«Et qua impetus fert uagantem.»

Latin Learning Latin
1

Hi,
I cannot understand this sentence, nor how it works. Tried to search it on Google, but overall to no avail. There are some translations out there, but I do not see why they translated it that way either.

Here is the passage:
«Ita uero hunc leges, ut me ante focum hybernis noctibus fabulantem audire soles et qua impetus fert uagantem.»

I saw it translated as:

  • «When I ramble as the impulse moves me.»
  • «Quand je divague au gré de mon humeur.»

Why would you read it as a temporal sentence? What does «et qua» mean?

Anyway, I would much appreciate your help.

2

B (relative)
3 By which route, in which direction.


Glare, P. G. W. (Ed.). (2012). Oxford Latin Dictionary (Second Edition, Vol. I & II). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Something like, “Where the impulse takes me as I wander…”

3

Ah! Now I see why they translated it as a temporal clause (it was because of the present participle all along, I guess). Thank you, B. Hofstetter. It is quite useful to think about these things «out loud».

4

Rather “as I wander where the impulse takes me” (or “when I wander where …” or simply “wandering where”). The qua clause depends on vagantem, not the other way round.

5

Thank you for clarifying, Mwh.