More Unit 8 Exercises I (and Units 5-8 Review)

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phil96
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More Unit 8 Exercises I (and Units 5-8 Review)

Post by phil96 »

26. Helena, speciē pulchra, salūtem petēbat iēns longē sub lūnā per oppidum ardēns. Incolentibus oppidum neque spēs erat neque frūctus. Dī superī, prīmā lūce post longum tempus domibus in oppidō discessērunt et novās quaesīvērunt.
I know this has been discussed before, but not the bit that puzzles me.
I have "Helen, beautiful in appearance, was looking for safety while going far and wide through the burning town by moonlight. The inhabitants of the town had neither hope nor enjoyment. At dawn, after a long time, the gods above left the houses in the town and looked for new ones."
I would far prefer to make "they (i.e., the inhabitants)" the subject of the third sentence, but I am then left with an unattached "Di superi". Is it perhaps some sort of exclamation (of the "heavens above!" type), or is the sentence really as improbable as my translation?

Units Five to Eight. Review of Syntax
12. Dīxistis illum multōs vestrum eō diē domum quae ab invādentibus dēlērētur sine morā missūrum esse ut hostēs rūre pellerētis.
"You said that he was about to send many of your men that day, without delay, to the house, which had been destroyed by the invaders, so that you might drive the enemies out of the countryside." Not sure about "many of your men".

modus.irrealis
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Re: More Unit 8 Exercises I (and Units 5-8 Review)

Post by modus.irrealis »

For your second question, that should be just "many of you" as "vestrum" is the (partitive) genitive of "vos". "many of your men" would be "multos vestrorum". Also, since "deleretur" is the imperfect subjunctive it represents an action going on at the same time as the main verb so "which was being destroyed". "which had been destroyed" would be "quae ... deleta esset".

(For your first question, if the comma is not a typo in the book, you don't normally set off the subject with a comma, so it looks like an exclamation -- but I thought Latin tends to use the accusative for exclamations, so I really don't know.)

phil96
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Re: More Unit 8 Exercises I (and Units 5-8 Review)

Post by phil96 »

Thank you.

As for Helen, who tried to go down to the end of the town, I like the idea of a typo. Perhaps a conflation of sentences from different editions. Someone recently was using an earlier edition of M&F: textual criticism of M&F anyone? (On second thoughts, it sounds more like a cop-out :) )

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Re: More Unit 8 Exercises I (and Units 5-8 Review)

Post by benissimus »

For your first question, if the comma is not a typo in the book, you don't normally set off the subject with a comma, so it looks like an exclamation -- but I thought Latin tends to use the accusative for exclamations, so I really don't know.
Accusative yes, but also vocative :)
flebile nescio quid queritur lyra, flebile lingua murmurat exanimis, respondent flebile ripae

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