Wheelock and the Death of Socrates

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tedexter
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Wheelock and the Death of Socrates

Post by tedexter »

I can't work out the syntax in the first line of No. 13-the death of Socrates, Sententiae Antiquae, Ch.30.
It begins:

Sed tempus est iam me discedere ut cicutam bibam, et vos discedere ut vitam agatis.

I translated this as:

But now it is time to leave me so that I may drink the hemlock, and to leave you so that you may live your life.

Is this correct? It doesn't sound right. How do the infinitive phrases me discedere and vos discedere function in the sentence? Are they like indirect statements, or do they funtion adjectivally, modifying the noun tempus?
Thanks[/i]

spiphany
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Post by spiphany »

You have the general idea. The infinitive phrase is functioning substantively here; I think it's what is called a subject accusative.

Try taking 'me' and 'vos' as the (accusative) subjects of discedere rather than the objects and the sentence will make more sense. The construction is similar to that of an indirect statement.
IPHIGENIE: Kann uns zum Vaterland die Fremde werden?
ARKAS: Und dir ist fremd das Vaterland geworden.
IPHIGENIE: Das ist's, warum mein blutend Herz nicht heilt.
(Goethe, Iphigenie auf Tauris)

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