...quem metui moritura?

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pmda
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...quem metui moritura?

Post by pmda »

Orberg LLPSI Cap XL

Dido soliloquises..

Infelix Dido, nunc demum facta impia te tangunt! En fides eius quem patrios Penates secum portare aiunt
'Unhappy Dido, now finally evil deeds are upon you! See his promise, they say he brought his national Gods

et parentem aetate confectum umeris subiisse [umeris sustinere]! Nonne ego eum et socios et ipsum
..and the father dead of old age to have been carried on his shoulders! Could I not have slain him, his companions and

Ascanium ferro absumere potui? Etiam si pugnae fortuna dubia fuisset, quem metui moritura?
Ascanius himself? And if fortune of arms would have been doubtful, ..what would frighten me who am about to die?

I'm not sure about the use of 'quem' in both highlighted instances. I think the translation is mostly OK...?

What are they doing and why are they in masculine accusative.. ?

pmda
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Re: ...quem metui moritura?

Post by pmda »

Is the first 'quem' simply reported speech...referring to Aeneas?

Qimmik
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Re: ...quem metui moritura?

Post by Qimmik »

En fides eius quem patrios Penates secum portare aiunt "Here is the faithfulness of him who they say carried his paternal Penates with him [i.e., Aeneas]." quem is a relative pronoun here. It's accusative in Latin because it's in indirect discourse after aiunt.

Etiam si pugnae fortuna dubia fuisset, quem metui moritura? - She says, "I should have killed them when I had the chance." If there had been a pitched battle between the Carthaginians under Dido and the Trojans, "even if the outcome of the battle had been in doubt, who would I have feared, since I was going to die anyway?" quem here is an interrogative pronoun, accusative because it's the direct object of metui[/i.] She slips from the pluperfect subjunctive fuissetin the protasis of the conditional--normal for a contrary-to-fact condition--into the perfect indicative metui, a more "vivid" mode of expression.

pmda
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Re: ...quem metui moritura?

Post by pmda »

Thank you Quimmik for your most helpful guidance.

pmda
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Re: ...quem metui moritura?

Post by pmda »

Actually....(again) Quimmik. I can't figure out 'moritura'? It seems to be a future participle but of what?

pmda
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Re: ...quem metui moritura?

Post by pmda »

Quick reply to my own post.....it's an adjective ! ? meaning 'about to die??!'

Qimmik
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Re: ...quem metui moritura?

Post by Qimmik »

Again, a future active participle, meaning, as you note, "about to die," or in this context "who was going to die." "Whom did I have to fear, since I was going to die anyway?"
Last edited by Qimmik on Mon Jul 08, 2013 8:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

pmda
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Re: ...quem metui moritura?

Post by pmda »

yes but of what verb is it a fut. act. participle?

Qimmik
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Re: ...quem metui moritura?

Post by Qimmik »

morior -- "to die".

Qimmik
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Re: ...quem metui moritura?

Post by Qimmik »

Remember the phrase the gladiators supposedly uttered as they entered the arena:

Ave Caesar, morituri te salutamus! Hail Caesar, we who are about to die salute you. Or something like that.

pmda
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Re: ...quem metui moritura?

Post by pmda »

Thanks Quimmik

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