Amicia
“Herculis mentum paulo attritus” Cicero this is from Lewis and Short Dictioanry
Google translate “Hercules’ chin was a little worn”. Surely there is a better way to translate attritus in this sentence! Or maybe the setting would help.
(I making sentences with different body parts)
Gratias tibi ago.
Salve,
I would say that « attritus » here means that the skin is irritated/reddened maybe ?
Do you have acces to a commentary for this text ?
Hi! I think google was accurate.
I don’t know if “Hercule’s chin a little bit worn away” sounds any better, but the original quotation from Cicero’s In Verrem 2.4.94 reads “usque eo ut rictum ejus [sc. Herculis] ac mentum paulo sit attritius”, “to such an extent that his mouth and chin are a little bit rather worn away”. (because people not only worship the image of Hercules, but also kiss it, and as a result the mouth and chin area is more worn away than other parts)
Yes, it’s not describing Hercules himself but a statue of him which has suffered attrition, as kanta well explains. Description of images, whether three- or two-dimensional (statues or pictures), are a literary subgenre known as ecphrasis. Just yesterday on the Greek board we had a Byzantine poem where Cupids are described as lyre-playing silently (σιγῇ): the paradox tips us off to the fact that it’s an ecphrasis, a description of a painting, a static image of action, thematizing the relation between visual and verbal art.
A great example in Latin is the depiction of Ariadne’s desertion by Theseus in Catullus 64—Ariadne on the shore.
Awesome. Now it makes sense. Like the stone steps of a ancient church worn from some many people walking on them. Okay, so the same thing happens to the statue of Hercules. The setting makes all the difference. Thank you so much my fine detectives. 