What does coniugum mean here?

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pmda
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What does coniugum mean here?

Post by pmda »

In LLPSI Orberg scripsit:

Ergo ubi dolore victa mori constituit, tempus modumque ipsa secum reputat, et sororem alloquitur vultu sereno [(vultus) serenus = placidus] consilium celans ac spem simulans: "Inveni rationem, Anna, quae mihi reddat eum aut amore eius me solvat: sacerdos quaedam ex gente Massylorum dicit 'carminibus se mentes aegras curis exsolvere posse.' Tu in regia interiore sub divo erige rogum, et arma viri, quae in thalamo fixa reliquit, exuviasque omnes lectumque iugalem [lectus iugalis = lectus coniugum], quo perii, super impone! Cuncta viri impii monumenta abolere volo itaque me iubet sacerdos." Haec locuta silet ore pallido. Non tamen Anna intellegit sororem furentem funus parare. Ergo iussa peragit.

I'm having trouble with 'coniugum'. This is in square brackets and is Orberg's marginal help (I'm not being ironical! - it's in the margin of the page...). My question: what does coniugum mean here? The word, I understand, is a genitive plural of coniunx, coniugis. So is this a way of saying 'marriage bed'...? Bed of the husband & wife...?

and if so why doesn't he say lectus coniugii ?

Qimmik
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Re: What does coniugum mean here?

Post by Qimmik »

So is this a way of saying 'marriage bed'...? Bed of the husband & wife...?
Yes. "bed of spouses", the bed in which husband and wife sleep together.
why doesn't he say lectus coniugii ?
More striking expression, more concrete, more intimate, more emotionally charged.
Last edited by Qimmik on Tue Jun 04, 2013 9:15 pm, edited 2 times in total.

pmda
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Re: What does coniugum mean here?

Post by pmda »

Quimmik, gratias tibi ago.

Paulus

Qimmik
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Re: What does coniugum mean here?

Post by Qimmik »

It's the bed Dido and Aeneas have been sleeping together in as if they were husband and wife. Dido and Aeneas weren't really married--well, there's a question as to whether what happened in the cave during the thunderstorm was a real marriage; Dido deludes herself into thinking that it was, and refers to the bed as a marriage bed, implicitly claiming that they were man and wife.

Actually, Vergil uses the phrase lectumque iugalem. Aeneid IV 496. "conjugal bed"

pmda
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Re: What does coniugum mean here?

Post by pmda »

A salutary tale.

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