Ille dies primus leti primusque malorum
causa fuit; neque enim specie famave movetur,
nec iam furtivum Dido meditatur amorem:
coniugium vocat;
Why is the second “primus” masculine? shouldn’t it be feminine because it is modifying “causa”?
It has the same syntactical function of the first ‘primus’ so I would shoot and say it modifies ‘dies’.
EDIT: That sounds very arrogant. Which I’m not trying to be, since my superiour skills are yet to actually become superiour.
so you are saying that the second clause should be translated “…and that first day was the cause of evils.”?
That’s what is says vir:
“that day was first the cause of death and first [the cause] of the bad stuff”.
i agree it doesn’t seem very smooth in english.