A Latin translation

[Rufus Coppertop]

So 'magnum imperium' isn't a large bottle of very expensive sparkling wine from Gaul...?

Funny you should ask. In the very next paragraph - postea totam amphoram magni imperii biberunt et omnino incusi facti sunt. - later, the whole bottle of magnum imperium they drank and became totally hammered.

 

[CTRandall]

Which is precisely how I'm spending my lock-down

 

[Rufus Coppertop]

Malleati facti sunt I should have said.

I'm going to spend my lock-down being really really totally productive and working exclusively on the editing of my novel.

No procrastinating on the internet and none of this getting distracted by random...........oh look, a possum!

 

[Brian G Turner]

oh look, a possum!

Possum -> I am able.

 

[Rufus Coppertop]

Huzzah!

 

[Artoriarius]

You make some very good points but 'orem futuentem claude' really does not work.

The accusative of 'os' is ' not 'orem'. The accusative of 'os' is 'os'.

'Os' is a neuter noun of the third declension. Neuter nouns have a peculiar characteristic where the accusative and nominatives take the same form.

'Orem' is a verb. First person present subjunctive of 'oro' - to beseech, beg, pray, ask, entreat.

Drat, drat, and double drat. I always forget that there are differences with third-neuter. Serves me right for not double-checking my notebook.

Malleati facti sunt I should have said.

I'm going to spend my lock-down being really really totally productive and working exclusively on the editing of my novel.

No procrastinating on the internet and none of this getting distracted by random...........oh look, a possum!

As a wise guy once said, "Deverticula minora Interretis vitare possum—nisi ubi velim."

("I am able to avoid the minor distractions of the internet—save when I wish.")

 

[Rufus Coppertop]

Serves me right for not double-checking my notebook.

I've made my fair share of bone-headed mistakes. In fact, if Doctor Who offered me a visit to ancient Rome, I wouldn't be at all offended if he wore a toga or a T shirt that says cum stulto sum.

As a wise guy once said, "Deverticula minora Interretis vitare possum—nisi ubi velim."

("I am able to avoid the minor distractions of the internet—save when I wish.")

Verba sapientiae illa sunt.

 

[Brian G Turner]

If I may hijack this thread a moment, I'm looking at the following phrase from Ovid's Metamorphoses:

"redimicula pectore pendent"

from:

ornat quoque vestibus artus,dat digitis gemmas, dat longa monilia collo,265aure leves bacae, redimicula pectore pendent:

Book X

"Book X" published on by Loeb Classical Library.

www.loebclassics.com

Maybe I'm having a brain fart, but I can't tell whether the statue is the subject or object, or whether it's the necklace that is the subject or object in this sentence. I know "pectore" is singular, but the ending could be either nominative or accusative and at the moment I can't figure out which. I may be over thinking this.

 

[HareBrain]

If I may hijack this thread a moment, I'm looking at the following phrase from Ovid's Metamorphoses:

"redimicula pectore pendent"

from:

Book X

"Book X" published on by Loeb Classical Library.

www.loebclassics.com

Maybe I'm having a brain fart, but I can't tell whether the statue is the subject or object, or whether it's the necklace that is the subject or object in this sentence. I know "pectore" is singular, but the ending could be either nominative or accusative and at the moment I can't figure out which. I may be over thinking this.

You do know people have already translated this?

 

[Brian G Turner]

Yes, but I'm unsure whether the word pectore is in the nominative or accusative case - it could be either - and something a translation won't show.

I don't need to know this - it's just annoying me that I'm unsure.

 

[Artoriarius]

Pectore is ablative, actually—the nominative/ablative form is pectus (this time, I noticed the neuter). There's a rather interesting reason why it's not accusative:

Latin occasionally drops words if they're implied (which is why one can generally dispense with pronouns, for example—there are pronouns in Latin, but even when there isn't an applicable verb (where the pronoun is part-and-parcel with the suffix) they're almost always left out). This happens in English, too, on occasion—English imperatives (commands), for instance, generally have an implied "you" preceding the imperative, which is rarely actually spoken, because we all know it's there ("Go to the library", for instance, implies that you are to go to the library; I can't command me or they to go to the library when I'm speaking to you).

In this case, the implied word is "from"—the translation here phrases it differently, but a more literal translation would probably be "bands hang from the breast," similar to the preceding phrase. But because the "from" has to be there—"bands hang the breast" wouldn't make any sense, especially with pectore in the ablative—there was no need to actually put the word in the sentence. A bit paradoxical, but that's how implied words work.

And to clarify: the statue is the object—things are being done to it. The adornments, depending on the phrasing, are either subjects (when they adorn the statue), or more objects (when Pygmalion puts them on the statue—Pygmalion, in those phrases, is the subject, even when his only presence in the sentence is as an implied pronoun).

 

[Brian G Turner]

That's why I was confused - my first thought was that it was ablative, but I kept thinking I must be wrong and that it must be in the nominative or accusative form. That's what comes from over-thinking!

Brilliant, thank you.

 

[Toby Frost]

Hi guys, I've got a few more small phrases that I'd like to check. As before, I'm not sure that the words agree with each other. They are:

"Nobody can cross the bridge" - Nemo trans pontem potest (I've left out "go" in this, but I think I can get away with that, possibly)
"The judge is strong" - Iudex fortis est (although ideally the judge should be female)
"The war is over, but there is no winner" - Bellum finitus [est] sed non victor est
"Those who rule, play" - Qui imperare, ludere (or maybe Regentes, ludentes?).

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[The Judge]

"The judge is strong" - Iudex fortis est (although ideally the judge should be female)

And so she is!

 

[tegeus-Cromis]

"Those who rule, play" - Qui imperare, ludere (or maybe Regentes, ludentes?).

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

This would have to be "qui imperat ludit" or "qui regit ludit."

"The war is over, but there is no winner" - Bellum finitus [est] sed non victor est

I'd say "Consummatum bellum sed nemo vicit."

"Nobody can cross the bridge" - Nemo trans pontem potest (I've left out "go" in this, but I think I can get away with that, possibly)

Nemo pontem transire potest

 

[Toby Frost]

Thanks, that's very helpful.

 

[Ambrose]

An interesting thread, bringing back long buried memories. Thanks. When I did my Law degree here in Scotland a pass in Roman Law was required, and later I had to teach the stuff. You're all more skilled than I found myself while reading it.

In Latin in the Arts degree we had a Prof. with the most marvellous gravelly voice. He declaimed Cicero's Verrine Orations to us with such animated passion, making it so living none of us had any difficulty in approving Verres's exile: acquittal was impossible.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

I only studied Cicero at O level, but I’d have given a lot to hear it declaimed as you describe. Our Latin teacher was a mouse of a woman with no ability to demonstrate the power of those arguments.