Atalanta help

Parthenophilus · Post by **Parthenophilus** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 5:33 pm

Hiya y'all.

Can anyone disentangle this sentence for me?

"Nec dicere posses, laude pedum, formaene bono praestantior esset." [Metamorphoses X. 562]

What is "bono" doing in this sentence? If I stare at it for long enough will it begin to make sense?

adz000 · Post by **adz000** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 7:11 pm

Laude and bono are parallel syntactically and lexically: they are both ablatives with praestantior, each with a dependent genitive.

et pedum laude et formae bono praestantior erat.

laus here = "merit"
bonum = "virtue, excellence"

Turpissimus · Post by **Turpissimus** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 7:34 pm

‘Forsitan audieris aliquam certamine cursus
veloces superasse viros. Non fabula rumor
ille fuit: superabat enim; nec dicere posses,
laude pedum formaene bono praestantior esset.

Nor can I tell you whether she was more outstanding with respect to merit of feet or goodness of form/appearance.

Poetry always makes more sense in the original language.

I stared at that first line for some five minutes until I realized cursus was a genitive.

Mulciber · Post by **Mulciber** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 8:02 pm

Nec dicere posses,
nor to say were you able

laude pedum,
with respect to merit of feet

formaene bono
if with respect to excellence of form

praestantior esset.
she were more outstanding

It troubles me that there appears to be no particle equivalent to "or" in this sentence.

whiteoctave · Post by **whiteoctave** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 8:21 pm

it troubles me more that you appear to ignore the enclitic particle -ne in this sentence.
it here signifies the latter of two alternatives, as elsewhere in Ovid, e.g.
si quaesiueris, odium Cyclopis amorne Acidis in nobis fuerit praestantior (met.13.756-7).
as also in Livy, e.g. sine...sciam...captiua materne in castris tuis sim (2.40.5) and Ennius, certabant urbem Romam Remoramne uocarent (ann.82), and no doubt often elsewhere.

~D

Mulciber · Post by **Mulciber** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 8:56 pm

it troubles me more that you appear to ignore the enclitic particle -ne in this sentence.

I didn't actually ignore it. I translated it with "if", as seen in indirect questions like: "Rogat valeatne Caesar." I've never seen this usage of Ovid before so I wasn't sure what to make of it. Now I know better.

Parthenophilus · Post by **Parthenophilus** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 7:44 pm

Thanks everyone. There is much indeed that is troubling about Latin.