All Questions
32 questions
8
votes
1
answer
718
views
Weird lines in the Aeneid (Book I, lines 444-445)
I am quite confused about how I can translate the two following lines:
[Iuno] monstrarat, caput acris equi; sic nam fore bello
egregiam et facilem victu per saecula gentem.
The real difficulty comes ...
8
votes
1
answer
442
views
Meaning of "virō" in description of Lavinia
On p. 29 of Roma Aeterna by Hans Ørberg, book II of Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata, is this passage from a simplified Latin, solūtīs versibus (prose) rendering of Book II of the Aeneid:
Faunō mortuō,...
- 16.5k
2
votes
1
answer
166
views
ambobus? (a morphologically peculiar adjective with a peculiar syntax here)
There is a very famous passage in the Aeneid that narrates its hero looking at some pictures of the Trojan War, which he barely escaped from:
Miratur. Videt Iliacas ex ordine pugnas,
Bellaque iam ...
3
votes
0
answers
105
views
Last two feet of line II.355 of the Aeneid
Book II, line 355 of the Aeneid:
Sīc animīs iuvenum furor additus. Inde—lupī ceu
(Thus rage was added to the spirits of the young men. From there, like wolves [and the sentence continues in the next ...
- 16.5k
10
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Lack of gender agreement in Aeneid iv.169-70
I was thrown by the lack of gender agreement in line iv.169 of the Aeneidː
Ille dies primus leti primusque malorum //
causa fuit;
I translate: “That was the first day of death, and was the first ...
- 421
5
votes
1
answer
322
views
Having trouble understanding the scansion for the second line of the Aeneid
I've just begun to learn scansion, and I'm using the Aeneid to practice - sadly, I'm stuck on line two ("Italiam, fato profugus, Laviniaque venit"). To make a long story short, I ended up ...
- 53
3
votes
1
answer
143
views
Learning Latin through Aeneid (or another text)
Could you recommend courses/textbooks for learning Latin via a text ?
More specifically: there are exist courses like Reading Course in Homeric Greek teaching one (Homeric) Greek through selected ...
- 377
10
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Why is Virgil's Aeneid considered incomplete?
It's well known that Virgil died before fully editing the Aeneid and that he wanted the manuscript to be burned. What isn't immediately clear to me, though, is whether this was a result of misguided ...
- 42.9k
7
votes
3
answers
612
views
Length of i in Vergilius' "ferentis"
In the famous line "quicquid id est timeo Danaos et dona ferentis" Vergilius uses an older plural accusative form ferentis instead of ferentes.
(It is unimportant here whether quicquid or quidquid is ...
- 116k
3
votes
1
answer
16k
views
Is this translation for “If I cannot move Heaven, I will raise Hell.” correct?
I want to make sure this is the correct translation for “If I cannot move Heaven, I will raise Hell.” Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta noveno.
- 31
7
votes
2
answers
272
views
How does one know when adjectives and participles are used dominantly?
Adjectives and participles can be used dominantly:
aethere summo - (not: the highest heaven, but:) the highest point of heaven
mediis ... Achivis: the middle of the Greeks
virgine caesa: the murder ...
- 311
10
votes
3
answers
601
views
What is the etymology and origin of the name of Dido's sister Anna?
Dido's sister and confidante Anna has a name that I believe to be unusual in Latin. Where did this name come from? Is it perhaps Semitic and related to Hebrew Hannah and the derived name Anna? The ...
- 20.3k
8
votes
1
answer
262
views
Extra initial Aeneid lines in 1662 M. de Marolles version
I have a 1662 version of the Aeneid, with Latin and French on facing pages, with the French having been translated by M. de Marolles, Abbé de Villeloin, [additional book info continues: À Paris, Chez ...
user2840
4
votes
1
answer
5k
views
The Aeneid “facilis descensus averno” or “facilis descensus averni”
I’m getting a tattoo of the line from the Aeneid “The descent into hell is easy” and wasn’t sure if it is “fascilis descensus averno” or “fascilis descensus averni”. Which one is it? What’s the ...
- 41
11
votes
2
answers
349
views
Potentially Ambiguous Subject for a Verb in the Aeneid
Lines 405–407 of Vergil's Aeneid, Book 6, are as follows:
Si te nulla movet tantae pietatis imago,
at ramum hunc" (aperit ramum qui veste latebat)
"agnoscas." Tumida ex ira tum corda ...
- 2,103
9
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Translation of Lines 333–336 of Vergil's Aeneid Book 4
Tandem pauca refert: "Ego te, quae plurima fando
enumerare vales, numquam, regina, negabo
promeritam, nec me meminisse pigebit Elissae
dum memor ipse mei, dum spiritus hos regit artus. (4:333&...
