11
votes
Accepted
Parsing a present perfect participle
Lavatum here isn't a perfect passive participle, but a supine. When it's accusative (ends in -um) and is coupled with a verb of motion (here eunt, "they go"), it expresses purpose.
Here's a ...
cmw♦
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10
votes
Accepted
Where to put the enclitic -ne?
Your idea is correct.
Lewis-Short is not terribly clear:
added in a direct question, as an interrogation mark, to the first or principal word of the clause
but, if you know German, Georges is ...
8
votes
Parsing a present perfect participle
In addition to cmw's answer, both of your interpretations are unworkable as the Latin text stands:
Your first interpretation (“the washed Romans”) cannot be true because lavatum does not agree with ...
8
votes
How to say "as" emphatically?
I suggest that simple word order would also do the trick here:
Marcus locutus est dux [or procurator or whatever].
7
votes
Accepted
Combining verbs with ecce or en
Both ecce and en can be used with verbs/whole clauses in addition to nouns, to draw attention to some fact rather than an object. So, both ecce [or en] leo edit and ecce [en] leo edens (or ecce [en] ...
7
votes
Accepted
How to say "as" emphatically?
Another option (in addition to the several excellent ones in answers so far) is to use (in) loco + gen., as in the phrase in loco parentis "as a parent, in the position of a parent".
Lewis and Short (...
6
votes
How to say "as" emphatically?
I should like to extend @brianpck's answer by providing two further suggestions.
1. A neat way to express this is by using qua, as in these examples:
— Ad hoc stipatum tribunal, atque etiam ex ...
6
votes
How to say "as" emphatically?
A common and classically attested way of saying "to perform the role of X" is munere X fungi, where "X" is an adjective or genitive noun. Here is an example:
fungar enim iam ...
6
votes
Accepted
How to swear by a god?
This answer only concerns Latin; I will leave Greek to others.
Vocative is not the way to go here.
It is used for addressing the god, not for such exclamations.
(At least I have never seen it in such ...
5
votes
Accepted
What is the relation and history of 'si' and 'sic'?
Here is de Vaan's entry for both forms:
By this account (which I think is uncontroversial), both forms come from the locative singular of the demonstrative *so- "this", with an added ...
5
votes
Omission of a repeated verb in second part of a μέν ... δέ
A lot of grammars describe the characteristics of sentences involving the particles μέν and δέ. A good example of that is A Greek Grammar for Colleges by Herbert Weir Smyth. In spite of a detailed ...
5
votes
Accepted
Ne ... quidem with preposition
Ne...quidem can most definitely surround nouns in cases other than nominative:
Apuleius, Metamorphoses 9.27 (genitive):
non sum barbarus nec agresti morum squalore praeditus nec ad exemplum ...
3
votes
When does si mean "that"?
The easy part of your question is the part about Latin. “si” is simply a literal translation of εἰ.
The difficult part is why the Greek original uses εἰ (“if”) when it clearly intends “that”. There ...
3
votes
Accepted
When does si mean "that"?
Although it could be read as whether, translations are almost1 consistent in translating these particular instances of si as that.
There are a couple of meanings of si that are equivalent to quod (...
2
votes
(Greek) what's a "γε causal"?
(This answer may not be satisfying, and I'm happy to have it supplanted in the future! But for now…)
I've never heard of a "γε causal", nor have any of the classicists I've talked to. A Google ...
2
votes
How can I intensify a phrase?
A common way to intensify a phrase in Latin is to place an intensifier on its verb. An intensifier is a prefix, often a preposition or some other adverb, placed on the verb which can intensify it.
In ...
2
votes
Omission of a repeated verb in second part of a μέν ... δέ
I came across this sentence in Plato (Symposium 206c):
τίκτειν δὲ ἐν μὲν αἰσχρῷ οὐ δύναται, ἐν δὲ τῷ καλῷ.
And it cannot beget on the ugly, but on the beautiful.
This μέν...δέ sentence omits the ...
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