15
votes
Translating "Nocte volat caelī mediō"
As an adjective, indeed, medius, -a, -um does not take a genitive. However, there is a noun, the substantive medium, -i, which also means "middle" or "midst." Referring to a ...
cmw♦
- 58.2k
11
votes
Accepted
What is the etymology and origin of the name of Dido's sister Anna?
The entry for Anna in Wiktionary certainly states that it derives from the Hebrew Hannah. And this is how Augustine uses it in The City of God against the Pagans, in book 17, when referring to Hannah,...
- 8,741
11
votes
Potentially Ambiguous Subject for a Verb in the Aeneid
Grammatically, the subject must be the bough, because qui, the relative pronoun that refers to ramum, is nominative.
In the clause 'which she was hiding', 'which' is the direct object; so the ...
- 20.8k
11
votes
Accepted
Meaning of "virō" in description of Lavinia
As the Lewis & Short entry for maturus notes under meaning II.A, a common construction is maturus + dat., which means "ripe/ready for X."
It gives examples such as:
maturus bello = old ...
- 42.9k
10
votes
Accepted
Length of i in Vergilius' "ferentis"
ACC.PL. is fĕrĕntīs.
The final syllable is superheavy, i.e. it consists of three morae.
FYI, the latest Teubner edition of Aeneis (Conte 2009) uses "ferentis", and so does Mynors 1969:
aut ...
- 11.8k
10
votes
Accepted
Why is Virgil's Aeneid considered incomplete?
I compiled this list of mistakes with the help of the commentary accompanying the Finnish translation by Alpo Rönty.
I do not claim that the list is complete, but I hope it gives something ...
- 116k
9
votes
Accepted
Extra initial Aeneid lines in 1662 M. de Marolles version
Fascinating question! I've found some editions of the Aeneid with these extra lines included, and some (most) without.
It seems that they aren't found in any of the oldest manuscripts of the Aeneid (...
- 69.3k
9
votes
Negative Future Imperatives
Negative future imperatives do indeed exist.
A great many can be found in the laws of twelve tables.
Example:
Hominem mortuum in urbe ne sepelito
Do not bury a dead person in the city
Judging ...
- 116k
9
votes
Potentially Ambiguous Subject for a Verb in the Aeneid
English is unhelpful here, as "hide" can be transitive or intransitive. However, the verb lateo, latere is intransitive. It doesn't mean to hide something, but rather to lie hidden or to be hidden. It'...
cmw♦
- 58.2k
8
votes
Accepted
Can a supine verb have arguments?
Looking at it, I don't think me is ablative; it's more likely an accusative as the subject of an indirect statement with credere. Discessu here is not a supine, but a fourth-declension noun, discessus....
cmw♦
- 58.2k
8
votes
Length of i in Vergilius' "ferentis"
It's definitely long, because the vowel of that i-stem acc. pl. ending, -īs, is always long, as any good grammar will tell you. (If the form was gen. sg., of course, it would be short, but that doesn'...
- 31.5k
7
votes
Is this translation for “If I cannot move Heaven, I will raise Hell.” correct?
The last word is wrong, it should be movebo. Then it is an exact quote from Vergil's epic Aeneid (liber VII, 312), one of the most famous works in the Latin language, and in world literature.
It does ...
- 36.1k
7
votes
What is the etymology and origin of the name of Dido's sister Anna?
Just to come back to part of the original question, Virgil did not come up with this part of the story himself. Anna as sister of Dido already occurs in Naevius and Varro; this does of course not ...
- 176
7
votes
Translation of Lines 333–336 of Vergil's Aeneid Book 4
Your second translation is pretty close to the mark. Let's go through the translation step by step.
Let us first recall to mind the context: Dido has just finished a long harangue (4:305-330) ...
- 42.9k
7
votes
Accepted
A type of subordinating construction governing the dative?
Yes, I would by all means supply est. The phrase fas est is a fixed combination either introducing an a.c.i. or governing a complementary/supplementary infinitive plus the latter's arguments. The est ...
