Help to translate

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testsuda
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 94
Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2015 2:40 pm

Help to translate

Post by testsuda »

Dear all,

I got trouble with this below sentence, it is from story of Regulus:

Ille Romam cum venisset, inductus in senatum, nihil quasi Romanus egit, dixitque, se ex ilia die, qua in potestatem Afrorum venisset, Romanum esse desiisse.

I got confused cause there're so many pronouns and also the confused meaning of nihil - nothing

Please kindly help me a little bit

Sincerely yours,

Huynh Trong Khanh

Qimmik
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Posts: 2090
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 10:15 pm

Re: Help to translate

Post by Qimmik »

All the pronouns refer back to the subject, ille, i.e., Regulus.

"When he had come to Rome, having been admitted to the Senate, he did nothing as a Roman, and he said that from that [illa, not ilia] day on which/when he had come into power/began to rule over the Africans, he had ceased to be a Roman."

se is the accusative subject of desiisse (from desino) -- an infinitive in indirect speech after dixit. Se is reflexive because it refers back to the subject of dixit.

venisset is pluperfect subjunctive because it's the verb of a subordinate clause in indirect speech.

Hope this helps. Does it straighten out your confusion?

testsuda
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 94
Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2015 2:40 pm

Re: Help to translate

Post by testsuda »

@ Quimmik: thanks so much, you're so great

Your translating is very clearly for me, of course, I must review again in detail for studying. It seems that I've tried to translate a text that is higher than my current ability. I took it from A Latin Reader For The Lower Forms In Schools of H.J. Hardy. And also knowing historical background of the story is a key to define meaning of words

Sincerely yours,

Huynh Trong Khanh

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