A sentence from Alicia in Terra Mirabili

[Alatius]

As I'm editing the text of this book, I have come across a sentence which I would like to get some input on. The original says:

"The judge, by the way, was the King; and, as he wore his crown over the wig, he did not look at all comfortable, and it was certainly not becoming."

This was rendered into Latin as follows:

"Iudex vero erat Rex; cumque coronam super capillamento gereret, aliquantum incommodi perpeti visus est, eaque satis inepta specie erat."

But that ending phrase seems very contrieved to me; it must be an ablativus qualitatis: "... and this rather silly appearance he had." Instead, I'm inclined to believe that specie is a typo for species; the meaning would then be "... and this was a rather silly sight" with "ea" agreeing with "species" by attraction.

Would you agree, or is the original wording defensible? I'm afraid of missing something obvious here.

[adrianus]

Would you agree, or is the original wording defensible?

Minimè. Bonum est, ut opinor, Alati.
"specie" = "to all appearances"
"...eaque satis inepta specie erat." = 'and it ["corona super capillamento"] was pretty inappropriate to all appearances"

[Alatius]

Ah! Thank you; I'm very glad I asked: evidently I was too fixed on my initial interpretation. So, if I understand you correctly, you are proposing is that ea(que) is nominative singular feminine, agreeing with corona, and in turn that inepta is then nominative as well? If so, I would interpret specie (into perhaps less idiomatic English) as "with regards to appearance", but I guess the gist is the same.

Since I'm evidently not infallible (heh!), I might as well ask about another sentence:

"... she was now about two feet high and was going on shrinking rapidly: she soon found out that the cause of this was the fan she was holding..."

"... Mox repperit causae esse flabellum quod teneret..."

I can't parse that, being pretty confident that causae should be causam. Or?

[adrianus]

You are proposing...

Yes indeed.
Rectè supponis: id quidem propono.

I can't parse that, being pretty confident that causae should be causam. Or?

I like "in causâ esse flabellum" but Terence says "causae" // Sic dicam at aliter "causae" dici potest, secundum Terentium:

"aliquid credito, Phormio, esse causae."
"[You can] Believe, Phormio, something is the cause [of it]"

+ "quid causae est quin..." apud Terentium Horatiumque

[Alatius]

Ignosce mihi tantum Anglice scribenti, quaeso...

"aliquid credito, Phormio, esse causae."

Hm, interesting, but what is the grammatical structure here? Is that a partitive genitive? Wouldn't a closer translation then be "There is some(thing of) reason"? In that case this example is not parallel to "mox repperit causae esse flabellum", is it?

[adrianus]

Forsit sicut haec:
"id mihi curae est" "That's of interest to me"
seu "non flocci facio" "I don't give a straw [bit of wool]."

Almost like genitive of quality.
Ferè simile est casûs genetivi qualitatis.

Aliquid credito, Phormio, esse causae.
Flabellum credito, Phormio, esse causae.

A scarf may cause, but may not be a cause, but can be of a cause [belong to a cause].
Flabellum aliquid evenire faciat; non sicut autem causa id existare, at aptiùs causae esse potest.

[Alatius]

I think you might be right... I found a quote from Livy that is about as close you can come:

... L. Scipio morbum causae esse, cur [P. Scipio] abesset, excusabat.
"Lucius Scipio gave as excuse that sickness was the reason why he [Publius] was absent."

You learn something new every day! I wonder though if this might not in fact be a dative form.

[Vexx]

offtopic:

Wow ! Alice in wonderland in Latin!! id est mirificus !
Wondering; what is the relative difficult of it as a text to read, as in beginners first reads ---> intermediate ----> advanced?

[adrianus]

...if this might not in fact be a dative form.

Say "dative possessive" and we'll be back at genitive.
Possessivum dativum dicito et ad genetivum redibimus.