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Allecto's cerulean hair in *Æneid* VII.346-7
In VII.346-7 of the Æneid, when Juno sics Allecto on Amata, we have
Hic dea cæruleís únum dé crínibus anguem
Conjicit inque sinum præcordia ad intima subdit.
Allecto's … blue hair? Hunh? Are they blue snakes? Or can cæruleus refer not just to…
Joel Derfner
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Prefix chaining in Latin verbs
In Greek, it is very common to chain more than one prepositional prefix at the beginning of a verb, e.g.:
συν-εκ-βαίνω: "go out together"
ἀντι-κατα-δύνω: "set over against"
περι-εκ-χέομαι: "flow out all around"
And many more.
In Latin, though, I…
brianpck
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"Factum est vesperE et mane"
Genesim 1:13 Hieronymus sic traduxit:
Et factum est vespere et mane, dies tertius.
Cur “vespere”, non “vesper”? Puto id in casu nominativo esse debere, sed nonne “vespere” in casu ablativo est? Si non nominativo, subiectum sententiæ quid est?
Ben Kovitz
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Translating "taller by a head"
In English one can write either of these to indicate a height difference:
Marcus is taller than Gaius by a head.
Marcus is a head taller than Gaius.
I am looking for an idiomatic way to translate "by a head" in this context.
I found good…
Joonas Ilmavirta
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What does "illos" refer to in this passage from Seneca?
While researching an answer for this question, I came across the following passage from Seneca. The bolded part, particularly "illos", left me with some doubts about the sentence syntax:
Et quid sibi quisque tunc speret, cum uideat pessima optimos…
brianpck
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Potentially Ambiguous Subject for a Verb in the Aeneid
Lines 405–407 of Vergil's Aeneid, Book 6, are as follows:
Si te nulla movet tantae pietatis imago,
at ramum hunc" (aperit ramum qui veste latebat)
"agnoscas." Tumida ex ira tum corda residunt;
Context: Aeneas and the priestess are trying to…
Sapphira
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'Credo' with dative problem
Here is a small problem with 'credo', there is an example in my dictionary saying that 'crede mihi (dat.)' means 'believe me'.
Gildersleeve & Lodge gives credere under Dative with Intransitive verbs - "The Indirect Object is put in the Dative vith…
Aili J.
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Lack of gender agreement in Aeneid iv.169-70
I was thrown by the lack of gender agreement in line iv.169 of the Aeneidː
Ille dies primus leti primusque malorum //
causa fuit;
I translate: “That was the first day of death, and was the first cause of evils.” But it then seems that both…
adam.baker
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How to understand 'quae prosum sola nocendo'?
There is a line in Ovid's Metamorphoses II 519, which I don't understand at all
(Juno's complaint)
'quaeritis, aetheriis quare regina deorum
sedibus huc adsim? pro me tenet altera caelum!
mentior, obscurum nisi nox cum fecerit orbem,
nuper…
Aili J.
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2 answers
Parallels for the infinitive in "memento mori"?
The famous phrase memento mori (the subject of this question) means something like "remember that you will die, remember you are mortal". But this use of the infinitive seems odd.
Memini is often used with an infinitive, but (as per L&S) these uses…
TKR
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Is Hyksos unique, or is there a rule about when κ + σ doesn't equal ξ?
I was trying to find if there was a true analogue to the spelling of Hyksos in Greek without a ξ. Most instances of words with -κσ- in Classical and Hellenistic Greek were compounds with the prefix εκ-. Otherwise, it seems it's rare, but not…
cmw
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Questions on reading the prologue of Aesopus Latinus via LLPSI
Duplex libelli dos est: quod risum movet
et quod prudenti vitam consilio monet.
Calumniari si quis autem voluerit
quod arbores loquantur, non tantum ferae,
...
(Line 3~6)
Dos is explained as a dowry by Ørberg: donum quod alicui debetur (ut…
Kotoba Trily Ngian
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Can -c replace -que in other words than atque and neque?
The enclitic -que in the words neque and atque can be shortened to produce nec and ac.
Are there other instances where -que can turn into -c?
Can this be productive, or can it only happen in very special cases?
(Bonus question: Are there examples…
Joonas Ilmavirta
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What does a moderator do?
Classical Latin has the word moderator, which refers to someone who manages, rules, governs, directs, or moderates.
I assume it does not refer to all kinds of managers, governors and such.
I also assume a moderator in Rome did not listen to all…
Joonas Ilmavirta
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Translation: «impulsi sunt et ipsi Christi amore»
I’ve yet another question on the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC). (I did find another instance of the gerundive—I believe with a preceding ad indicating purpose—and Cerebrus’ instruction certainly helped me translating that.)
The Latin text…
Der Übermensch
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