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
12
votes
Why can "bubo" ("owl") be feminine or masculine?
The relevant passage is this one, from Aeneid IV.462-3:
sōlaque culminibus fērālī carmine būbo
saepe quer' et longās in flētum dūcere vōcēs
And the lone owl on the rooftops would cry out its mournful ...
- 69.3k
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
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
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
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
9
votes
Accepted
Meaning of a present participle in a verse of Vergil's Eclogue 8
It is a typical feature of Latin that participles are used instead of finite verbs, even where we would not expect that in our own languages, or it would sound stilted. This is frequently encountered ...
- 36.1k
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
8
votes
Why is the subjunctive used in Vergil's Georgics, 3,250?
It's an indirect question following the interrogative ut, which takes the subjunctive:
Surely you see how...
For ut used in this way, see its Lewis & Short entry.
cmw♦
- 58.2k
8
votes
Accepted
What is the opposite of "aegrescit medendo"?
The reference from Virgil is to Aeneid XII, 46, aegrescitque medendo (in the combat between Aeneas and Turnus).
The opposite is easily and exactly rendered as convalescit medendo. There may not be a ...
- 18.2k
8
votes
Why can "bubo" ("owl") be feminine or masculine?
Since the Virgil's passage in question happens to start with 'Tum' I have to contribute something...
(This is not an answer but I see no way of putting this as a comment due to formatting issues.)
...
- 251
8
votes
Accepted
Relative pronouns that don't start the dependent clause
I agree that this is a difficult passage, though I think it is fairly clear based on context that the cui refers to the templum Dido was building. The first part is clear enough:
Hic templum Iunoni ...
- 42.9k
7
votes
Vergil Book XII, Line 756 | Meter Question
First, let us check all vowel lengths:
tŭm vērō ĕxŏrĭtŭr clāmŏr rīpaequĕ lăcūsquĕ
A syllable with a short vowel ...
- 116k
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
George Duckworth's Vergilius?
The full citation is: Duckworth, G. W. 1940. "Turnus as a Tragic Character." Vergilius 4: 5-17. This is the fourth volume of the journal and was published in 1940.
It seems the article is not ...
cmw♦
- 58.2k
5
votes
George Duckworth's Vergilius?
I found this is the Cambridge University Library catalogue:
Title: Vergilius.
Other Entries: Vergilian Society.
Published: Atlanta, GA: Vergilian Society, 1956-
Publication history: Began with vol. 1,...
- 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
Parsing "oblita carmina"
The practice of using deponent participles in a passive sense occurs with other verbs besides obliscor, as noted by Ethan Allen Andrews and Solomon Stoddard in A Grammar of the Latin Language: For the ...
- 11k
5
votes
Parsing "oblita carmina"
Lewis and short cite this very passage as an example of oblisci being used passively. So there's your answer, "forgotten songs": http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%...
- 5,410
5
votes
"Omnia vincit amor, et nos cedamus amori" -- why "et nos" and not "nos et"?
As this website explains:
On occasions, Virgil permits himself a certain licence in his metrication, when he lengthens syllables at the end of words which would normally be short both by nature and ...
- 345
5
votes
How do we we scan 'nunc tantum sinus et statio mala fidèle carinis'
My Mynors OCT has fida here instead of fidele, with no textual variation noted in the apparatus. Lewis and Short also have this line cited under fidus. Where are you seeing fidele?
With fida, the line ...
cmw♦
- 58.2k
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
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
Parsing "oblita carmina"
Accepting the kind invitation by Ben (Sententiam tuam de passiv[a] resultativ[a] audiendi studiosus sum), here is my opinion on how to analyze oblita carmina (sunt is omitted) in this example. As I ...
- 9,121
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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