translation question

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spqr
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translation question

Post by spqr »

Hostes protinus ex eo loco ad flumen Axonam contenderunt, quod esse post nostra castra demonstratum est.

Next the enemy hastened from this place to the river Aisne, which it was pointed out was behind our camp. I am not sure but is this sentence indirect discourse?

anphph
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Re: translation question

Post by anphph »

No. Why would it be? Indirect discourse is when someone else's speech is being reported, or else when some sort of question or statement is expressed inside a direct statement.

mwh
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Re: translation question

Post by mwh »

But we do have indirect discourse here, acc.&inf. dep. on demonstratum est in the relative clause. Cf. e.g. flumen iam demonstravi esse post nostra castra, “I’ve already shown that the river is/was behind our camp.”

RandyGibbons
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Re: translation question

Post by RandyGibbons »

spqr,

As you can see, one's definition of indirect discourse can vary depending on whether you emphasize "discourse" (anphph takes that literally to mean humans speaking) or "indirect", as Michael does. The key thing is, as Michael says and as I think you get (?), is that in the relative clause you have an acc + Inf construction. In fact that's signposted as soon as you get this far:

Hostes protinus ex eo loco ad flumen Axonam contenderunt, quod esse

When you see the infinitive in quod esse, you know there has to be a finite verb governing it, and depending on the context, you can usually take a pretty good guess as to what that verb is going to be.

Wherein was your uncertainty?

Randy G

spqr
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Re: translation question

Post by spqr »

Hello Randy G, my uncertainty was that when I first translated the sentence it did not look like indirect discourse. I had translated a few more paragraphs and then went back to that sentence. I looked at the main verb/ accusative + infinitive relationship and then I thought this must be indirect discourse but the way the sentence is worded it didn't appear at first glance to be so. I think part of my problem is that when I learn a grammar concept I tend to think of the simple short sample sentences as a one size fits all template. But real world Latin is not that simple.

RandyGibbons
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Re: translation question

Post by RandyGibbons »

it did not look like indirect discourse
That begs the question, what does indirect discourse "look like" to you? From what text, textbook, or grammar did you learn the concept of indirect discourse? Regardless of what you call it, the key thing is that you understand the (exceedingly common) accusative + infinitive construction.
the main verb/ accusative + infinitive relationship
By the main verb do you mean contenderunt or demonstratum est? Are you confusing "main verb" and "main clause"? There's no relationship between contenderunt in the sentence's main clause and quod esse in its relative clause. The acc. + inf. construction quod esse is governed by demonstratum est.

(At some point in the evolution of Latin into the Romance languages, the acc. + inf. construction was supplanted by the 'that' (que) construction: "It was demonstrated that ..." -- I am struggling to recall what we label that construction in English!)

spqr
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Re: translation question

Post by spqr »

Randy, you hit the nail on the head. I was confused as to which is the main verb but you straightened me out. I see now exactly what my error was. Thanks.

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