Loci Antiqui 6- lost subject..

[kittica]

Hi there, thanks in advance to anyone who can clarify this!

The passage I'm having trouble with is:

Haec enim est tyrannorum vita in qua nulla fides, nulla caritas, nulla benevolentia potest ess; omnia semper metuuntur, nullus locus est amicitiae.

My attempt has been:

This is indeed the life of the tyrants, in which there can be no faith, no affection and no kindness; it fears all things, has no place for friendship (??).

I am having particular trouble with prolific amount of plurals - fides, caritas, ... and also, am working from the presumption that it = life of tyrants, but think i may be wrong.

Any help appreciated!

[furrykef]

I'm amused, because I'd just finished L.A.5 and so L.A.6 is my next subject myself.

Careful with your typing, BTW; "ess" should be "esse".

I am having particular trouble with prolific amount of plurals - fides, caritas

There aren't any plurals here. Fidēs and cāritās are both nominative singular (fidēs can also be nominative/accusative plural, but it isn't in this case).

it fears all things, has no place for friendship (??).

Remember that "metuō" isn't a deponent verb, so this is the passive voice: "all things are feared".

Thus, if I'm reading it right, the sentence means: "This is indeed the life of a tyrant, in which there can be no faith, affection, or kindness; all these things are feared [= a tyrant fears all these things] and there is no room for friendship."

So you were pretty close!