Textkit Greek and Latin Forums

Would someone please check these translations.

5. Sorōrī meae nōmen est magnā apud omnēs glōriā; eam oculīs tuīs in lītore errantem saepe vīdistī.

"Everyone holds that my sister's name is glorious; with your own eyes you have often seen her wandering on the shore." [My sister has a name of great glory among everyone;....]

8. Dīs nūllam mihi culpam esse scientibus, audāx metū carēbō.

"Since the gods know that I am without reproach, boldly I shall feel no dread." Who-hoo! Indirect statement introduced by an ablative absolute? That's neat. I'm assuming that audāx is modifying the subject of carēbō.

14. Rēx prōvinciae fūgisse cum multā pecūniā dīcitur ac sē contulisse Rōmam.

The only way I can make sense of this is to change rēx to rēgem (subject accusative) which gives "It is said that the king of the province fled with a lot of money and went/took himself to Rome". Have I fallen into M&F's carefully crafted trap?

For "Rēx dīcitur fūgisse" try "the king is said to have fled" i.e., 'rex' is actually functioning as the subject of the passive. I found this construction rather confusing myself the first time I encountered it.

M&F don't mention this construction at all, as far as I can see. But I've found the details in Bradley, A&G etc, now that I know what to look for. Thank you.

phil96 wrote:

8. Dīs nūllam mihi culpam esse scientibus, audāx metū carēbō.

"Since the gods know that I am without reproach, boldly I shall feel no dread." Who-hoo! Indirect statement introduced by an ablative absolute? That's neat.

Oh yes, Latin can do many wonderful things with indirect statement! They are often frustrating the first time you encounter them, but you will (hopefully!) eventually come to appreciate the versatility and nuance they provide. Here's one of my favorites, from Tacitus. The indirect statement is introduced by a genitive participle:

... multus ea super re variusque rumor. et studiis diversis apud principem certabatur adseverantium non adeo aegram Italiam ut senatum suppeditare urbi suae nequiret.... (and indirect discourse continues for an entire paragraph)

'There was much talk of every kind on the subject, and it was argued before the emperor with vehement opposition. "Italy," it was asserted, "is not so feeble as to be unable to furnish its own capital with a senate...."' (more literally, 'it was argued with the zeal of [people] asserting that...')

Damoetas wrote:Here's one of my favorites, from Tacitus. The indirect statement is introduced by a genitive participle:

... multus ea super re variusque rumor. et studiis diversis apud principem certabatur adseverantium non adeo aegram Italiam ut senatum suppeditare urbi suae nequiret.... (and indirect discourse continues for an entire paragraph)

'There was much talk of every kind on the subject, and it was argued before the emperor with vehement opposition. "Italy," it was asserted, "is not so feeble as to be unable to furnish its own capital with a senate...."' (more literally, 'it was argued with the zeal of [people] asserting that...')

Very interesting example! And thank you for your more literal lifeline: can't understand how, but I overlooked it at first and spent a lot of time on a wild goose chase trying to understand how the genitive participle was working. Taking adseverantium with studiis didn't occur to me at all (sigh!).

Number 41 is this unit is giving me problems:

Quantā maximē poterat vī superāvit

The answer key posted in another thread translates it as: "S/he conquered with as much strength as s/he could"

But even with the answer I'm still having trouble making sense of it. Why can you translated quantus as though there's a tantus with it (as much...as) even though the tantus isn't there? And I'm having trouble seeing how the adverb is getting translated too.

Can anyone help make this clearer for me, please? Thank you!!

teddy2005 wrote:Number 41 is this unit is giving me problems:

Quantā maximē poterat vī superāvit

Yes I remember having trouble with that one too. And at that stage we didn't have the answer key. The best I could come up with turns out to be much the same: "He overcame, using as much force as he could."
I've just googled "quanta maxime poterat vi" as a phrase and it has been used by both Cicero and Livy, with the commonly-quoted translation "with as great a force as he was able".

In the Lewis & Short Latin Dictionary entry for quantus there are examples where tantus is missing, so quantus by itself can mean "as much as", "as far as" etc.
Phil