ which together we would probably translate: ‘moved by pity’.
subdidit – third person singular perfect tense of subdo, -dere, -didi, -ditus, put under.
fumo – ablative of the second declension masculine noun fumus, fumi, ‘smoke’ meaning ‘by smoke’.
velatus – past participle of velo, velare, -avi, -atus, meaning therefore ‘veiled, or covered’.
a Iove – notice that the preposition a comes before a person who is agent as here ‘by Jupiter’.
abreptus est – perfect passive singular of abripio, -ripere, -ripui, -reptus, meaning therefore ‘snatched away’ or ‘carried off’.c)
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.
Hercules nihil mali
Hercules, suspecting nothing untoward
vestem quam Lichas attulerat statim induit;
immediately put on the robe which Lichas had brought;
paulo post tamen dolorem
after a little while however, pain
per omnia membra sensit,
throughout all his limbs he felt,
et quae causa esset
and what was the cause
eius rei magnopere mirabatur.
of this matter he greatly wondered at.
Dolore paene exanimatus
Almost dead with pain
vestem detrahere conatus est;
he tried to take off the robe
illa tamen in corpore haesit,
it clung to his body however,
neque ullo modo abscindi potuit.
and in no way could he tear it off.
Tum demum Hercules quasi furore impulsus
Then at long last Hercules as if driven to a frenzy
in montem Octam se contulit,
took himself off to Mount Octa,
et in rogum, quem summa celeritate exstruxit,
and on a pyre, which he had set up with great speed,
se imposuit.
he placed himself.
Hoc cum fecisset,
When he had done this,
eos qui circumstabant oravit
he begged those who were standing around
ut rogum quam celerrime succenderent.
to set fire to the pyre as quickly as possible.
Omnes diu recusabant;
All refused for a long time;
tandem tamen pastor quidam
at length however a certain shepherd
ad misericordiam inductus
moved by pity
ignem subdidit.
kindled the fire.
Tum, dum omnia fumo obscurantur,
Then, while everything was obscured by smoke,
Hercules densa nube velatus
Hercules, concealed by the dense cloud
a Iove in Olympum abreptus est.
by Jupiter was carried off to Olympus.
d) The following section is for you to copy and translate.
Hercules nihil mali
vestem quam Lichas attulerat statim induit;
paulo post tamen dolorem
per omnia membra sensit,
et quae causa esset
eius rei magnopere mirabatur.
Dolore paene exanimatus
vestem detrahere conatus est;
illa tamen in corpore haesit,
neque ullo modo abscindi potuit.
Tum demum Hercules quasi furore
impulsus in montem Octam se contulit,
et in rogum, quem summa celeritate exstruxit,
se imposuit.
Hoc cum fecisset,
eos qui circumstabant oravit
ut rogum quam celerrime succenderent.
Omnes diu recusabant;
tandem tamen pastor quidam
ad misericordiam inductus
ignem subdidit.
Tum, dum omnia fumo obscurantur,
Hercules densa nube velatus
a Iove in Olympum abreptus est.
