Does such a thing exist? I googled it and couldn’t find anything. If not, I think it’s something I would like to attempt one day when I get really good at Latin (along with translating Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus). Anyways, I took a look at a free online copy of Alice in Wonderland to see how I would fare with as much Latin as I know so far. I attempted the first sentence. Could someone correct me where I’m wrong? Gratias vobis ago.
ALICE was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do.
Alicia fessissima fieri incipiebat (of sitting) apud sororem suam in ripa, ac (of having) nihil agere.
I obviously don’t know how to translate what’s in parentheses. My first (and only) guess was to translate those two words into the ablative gerund with de. But that doesn’t seem right. And another thing: I’m not sure if I’m using the correct word for and in the second clause. Which is it? Ac/atque or et?
I haven’t read it but it exists, see here for details. Given the date of publication, I’d expect the translation to be good.
ALICE was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do.
Alicia fessissima fieri incipiebat (of sitting) apud sororem suam in ripa, ac (of having) nihil agere.
I obviously don’t know how to translate what’s in parentheses. My first (and only) guess was to translate those two words into the ablative gerund with > de> .
If using fessus then I’d use the ablative alone (sedendo). But I think fessus might not be the best choice here because, to me, it means being tired because of an effort. Here, Alice’s being “tired” is an Anglicism to express something akin to boredom, if I read the English well. I’d use something like taedere, the cause being then expressed by infinitives as subjects: something like Aliciam magnopere taedere incipiebat sedere…
And since it seems to be a rather minor case of boredom after all, I wonder if taedere alone is not enough to express “to get very tired”. Maybe there is no need for magnopere or a similar adverb.
In the translation by Clive Harcourt Carruthers, the first sentence reads “Aliciam jam incipiebat plurimum taedere juxta sororem suam in ripa sedere nec quidquam habere quod faceret.” So pretty much what Shenoute has suggested.
Edit: I think the translation is competently done and worth reading if you’re interested in this sort of thing. There’s a recent edition of the translation published by Evertype.