Fabulae Syrae - XXXI - Prometheus
Postquam igitur Prometheum conspexit, qui non solum ignem inter homines dividebat, sed etiam eos artes varias atque mirabiles docebat, continuo ad Iovem reddiit, ut ei quid fieret nuntiaret. (Not sure about the following sentence) Cum coram eo (abl.) esset, Prometheum (acc.) ex Olympo aufugisse (perf. infinitive) secum aliquantum ignis auferentem nuntiavit (perf.)
When he (Mercurius) appeared before him (Iuppiter) it was announced that Prometheus be expelled from Mount Olympus, carrying with him large quantities of fire. (both clunky and wrong?)
Salve Pianophile,
‘Nuntiavit’ non est idem ac “it was announced”:
- Quis nuntiavit?
- Is nuntiavit, qui erat coram Jove.
Tribus rationibus constat ‘aufugisse’ non idem esse ac “be expelled”.
Prima ratione, quia ‘aufugere’ non idem est ac ‘expellere’.
Altera, quia ‘aufugisse’ infinitivus activus est.
Tertia, quia ‘aufugisse’ infinitivus activus temporis perfecti est (quod recte scripsisti). Cum Mercurius coram Jove loquitur, Prometheus ab Olympo iam profectus est.
Verba quae Anglice scripisti (“it was announced that Prometheus be expelled from Mount Olympus”) ita scriberem Latine: ‘Nuntiatum est Prometheum ex Olympo expellendum esse’.
Veniam peto ab omnibus lectoribus benevolentibus, si in haec, quae scripsi, aliquid erroris irrepserit.
Salve shenoute -
My main problem with that sentence was that I couldn’t see a subject/nominative. Initially I thought it was Promethius who had appeared before Iuppiter - but thank god I didn’t go down that route. Still looking for a subject I thought “nuntiavit” was meant impersonally, hence “it was announced”. Yep, clutching at straws.
I should have stepped back and realised, as you pointed out, it was Mercurius qui erat coram Iove who announced that "Promethius had fled/run away from Mt Olympus taking with him large quantities of fire/torches (Logeion: FriezeDennisonVergil - īgnis, is, m.: fire, 1.175, and freq.; torch, Would “torches” be acceptable?
I hope I have understood correctly.
Shenoute, multas gratias tibi ago.
My pleasure!
About ignis/torch, it seems to me that ignis being singular here points to “a large quantity of fire” (no matter how bad this sounds in English). For something like “large quantities of torches”, I’d expect aliquantum ignium. But don’t take my word for it.
Salve Shenoute - I wholeheartedly agree with you. As everybody here keeps saying: “Do not translate - think in Latin”. I should not have been sidetracked by “torch” mentioned on Logeion.
Iterum multas gratias tibi ago.
In lines 99-101 of the story you are reading you will have read that:
“Dum vero ad currum accedit, ferulam in horto vidit, quam eo consilio carpsit, ut in ea ignem latentem ad homines portaret.”
I think that this shows “ignis” in this context must mean fire. If Prometheus had left Olympus with a lot of torches (or even one) somebody would have noticed and thence there would have been no need to send Mercury to investigate. The whole point is that he secreted the fire he stole in a Fennel stalk, so no-one knew what he was up to.
These stories seem very well constructed so that by reading them carefully you can extract all kinds of helpful material which can help to resolve many issues of meaning without recourse to a dictionary.