beef with Plinius
Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 7:32 pm
I tried again after leaving it for three months to translate "Plinius Nepoti Suo S." in Loci Immutati, and this time I think I got it. But I still have some grievances and some confusion.
This piece is confusing because Plinius is writing about Fannia talking about Arria taking a course of action, so it's super-3rd person. It is confusing because the boy dies, but Arria seems to hide the funeral service from her husband, although in the next sentence the husband has a breakdown of sorts over the boy's death. It is confusing because Plinius switches between Arria and Paenus without saying who the subject is. After the husband play-acts with his dead son, it reads:
Deinde, cum diu cohibitae lacrimae vincerent prorumperentque, egrediebatur; tunc se dolori dabat.
Does Paenus give himself to grief or is it Arria?
Then:
Satiata, siccis oculis, compositu vultu redibat, tamquam orbitatem foris reliquisset.
Here, I assumed Plinius switched back to Arria because 'Satiata' is feminine, but to where was she returning?
Finally, I know "Paete, non dolet," means "It does not hurt," but I first thought it meant "Paete, the boy does not suffer," because the boy's pain through death had finally been relieved, and Wheelock states that 'to give pain' for 'dolere' is not the verb's primary use.
W should have explained this one far better than he did.
This piece is confusing because Plinius is writing about Fannia talking about Arria taking a course of action, so it's super-3rd person. It is confusing because the boy dies, but Arria seems to hide the funeral service from her husband, although in the next sentence the husband has a breakdown of sorts over the boy's death. It is confusing because Plinius switches between Arria and Paenus without saying who the subject is. After the husband play-acts with his dead son, it reads:
Deinde, cum diu cohibitae lacrimae vincerent prorumperentque, egrediebatur; tunc se dolori dabat.
Does Paenus give himself to grief or is it Arria?
Then:
Satiata, siccis oculis, compositu vultu redibat, tamquam orbitatem foris reliquisset.
Here, I assumed Plinius switched back to Arria because 'Satiata' is feminine, but to where was she returning?
Finally, I know "Paete, non dolet," means "It does not hurt," but I first thought it meant "Paete, the boy does not suffer," because the boy's pain through death had finally been relieved, and Wheelock states that 'to give pain' for 'dolere' is not the verb's primary use.
W should have explained this one far better than he did.