Quae postquam Helenus...

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pmda
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Quae postquam Helenus...

Post by pmda »

Quae postquam Helenus vates divino ore fatus est, dona magnifica ad naves ferri iussit.

? Cur 'Quae' ?

Carolus Raeticus
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Re: Quae postquam Helenus...

Post by Carolus Raeticus »

Salve!
Quae postquam Helenus vates divino ore fatus est, dona magnifica ad naves ferri iussit.
Quae is a relative pronoun and takes its gender and number from its antecedent, in this case from the previous sentence unknown to me but probably some uttering by Helenus about the wanderings of Aeneas. The neuter is used when referring to entire statements, the plural probably because its a lengthier statement or one made of several parts.

Vale,

Carolus Raeticus
Sperate miseri, cavete felices.

pmda
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Re: Quae postquam Helenus...

Post by pmda »

Hoc est quod antequam est..

'Praestat totam Siciliam longo cursu circumire quam semel Scyllam informem videre et saxa illa resonantia experiri. Praeterea hoc unum ante omnia te moneo: semper Iunonem primum adora atque illi deae potenti maxima sacrificia fac! Sic denique, Sicilia relicta, tutus in Italiam pervenies. Haec sunt quae mea voce licet te monere. Age, vade, et factis tuis Troiam ad caelum tolle!”

Quae postquam Helenus.....'

?

Carolus Raeticus
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Re: Quae postquam Helenus...

Post by Carolus Raeticus »

Salve pmda!

This is pretty much what I expected. Quae refers to everything Helenus has said, i.e. Praestat ... Troiam ad caelum tolle! Such statements require the neutral gender (due to the lack of an obvious masculine or feminine antecedent), and the complexity of the statement causes the plural, ergo: quae.

Compare the stock phrase Quae cum ita sint...

Vale,

Carolus Raeticus
Sperate miseri, cavete felices.

pmda
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Re: Quae postquam Helenus...

Post by pmda »

Ok so it means something like 'After which......

Alatius
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Re: Quae postquam Helenus...

Post by Alatius »

Perhaps I'm pointing out the obvious, but in case you overlooked it: "quae" is the object to the deponent verb "fatus est". So "After Helenus had said that..."

pmda
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Re: Quae postquam Helenus...

Post by pmda »

Alatius, unfortunately not that obvious to me...! Thanks. Paul

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