13
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What's the deal with Ov. Met. V, 414
The C is a -que.
It is quite common to abbreviate neque (= ne+que) as nec.
I see two ways to parse that verse and interpret the C:
And he noticed the goddess and said: "Don't go further!"
And he ...
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12
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A question on line XV.167 of Ovid's Metamorphoses re 'eque'
First, note that the first vowel must be long, to fit the meter:
spīritus ēque ferīs humāna in corpora transit
This rules out the vocative of equus, which has a short vowel there.
Instead, this ...
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Is there something special about "corpus"?
Here corpora is what's sometimes called a Greek or synecdochical accusative (in Greek the accusative of respect).
Stellatus actually goes with the person whose body it is, and the accusative is the ...
cmw♦
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11
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How to translate these few lines? Met. 1.94–96
Let me offer a translation attempt piece by piece.
My translations are not perfectly literal, but the way I build it up should clarify what it each Latin word does.
I reordered the words to make the ...
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What does the phrase "nec non" mean? (Metamorphoses I.612-614)
Necnon can be written as two words, "and not not"; it has a positive meaning because of the double negative. It can be translated as and with an appropriate adverb, such as and yet, and in fact.
The ...
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What do "hic" and "ille" refer to in this passage from Ovid's Tristia?
When hic and ille are used like this, they refer to the distance of words: hic refers to the closest noun, ille the one that came first.
In your example, you have first pontus and then aer. Hic ...
cmw♦
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How do I scan the hexameter "faunique satyrique et monticolae silvani"? (From Metamorphoses I, 193)
You're right, the -e in the first enclitic is long. The reason is obscure, but is accessible in Allan and Greenough's (rev. Fowler 1890) student commentary on the Metamorphoses:
faunique : the ...
cmw♦
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Translating Ovid's Fasti 1.149–150
Gildersleeve & Lodge, Latin grammar, section 254.2 (in the discussion of the indicative mood) states:
The Impf. as the Tense of Disappointment is sometimes used in these verbs [= verbs that ...
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What do "hic" and "ille" refer to in this passage from Ovid's Tristia?
I'd like to offer an addition, which was originally posted as a comment but requested to be turned into an answer by OP.
As explained in the other two answers, iste, ille and hic are used to refer ...
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9
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What do "hic" and "ille" refer to in this passage from Ovid's Tristia?
Of course, as with so much in Latin, there's more than one answer, none of them incorrect.
The first answer is yes, using hic and ille like this to mean "the latter" and "the former&...
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Canonical version of Metamorphoses
Yes, you can define verses precisely. The Metamorphoses are written in dactylic hexameter, and so each line is constructed with the same rules.
You can check the line numbers for yourself on PHI or ...
cmw♦
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8
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Is a relative pronoun commonly used as a third person pronoun? (Metamorphoses I.583-587)
Quam here is being used as a normal relative, and could not be replaced with illam, since the relative clause quam non invenit umquam is the accusative subject of the verb esse in the accusative and ...
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"Nam vos mutastis et illas" (Ovid)
The form of mutastis is called a "syncopated perfect." From Gildersleeve, section 131:
The perfects in āvī, ēvī, īvī, often drop the v before s or r, and contract the vowels throughout, ...
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How to understand 'quae prosum sola nocendo'?
Nocendo is a gerund (noun) here, not a gerundive (adjective). Therefore, it's active in meaning. It's ablative to show the means by which Juno does good. Quae is f. nom. sing. and refers to Iunonem, ...
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8
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Why does ‘lūdīs’ end in a short syllable in Ov. Ep. Sapph. 16?
It is a second-person singular verb form lūdis, “you play” (lūdō, lūdere).
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8
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"Aurea prima sata est aetas" - is there ambiguity here?
None of the first 5 words in your passage is in the ablative case. As you note, scanning the line will reveal this fact.
Aurea is an adjective ('golden'/'[made] of gold'), not a noun ('gold'), and ...
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How to scan "nempe tenens, quod amo, gremioque in Iasonis haerens"
As often with tricky verses, the key is in the name.
The only way I can scan that right is reading the name as Ĭ-ā-sŏ-nĭs.
The initial I/J of a name can easily vary between vowel and consonant in ...
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7
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How is this perfect passive participle being used?
This is sometimes known as the "accusative of body parts", where an accusative noun indicates the body part (or more generally, the part of something) where an action takes place.
They (nom) ...
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7
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Feedback on my Latin note an a passage from Ovid’s Metamorphoses
This looks very good to me! Just a couple of small suggestions for the last sentence:
I think his auditis would be more usual than haec audiens, which would imply simultaneity with the main verb ...
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6
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'Subiecit' meaning in Ovid Metamorphoses III 167?
The subject is altera [nympha]:
another [nymph] threw her arms under the cast-off robe
The verb subicio is normally used with a nominative (the thrower), an accusative (the thing thrown), and a ...
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6
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How to make sense of this standalone infinitive? (Metamorphoses 1.601—603)
To expand on Joonas's answer, I think he is 100% correct that mirata is elliptical; est is left out but must be assumed in order to translate the sentence. The structure is as follows:
Iuno despexit ...
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How to translate these few lines? Met. 1.94–96
Here's a rewording solutis versibus by Daniel Crespin:
Nondum abies ex montibus suis desecta descenderat in aquas fluidas, ut terras alienas adiret : et nulla littora nisi sua hominibus perspecta.
...
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How to scan "nempe tenens, quod amo, gremioque in Iasonis haerens"
Just to make it clear what Joonas said explained in his post, here is the line scanned out:
nempĕ tĕ/nens, quŏd ă/mo || grĕmĭ/oqu' in ĭ/asŏnĭ/s haerens
The reason the initial letter of ...
cmw♦
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What's this gerundive doing here?
It's a gerund, not a gerundive. Gerunds are verbal nouns, and you actually translated it as so: "[in/by] going."
Sicaniam repetit, dumque omnia lustrat eundo,
venit et ad Cyanen.
She ...
cmw♦
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What's the best translation of "vindice" in Met. 1.89?
I think protector is fine and understandable. Normally a good thing needs to be protected in order to prosper, and vindex is not seldom so translated.
The word comes from vim "force" and dico "say, ...
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5
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Pyramus et Thisbe: did their parents forbid what they could not? Ovid, Metamorphoses IV.61
Hmm. I find your analysis elegant and alluring, but I wonder whether it's simpler than that—could it be working from two slightly different senses of vetāre? You're far more versed in the lexicon here ...
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5
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Did Ovid know of Mt. Ararat?
Of course, this is a very interesting question. From a purely chronological point of view one could imagine that Ovid might have run across a copy of the Septuagint and read there of how Noah’s ark ...
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How to make sense of this standalone infinitive? (Metamorphoses 1.601—603)
(Edited drastically from previous version after several rereadings of the passage.)
Mirata means mirata est.
It is not a plain participle, but a perfect form of a deponent verb.
It governs an ACI, ...
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Peneus River (Metamorphoses 1.567–572)
Ad 1: I would not be surprised if it were a genitive: Tempe as a grove of Thessaly sound unremarkable enough. However, there are two other options. The first is a locative: there is a grove in ...
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