- 20.3k
6
votes
Can a supine verb have arguments?
The second supine (ending with -u) can only be combined with adjectives, or with fas and nefas. Examples:
iucundum cognitu atque auditu
nefas est dictu
A second supine verb never has an object, but ...
- 606
6
votes
Accepted
Having trouble understanding the scansion for the second line of the Aeneid
This is a tricky one, when you're just starting out with scansion! You're right that Lāvīnia would normally be four syllables: Lā-vī-ni-a.
However, there's a process in poetry known as synizesis (from ...
- 69.3k
6
votes
Lack of gender agreement in Aeneid iv.169-70
Primus (in both instances) is not modifying causa, but is a predicative adjective going with dies.
Sentences where the action is modified by words like "first" or "last" generally ...
- 31.5k
5
votes
Accepted
Learning Latin through Aeneid (or another text)
Well, there's Latin Via Ovid (2nd ed. 1982):
From the publisher's website:
Using an introduction to mythology by the master storyteller Ovid himself, the authors have prepared a unique teaching tool ...
cmw♦
- 58.2k
5
votes
What is the etymology and origin of the name of Dido's sister Anna?
Penelope's survey of available evidence seems to be virtually complete. I chiefly want to observe — with no detriment at all to Penelope's answer — that it relies wholly on mythology, which is really ...
- 18.2k
5
votes
How does one know when adjectives and participles are used dominantly?
In addition to Mitomino's excellent answer, I would just like to note that partitive use of adjectives exists in English too and is no less ambiguous than in Latin.
OK, we do not say “the top ...
- 36.1k
5
votes
Accepted
How does one know when adjectives and participles are used dominantly?
I'm afraid I don't have good news for you. In Latin one can only use meaning & context to know if the adjective/participle is used "dominantly" (NB: for a relevant terminological remark, please ...
- 9,121
5
votes
Accepted
Does "Iulus" predate Vergil?
Here is the article Iulus in "The New Pauli":
In the tradition set by Virgil I. is the only son of Aeneas and
Creusa of Troy, progenitor of the Roman gens Iulia; in Troy he is
called Ilus, ...
- 18k
5
votes
Translation of Lines 333–336 of Vergil's Aeneid Book 4
You might enjoy Dryden's famous — but magnificently erratic — translation, completed in 1697 :
. . . and thus at length replies, / "Fair Queen, you never can enough repeat / Your boundless favours, ...
- 18.2k
5
votes
Lack of gender agreement in Aeneid iv.169-70
In this case primus agrees with dies and not with causa. According to John Conington, Virgil seems to have mixed up two expressions. Taken from his notes (1876):
We might have expected “prima,” ...
- 606
5
votes
Accepted
Weird lines in the Aeneid (Book I, lines 444-445)
It seems to me that the core structure after the semicolon is:
sic fore [monstra(ve)rat] egregiam et facilem gentem
The gens is egregia and facilis.
Both adjectives come with an ablative of respect (...
- 116k
4
votes
Structure of the Aeneid
Looking at Niklas Holzbergs list of publications seems unproductive for this.
His Sammlung Tusculum book does not look like what you want.
This seems to be a mixup: Nicholas Horsfall has published on ...
- 41
4
votes
Accepted
Does the avenger arise from bones or ashes?
Perseus offers two English translations of Aeneid, including your passage.
Theodore C. Williams, 1910, writes:
Arise, Out of my dust, unknown Avenger, rise!
John Dryden writes:
Rise some ...
- 116k
4
votes
Lack of gender agreement in Aeneid iv.169-70
The word dies can be either feminine or masculine.
The gender has an effect on meaning.
Consult dictionaries or these questions for details:
When is "diēs" masculine, when is it feminine, ...
- 116k
4
votes
Accepted
ambobus? (a morphologically peculiar adjective with a peculiar syntax here)
Ambobus here means "to both [of them]", used as a substantive—there's no noun it attaches to, it stands alone. Who who are "both of them"? In this case, it's Atridas Priamumque: ...
- 69.3k
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