Why was ante tribus translated as "fifteen years ago"?

Question

In an answer I posted here, I provided someone else's translation which translated ante tribus as "fifteen years ago". The translation provided in the question also translated tribus the same way:

Portavi lacrimis madidus te nostra catella,
quod feci lustris laetior ante tribus.

Is that correct? Why would it be fifteen years and not three?

score 15 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 12 '18 at 15:22

15

Lustrum has several meanings, but that which applies here is the period of five years which elapsed from census to census. The phrase is actually lustris ante tribus, or 'three lustra ago'.

A good dictionary will give further explanation, if you require it.

answered Dec 12 '18 at 15:22

Tom Cotton

18,084
2
28
65

1

Word order in Latin is insane, isn't it :-) – Carl Witthoft Dec 12 '18 at 18:58

Why was ante tribus translated as "fifteen years ago"?

1 Answers1