Equidem...tali honore me haud dignam puto.

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pmda
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Equidem...tali honore me haud dignam puto.

Post by pmda »

In LLPSI Cap 19 we have:

Iulius: "Ille vir pessimus te dignus non erat!" Aemilia: "Recte dicis, mi Iulii. Tu solus amore meo dignus eras...'

Now I took it that this construction is just like: He to you is not worthy'..with 'dignus' agreeing with 'Ille'.

But then Aemilia says 'Tu solus amore meo dignus eras' which using ablative case is like: 'Only you, by my love, are worthy'... not sure what role the ablative plays here.

But we still have 'dignus' agreeing with the subject - Tu.

Then we have Cap 39 when, having received his praise and requests for help, Venus says to Aeneas:

"Equidem...tali honore me haud dignam puto".

Suddenly 'dignam' is agreeing, not with the subject (there isn't really a subject) but with the accusative object - 'me' (?). I've never really understood the grammatical construction of this concept of Ille te dignus non erat etc....

Can anyone advise?

adrianus
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Re: Equidem...tali honore me haud dignam puto.

Post by adrianus »

L&S, [i]dignus -a -um[/i], wrote:I. worthy, deserving (in a good or ill sense), of things, suitable, fitting, becoming, proper (very freq. in all periods and kinds of writing).—Constr., in the most finished models of composition, with the abl. pretii, a relative sentence, or absol.; in the Aug. poets also freq. with the inf.; otherwise with ut, the gen., or the acc. of a neutr. pron. or adj.
(a). With abl. (so most freq.): “dignus domino servus,”
anglicè 'to be worthy of/suitable for someone/something", exampli gratiâ, dignum amore esse
"puto me haud dignam [esse]"
I'm writing in Latin hoping for correction, and not because I'm confident in how I express myself. Latinè scribo ut ab omnibus corrigar, non quod confidenter me exprimam.

pmda
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Re: Equidem...tali honore me haud dignam puto.

Post by pmda »

Adrianus,

1. Ille vir pessimus te dignus non erat.
[Nominative wasn't worthy of you ('of you' rendered by ablative')]

2. Tu solus amore meo dignus eras.
[Nominative only was worthy of my love ('of my love' rendered by ablative')]

3. Nonne talis pater tibi videtur cruce dignus esse?
Doesn't such a nominative seem to you to be worthy of crucifixtion ('of crucifixion' rendered by ablative).

...All well and good. THEN.

4. Equidem tali honore me haud dignam puto.

What's going on here
I do not think that I (rendered by acc. 'me') am worthy of such an honour. ??

adrianus
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Re: Equidem...tali honore me haud dignam puto.

Post by adrianus »

Ut dicis, "As for myself I reckon I am not worthy of such an honour."
I'm writing in Latin hoping for correction, and not because I'm confident in how I express myself. Latinè scribo ut ab omnibus corrigar, non quod confidenter me exprimam.

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