Hello. I’m on Chapter 29, section 1, line 40:
“Laetare una nobiscum te vitam not amisisse simul cum mercibus.”
I think it means something like “be happy with us that you didn’t lose your life with your goods.” But te is either the accusative or ablative, and I’m just not sure how to translate this sentence . It’s not tuam or anything like that.
Can someone tell me if I’m on the right track?
Yes, te is accusative and marks the beginning of indirect speech (oratio obliqua) here. In direct speech, this would have been ‘tu vitam non amisisti…’. In indirect speech, the subject of the clause is put in the accusative and what would have been an active verb becomes an infinitive (‘[that] you didn’t lose your life’).
Also, I would translate una nobiscum as ‘together with us’.
Can you elaborate on why it’s reported speech? The pilot is simply talking to the merchant.
Oratio obliqua (aka indirect speech, indirect discourse, reported speech) is a general catch-all term encompassing indirect statement, indirect question and indirect command.
What you’re dealing with here is a case of indirect statement. Information is often expressed indirectly with a range of verbs, including verbs of actual speaking (Mary said that John can’t cook), but also those of knowing, announcing, showing, seeing, hearing, fearing, hoping, etc. Generally, verbs of saying, verbs of thinking and feeling (in your instance, laetor), and verbs of perception will require oratio obliqua in Latin.
The speaker could have expressed all the information in your sentence directly by saying, ‘Be happy with the rest of us! You didn’t lose your life along with your stuff.’ Instead, he orders (direct command) the listener to be happy that he didn’t lose his life. That he didn’t die is expressed indirectly in the sentence, as an indirect statement.
Acc. + inf. is the most frequent construction for expressing oratio obliqua in Latin, but there are other rules for indirect commands and subordinate verbs in OO. You might want to have a look at Allen and Greenough or ask here if you run into issues.
Thank you.
Yeah, after I emailed you i looked into the companion to LLPSI and read that with verbs expressing mood it’s also used. I thought it might have something in there and sure enough it did. 