Chapter 32 Sententiae Antiquae

[scave]

Sentence #16:
"Si vis me flere, dolendum est primum ipsi tibi."

Translation says: "If you wish to weep for me, first you should grieve for yourself."

Why "me" instead of "mihi"? Also, I thought "dolendum est" would be a passive periphrastic. Could this also be translated "he should be grieved for you first."?

Thank you. :)
scave

[Chris Weimer]

Fleo takes the accusative. "Lament" or "bewail" are, in my opinion, better translations if you wish to preserve the construction.

The passive periphrastic plus a form of esse equates to a statement of necessity. Thus "must" is used most often, at least as I have seen.

[elduce]

Scave,

The 'ipsi tibi' is Dative of Agent - right? - so maybe it means
"If you want me to cry/weep, you yourself must first suffer."