Helps to Latin Translation at Sight Part 9

You have now learnt how to translate this pa.s.sage, but you must do more before you can master it. Thus in these simple but beautiful lines notice:--

(i.) _Vocabulary._--This is easy and familiar, but even if you know the meaning of the words study their _cognates_--_i.e._ related words--as pointed out to you in the vocabulary, _e.g._ under +novit+, p. 25, sentence I. [[Demonstration II.ii]]

(ii.) _English Derivatives._--Remember that often, where you cannot think of an English derivative, some very familiar _French_ word will help you to the root-meaning of the Latin. Thus:--

Latin. French. English.

+Carmine+ _Charme_ _Charm_ (_Song_) +Agnam+ _Agneau_ _Lamb_ +Lupus+ _Loup_ _Wolf_ +Cerva+ _Cerf_ _Stag_ (_Hind_)

and notice that where the English word, e.g. _charm_, differs in spelling from the Latin, it is because it comes to us through a French channel. Cf. _feat_ from Fr. _fait_ = L. _factum_.

(iii.) _Allusions and Parallel Pa.s.sages._--In verse these are often numerous and important. Poetry is naturally full of imagery, and borrows from many sources. Thus, for ll. 1-8, compare Hor. _Od._ I. xii. 5:

'Aut in umbrosis Heliconis oris . . . .

Arte materna rapidos morantem Fluminum lapsus . . .'

and Verg. _G._ iv. 510:

'Mulcentem tigris et agentem carmine quercus.'

Shakesp. _Hen. VIII._ III. i.:

'Orpheus with his lute made trees, And the mountain-tops that freeze, Bow themselves when he did sing';

or read Tennyson's poem 'Amphion.'

_Lines 5, 6._--Cf. Isaiah xi. 6: 'The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.'

(iv.) _Hints for Verses._--Ovid is the acknowledged master of elegiac verse. Therefore, whenever you have a pa.s.sage of his elegiacs to translate, you should, if possible, learn it by heart. (The Arion story as told by Ovid is well worth a place in any collection of _Ediscenda_.) If you cannot do this, notice useful phrases and turns of expression, e.g.:--

_Line 1._--A question, instead of a bare statement, where no answer is expected.

Cf. 'Quod crimen dicis praeter ama.s.se meum?'

(Dido to Aeneas, Ov. _Her._ vii. 164.)

_Lines 3, 4._--Parataxis and repet.i.tion of idea.

_Line 9._--+Vocalis Arion+, apostrophe.

_Line 2._--Simplicity; alliteration.

(v.) _The Poem as Literature._--Ovid here depicts in language purposely exaggerated the power of music over the hearts of men, and even over nature, animate and inanimate. This gives point to the strong contrast in the lines which follow, where greed dominates all the feelings.

Shakespeare refers to the love of music as a test of character:--

'The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.'

DEMONSTRATION III.

PART I.

_A rash promise rashly believed._

Hannibali alia in his locis bene gerendae rei fortuna oblata est. |I| M. Centenius fuit cognomine Paenula, insignis inter primipili centuriones et magnitudine corporis et animo. |II| Is perfunctus militia, per P. Cornelium Sullam praetorem in senatum introductus, pet.i.t a Patribus, uti sibi quinque milia militum darentur: |III| se peritum et hostis et regionum, brevi operae pretium facturum et, quibus artibus ad id locorum nostri et duces et exercitus capti forent, iis adversus inventorem usurum. |IV| Id non promissum magis stolide, quam stolide creditum, tamquam eaedem militares et imperatoriae artes essent! |V| Data pro quinque octo milia militum; pars dimidia cives, pars socii.

|VI| Et ipse aliquantum voluntariorum in itinere ex agris concivit, ac prope duplicato exercitu in Lucanos pervenit, ubi Hannibal, nequiquam secutus Claudium, subst.i.terat. |VII|

LIVY.

_A rash promise rashly believed._

Hannibali alia in his locis bene gerendae rei +fortuna oblata est. {I} M. Centenius fuit+ cognomine Paenula, insignis inter primipili centuriones et magnitudine corporis et animo. {II} +Is+ perfunctus militia, per P. Cornelium Sullam praetorem in senatum introductus, pet.i.t a Patribus, [uti sibi quinque milia militum darentur]. {III} +Centenius dixit+ _se peritum et hostis et regionum, brevi operae pretium facturum: et, [quibus artibus ad id locorum nostri et duces et exercitus capti forent], iis adversus inventorem usurum_. {IV} +Id+ non +promissum+ magis stolide, quam stolide +creditum+: [tamquam eaedem militares et imperatoriae artes essent!] {V} +Data+ pro quinque octo +milia+ militum; {VI} +pars+ dimidia cives, +pars+ socii. Et +ipse aliquantum+ voluntariorum in itinere ex agris +concivit+, ac prope duplicato exercitu, in Lucanos +pervenit+, [ubi Hannibal, nequiquam secutus Claudium, subst.i.terat].

LIVY.

DEMONSTRATION III.

LIVY, xxv. 19.

_Read the pa.s.sage through carefully._ As you read--

(i.) Make all the use you can of your previous knowledge of History, Geography, and Antiquities.

Thus, +Hannibali+ suggests an episode in the Second Punic War.

+M. Centenius+ is clearly the unfortunate subject of the episode.

+in Lucanos ... subst.i.terat+ helps to fix the date as later than +Cannae+, 216 B.C.

(ii.) Observe carefully all phrases that will require special care in translating--_e.g._ +bene gerendae rei+--+inter primipili centuriones+--+perfunctus militia+--+operae pretium+--+ad id locorum+.

You will now have a sufficient general idea of the form and general sense of the pa.s.sage, and may begin to translate sentence by sentence.

+I.+ +Hannibali alia in his locis bene gerendae rei fortuna oblata est.+

(i.) _Vocabulary._--

+oblata+, cf. _ob-lation_ = _an offering_ and _of-fer_.

(ii.) _Translation._--

+oblata est+ shows that the subject must be +fortuna+, with which +alia+ must agree, and +gerendae rei+ is dependent genitive. So you may at once translate literally _Another fortune (chance) of carrying-on the matter well in these parts was offered to Hannibal_. But you must not be satisfied with this, for though literally correct it is neither good History nor good English. So render: _In this district Hannibal had another chance presented to him of achieving a success_.

Here notice especially the use of the word +res+,[12] a remarkable example of the tendency of Roman writers to employ the ordinary and simple vocabulary wherever possible _instead of inventing a new word_.

As a writer well says, '+Res+ is, so to say, a blank cheque, to be filled up from the context to the requisite amount of meaning.' Cf.

'+Consilium erat quo fortuna rem daret, eo inclinare vires+,' where +res+ = _victory_.

[Footnote 12: Cf. Introduction, p. 11.] [[Introduction 13 (2)]]