cum itaque de facinore quaeritur qua causa factum sit, credi non solet, nisi cum appetitus adipiscendi alicuius illorum bonorum quae infima diximus esse potuisse apparuerit aut metus amittendi.
I’m concerned with this phrase: cum appetitus adipiscendi alicuius illorum bonorum.
Effort at translationese: “when the desire of-taking of-some [alicuius] of-those-goods [illorum bonorum]”
I want to think that adipiscendi is a gerund, the genitive complement of appetitus. In turn alicuius illorum bonorum is the genitive complement of adipiscendi.
Hi Hugh,
I wonder if alicuius could be “someone’s”, i.e. referring to the owner of “those goods”, and illorum then is paired with quae (of those goods which). Tacitus uses the genitive with adipiscor ( “rerum adeptus est”), so I don’t see why Augustine wouldn’t. I agree that adipiscendi is a gerund and contrasts nicely with amittendi.
I think that’s a good idea, Aetos. I looked at the following sentences and they concern wrongful takings from another person. The LCL translator Carolyn J. B. Hammond translates alicuius as “belonging to someone else.”
A chain of several genitives shakes my confidence, also shaken by the appearance of a gerund, which seems infrequent enough in my reading that I have to refresh my memory of it now and then.
For ease of reference, I copy the snip of Latin I asked about:
cum itaque de facinore quaeritur qua causa factum sit, credi non solet, nisi cum appetitus adipiscendi alicuius illorum bonorum quae infima diximus esse potuisse apparuerit aut metus amittendi.