Help with an exercise in Jenney's First Year Latin.

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Vitance
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Help with an exercise in Jenney's First Year Latin.

Post by Vitance »

Hello all; I'm studying with Jenney's First Year Latin, and I don't have an answer key to the exercises contained therein. Since sometimes I've found that it really is confusing, and important to clear up that confusion, I'd like some help with whether my attempt at translating Chapter 39, exercise B-9, is the most effective way to phrase it.

Example: The attack of our foot soldiers forced the enemy to run down the mountain toward the river.

My translation: Impetus nostrorum peditum hostes de monte ad flumen currere coegit.


At first it seems like a straight-forward question, but then there's the issue of Latin syntax (for instance, I've seen the infinitive come after the active verb as well as before—the only thing that makes me think it comes first in this case, is a sort of isolationism, like "the enemy to run down the mountain..." is a sort of clause that must be enveloped by the subject and active verb). Does anyone know a better way to phrase this, or, even better, have the answer key to Jenney's FYL?

Thanks in advance.
This thing which they call love, O Cupid,
Unite or else dissolve entire:
Inspire both with equal passion,
Or else inspire neither.

adrianus
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Re: Help with an exercise in Jenney's First Year Latin.

Post by adrianus »

Straightforwardly (no special emphasis—except for a little on "river"), I think this // Plano modo (sine ullâ vi rerum separatìm ea in "flumen" vocabulo), hoc propono:
Impetus peditum nostrorum hostes [de*] monte flumen versús [or plainly/seu sine vi "ad flumen"] decurrere [or/seu "delabi"] coactus est.
* Optional // facultativum
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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