Essential GCSE Latin Exercise 67

Hello all,

I’m translating some sentences aspart of my lockdown Latin refresher, 22 years on!

Have come across this in a lesson on ‘cum’ clauses

“Cives, cum hostes urbi appropinquarent, perterriti erant.”

I translate this (rigidly!) as “the citizens, since the enemy ****were approaching the city, had been terrified”.

Bold to show what I think is the pluperfect indicative passive.

However, the answer key has the bold as “were terrified” which i think is perfect and would be “perterriti sunt”.

What very obvious thing am I doing wrong?

Thank for your patience, time and kindness in reading this!

Vale!

RP

Hi Rockp3nquin,
Have a look at Section 464 “Tenses” in Allen & Greenough:
http://dcc.dickinson.edu/grammar/latin/derivation-tenses

You’ll note in the last paragraph that there is no really exact correspondence between Latin & English tenses. You’ll see in the example for the pluperfect that although “constiterat” would normally translate as “he had taken his position”, it could also be translated simply as “he stood”.

Additionally, participles are sometimes simply in a purely adjectival sense, which I suspect is the case here.

  1. Participles are often used as Predicate Adjectives. As such they may be joined to the subject by esse or a copulative verb (see § 283):—

Gallia est dīvīsa (B. G. i. 1), Gaul is divided.
locus quī nunc saeptus est (Liv. i.8 ), the place which is now enclosed.
vidētis ut senectūs sit operōsa et semper agēns aliquid et mōliēns (Cat. M. 26), you see how busy old age is, always aiming and trying at something.
nēmō adhūc convenīre mē voluit cui fuerim occupātus (id. 32), nobody hitherto has [ever] wished to converse with me, to whom I have been “engaged.”

Allen, J. H., & Greenough, J. B. (1903). Allen and Greenough’s New Latin Grammar. (J. B. Greenough, G. L. Kittredge, A. A. Howard, & B. L. D’Ooge, Eds.) (p. 311). Boston: Ginn & Co.

I agree with Barry-this is a pretty common usage.

Thank you for your time!

So I need to loosen up a little - which I half suspected, but didn’t want to give myself a pass. The English of my translation did feel clunky.

And ‘cives perterriti erant’ could have perterriti as an adjective agreeing with cives and erant simply being imperfect of esse?

I think if it had been any other word order I might have seen this!

Thanks again!

~RP~