- 2,103
2
votes
1
answer
377
views
commentary of "Arma virumque cano"
In Aeneis commentary (left-below) it is written:
Male explicant: armatum virum; sed disiungenda sunt haec duo vocabula, ut disiunxit Tasso quum diceret: Canto l'arini pietose e 'l capitano; si vero ...
- 11.8k
14
votes
1
answer
434
views
Translating "Nocte volat caelī mediō"
Line 184 of Vergil's Aeneid, Book IV, begins as follows:
Nocte volat caelī mediō
Would this be translated as "She of the sky flies in the middle of the night", or "At night she flies in the middle ...
- 2,103
11
votes
2
answers
391
views
Can a supine verb have arguments?
Consider the following line from the Aeneid, Book VI:
nec credere quivi hunc tantum tibi me discessu ferre dolorem.
Context: Aeneas has traveled into the underworld, and bumps into Dido, who he ...
user1002
10
votes
1
answer
225
views
Allecto's cerulean hair in *Æneid* VII.346-7
In VII.346-7 of the Æneid, when Juno sics Allecto on Amata, we have
Hic dea cæruleís únum dé crínibus anguem
Conjicit inque sinum præcordia ad intima subdit.
Allecto's … blue hair? Hunh?...
- 16.7k
2
votes
1
answer
820
views
Does the avenger arise from bones or ashes?
A famous quote of Dido's from Aeneid 4.625 is
exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor
of which my preferred poetic translation is Fitzgerald's
Rise up from my bones, avenging spirit
...
- 377
5
votes
2
answers
377
views
Structure of the Aeneid
As far as I remembered, there are two dominant structural theories of the Aeneid:
The Homer Theory (a name I made up, I forgot the official one), claiming that the first 6 books resemble the Odyssey ...
- 489
4
votes
1
answer
153
views
Does "Iulus" predate Vergil?
In Vergil's Aeneid, Aeneas's son is given the name Iulus/Julus, which would correspond to the clan name Iulius/Julius. Not at all coincidentally, this implies a connection between the legendary hero ...
- 69.3k
13
votes
1
answer
133
views
Why "impressa" in Æneid IV.659–60?
So Dido's almost finished her long, drawn-out suicide scene, and we get the lines
Dīxit, et ōs impressa torō, "Moriēmur inultae,
sed moriāmur," ait.
It seems like impressa is being used here as ...
- 16.7k
11
votes
2
answers
413
views
Can Latin "inde" introduce a temporal clause?
Lines one and two of book 2 of Vergil's Aeneid sparked this question:
Conticuere omnes intentique ora tenebant
inde toro pater Aeneas sic orsus ab alto:
I had two interpretations. My first ...
- 113
8
votes
2
answers
181
views
A type of subordinating construction governing the dative?
Here is a line from Aeneid 6:563, along with my gloss of the parts of speech and the formal inflectional categories and proposed free translation.
nulli fas casto sceleratum insistere ...
user1002
9
votes
1
answer
293
views
Negative Future Imperatives
In reading through Book VI of Vergil's Aeneid, I came across the following line:
851 tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento
I believe this is translated as "you, Roman, remember to rule the ...
- 2,103
3
votes
0
answers
170
views
"Alēctō" or "Allēctō"?
"Alēctō" is the name of one of the Furies, made surprisingly famous in the Harry Potter books. It seems to come straightforwardly from Greek ă- "not" + lēg- "stop" + -tos "[adjective]", so "...
- 69.3k
5
votes
1
answer
252
views
Fifth spondee in Aeneis I.690
I ran into this hexameter verse by Vergilius when researching for an answer to another question:
exuit, et gressu gaudens incedit Iuli.
(Aeneis I.690)
The only way I seem to able to scan this ...
- 116k
5
votes
1
answer
128
views
Are there historical characters in Aeneis?
Are any of the characters in the main timeline of Aeneis (or Aeneid) historical, that is, known or strongly believed to have really existed?
I want to exclude prophecies of later eras in Roman history....
- 116k
3
votes
1
answer
84
views
Aeneis instead of "Augusteis"
I've heard that Augustus originally wanted an "Augusteis" from Vergil. I know that in the end Augustus really liked the Aeneis, but is there any known reason why exactly Vergil decided to write an "...
- 218
6
votes
1
answer
117
views
Omission of elision in Aeneis I.405?
I ran into this hexameter verse by Vergilius when researching for an answer to another question:
et vera incessu patuit dea. Ille ubi matrem
(Aeneis I.405)
The only way I can scan that verse is ...
- 116k