Ne militum quidem quisquam in castris mansit.

Are you learning Latin with D'Ooge's Beginners Latin Book? Here's where you can meet other learners using this textbook. Use this board to ask questions and post your work for feedback and comments from others.
Post Reply
Textkit User
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Nov 18, 2012 3:07 am

Ne militum quidem quisquam in castris mansit.

Post by Textkit User »

The key translates this as: "Not even any of the soldiers has stayed in the camp."

I am having some trouble. Is the genitive "militorum" used along with "castris" -- the soldiers' camp? The word order seems odd, but maybe there is no better alternative if you want to use the "ne... quidem" construction as this exercise does.

I think my problem is that I thought quisquam should correspond with "militorum," that is, it should be cuiusquam, but I see now it's a substantive and not an adjective. Is that right? So what the sentence is saying, to be literal instead of elegant, is "No one at all, not even its soldiers, stayed in the camp." You would not use a translation like this professionally, since it is very stilted, but I'm trying to see if I get all of the Latin's nuances, with the genitive and the indefinite pronoun quisquam somehow rendered into English.

I think in the key all those who do not remain in the camp are put under the umbrella of "not even..." where the quisquam becomes subsumed in the "ne...quidem." Am I on the right track here?

Textkit User
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Nov 18, 2012 3:07 am

Re: Ne militum quidem quisquam in castris mansit.

Post by Textkit User »

Or is "militorum" in the genitive to go along with "quisquam" -- any of the soldiers? Is this is a partitive genitive? For some reason it just went over my head that you could use quisquam this way.

ingrid70
Textkit Enthusiast
Posts: 394
Joined: Wed Dec 04, 2002 6:29 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: Ne militum quidem quisquam in castris mansit.

Post by ingrid70 »

Yes, it's quisquam militum - no one of the soldiers.

Ingrid

Post Reply