stray eius diei

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phil
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stray eius diei

Post by phil »

I am trying to read a story about Jason and the Argonauts, and there is this sentence:

Postrîdiê êius diêî Iâsôn tempestâtem satis idôneam esse arbitrâtus (summa enim tranquillitâs iam cônsecûta erat), ancorâs sustulit, et pauca mîlia passuum prôgressus ante noctem Mýsiam attigit.

The next day, Jason judged that the weather was suitable enough (in fact very calm weather had followed [the storm]), he weighed anchor, travelled a few miles and landed at Mysia before nightfall.

What is the 'eius diei' doing? I can't make sense of it.

Kasper
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Post by Kasper »

"The following day of that day Jason considered..."

Better English would be "The day following that day..."

I assume something noteworthy occurred on the day before the day taht Jason thought the winds favourable?
“Cum ego verbo utar,” Humpty Dumpty dixit voce contempta, “indicat illud quod optem – nec plus nec minus.”
“Est tamen rogatio” dixit Alice, “an efficere verba tot res indicare possis.”
“Rogatio est, “Humpty Dumpty responsit, “quae fiat magister – id cunctum est.”

phil
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Post by phil »

Thanks, it makes sense now. And yes, they'd just killed a friendly king, which some would consider noteworthy!

bellum paxque
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Post by bellum paxque »

That sounds awfully like Richie's Fabulae Faciles! I recently read through those selections about Jason & the Argonauts. Pretty interesting reads.

I'm pretty sure that postridie eius diei is a set Latin expression meaning "the next day." It seems redundant to English eyes, but the editor of my electronic copy of Fabulae Faciles created a note about it.

So there isn't any particular emphasis on eius diei: it's just the way the idiom works.

-David

PS - I believe that Richie, probably writing in the 19th century, based his prose on Caesar's Gallic Wars. Perhaps it's a pet expression of Caesar? (I haven't read enough of him myself to say, though I don't recall encountering it in 30 chapters or so of bellum civile...

Interaxus
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Post by Interaxus »

BP&, spot on as usual!

Credit to Google where credit’s due. “postridie eius diei? gave many hits, including both Ritchie and Caesar's Bello Gallico, eg 1. 23, which I then checked in a couple of my old Caesars and found notes such as:

(lit. On that day’s following day), On the next day. (Scudder)

‘on the day after this day’; translate ‘the next day’. (Berry/Lee)

Now I just have to remember how to access the Real Audio Latin recordings by Dale Grote of Ritchie’s texts (within the Perseus Project).

And then guess what I discovered quite by serendipity!

http://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagina_prima

VICIPAEDIA LATINA!!!

It’s obviously still under construction but it soon led me, for example, to a 1796 French translation of Horace's Ode 1.9.

Près du chêne enflammé, défiant les hivers,
Brave dans ton foyer la saison rigoureuse ;
Verse ton vieux nectar d'une main généreuse,
Et laisse aux Dieux le soin de régir l'univers.


What, did 'rigoureuse' once rhyme with 'l'univers'?

but of course that’s a whole new language ...

Int

magisterludi
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Post by magisterludi »

I think that hivers is to rhyme with l'univers, and rigoureuse with genereuse. But I'm supposed to be learning Latin, not Francaise! :D

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