Redeuntibus - Roma Aeterna XLVIII Lines 364–367

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wilhelmjohnson
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Redeuntibus - Roma Aeterna XLVIII Lines 364–367

Post by wilhelmjohnson »

Inde variōs vultūs dīgredientium ab nūntiīs cernerēs, ut cuique laeta aut trīstia nūntiābantur, grātulantēsque aut cōnsōlantēs redeuntibus domōs circumfūsōs.

Thence you might discern the various faces of the departing from the news, as happiness or sadness were being announced to each one,...

I'm having trouble make the grātulantēsque aut cōnsōlantēs redeuntibus domōs circumfūsōs clause make sense.

anphph
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Re: Redeuntibus - Roma Aeterna XLVIII Lines 364–367

Post by anphph »

Inde variōs vultūs dīgredientium ab nūntiīs cernerēs, ut cuique laeta aut trīstia nūntiābantur, grātulantēsque aut cōnsōlantēs redeuntibus domōs circumfūsōs.

Thence you might discern the various faces of those walking away from the messengers, as happiness or sadness were being announced to each one, and you would also discern others, either congratulating or consoling, mixed with those returning to their homes.

This is what might have thrown you off:

gratulantes et consolates ... circumfusos is an accusative, still under "cerneres"
redeuntibus is dative plural, required by "circumfundo" (to mix, to commingle)
domos is accusative of movement, meaning where they are going (in this case, returning) to - we wouldn't connect it with circumfusos because the latter is masculine, whereas domos is feminine.

I also corrected your "messages" to "messengers". It's true that nuntius,i (masculine!) meaning message is also possible, but it seems to make more sense to take it as the actual messengers.

varios might also be a stronger word than the English "various". It just doesn't mean "different", since the word in Latin has a connotation of variety - they each had different characteristics and features, presumably because some received good news and others received not-so-good news. This anticipates the "laeta/gratulantes" and "tristia/consolates" a few words down.

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