Translation question

[Brennus]

I'm reading "Latin for Today 2nd Year Course" and I am having a problem with one sentence.

"Hic adulescens ita me amabat, ita verebatur ut me quasi magistro uteretur."

My lame attempt at a translation is:

This youth thus loved me, thus he feared that he didn't use me as a teacher.

Am I far off? Any help will be appreciated.

[benissimus]

I'm reading "Latin for Today 2nd Year Course" and I am having a problem with one sentence.

"Hic adulescens ita me amabat, ita verebatur ut me quasi magistro uteretur."

My lame attempt at a translation is:

This youth thus loved me, thus he feared that he didn't use me as a teacher.

Your wording is a little odd so that you might not understand the meaning of the sentence. There is also no negation in the result clause, so it is incorrect to translate as "that he didn't...". I would say "this youth so loved me, so respected (me), that he treated me almost as a teacher". A more literal meaning for utor that would work here is "employ" or "enjoy".

[Interaxus]

Salve Brenne,

You're reading "Latin for Today 2nd Year Course". Which edition, year of publication, chapter/lesson number/title, page, text/exercise?

I'm curious to see your problem sentence in context in one of my copies if possible. I did a quick visual search but failed to locate it (we are talking of Gray and Jenkins?).

Cheers,
Int

[Brennus]

I appreciate your responding Benissimus. Thanks.

Hi Interaxus.

My copy is a revised edition, copyright date 1934. My problem was in chapter 15, on the top of page 134 in a paragraph titled "Modern Youth".

Yes it is Gray and Jenkins.

[Interaxus]

Salve Brenne,

Luckily I have a similarly unabridged copy of Latin for Today Second-Year Course (though in my book the passage is on page 133). I made my own mental translation, then cross-checked with the KEY. Benissimus was of course exactly right. I give the full Latin passage (including ‘macrons’) and translation, for the benefit of any stray thread-readers at the appropriate level:

“In this passage Pliny criticizes the younger generation.”

Hic adulêscêns ita mê amâbat, ita verêbâtur ut mê quasi magistrô ûterêtur. Rârum est hoc in adulescêntibus nostrîs. Nam quî juvenis vel aetâtî seniôris vel auctôritâtî ut minor cêdit? Statim sapiunt, statim sciunt omnia, nêminem verentur, nêminem imitantur atque ipsî sibi exempla sunt.

Any stray readers should stop here and make sure they’ve completed their own mental translation or analysis before reading on …

This young man loved me in such a a way, he respected me in such a way that he treated me as if (I were) his teacher. This is rare in our young men. For what youth yields as an inferior either to the age or to the authority of an older man? They are wise from the cradle, they at once know everything, they fear no one, they imitate no one, and they set themselves an example (they are themselves examples to themselves).

Thanks, Brenne, for the impulse to hone my perception of Latin in action:

ita me amabat, ita verebâtur (hmmm, not necessary to repeat ‘me’ …)

and

vel aetati senioris vel auctoritati (before checking in the Key I understood this in a fuzzy (‘gist’) way but had not clearly seen the two datives clinging to the same genitive).

Great book, by the way.

[Brennus]

Thank you very much guys.