Dear all,
I got trouble with this below sentence, it is from story of Regulus:
Ille Romam cum venisset, inductus in senatum, nihil quasi Romanus egit, dixitque, se ex ilia die, qua in potestatem Afrorum venisset, Romanum esse desiisse.
I got confused cause there’re so many pronouns and also the confused meaning of nihil - nothing
Please kindly help me a little bit
Sincerely yours,
Huynh Trong Khanh
All the pronouns refer back to the subject, ille, i.e., Regulus.
“When he had come to Rome, having been admitted to the Senate, he did nothing as a Roman, and he said that from that [illa, not ilia] day on which/when he had come into power/began to rule over the Africans, he had ceased to be a Roman.”
se is the accusative subject of desiisse (from desino) – an infinitive in indirect speech after dixit. Se is reflexive because it refers back to the subject of dixit.
venisset is pluperfect subjunctive because it’s the verb of a subordinate clause in indirect speech.
Hope this helps. Does it straighten out your confusion?
@ Quimmik: thanks so much, you’re so great
Your translating is very clearly for me, of course, I must review again in detail for studying. It seems that I’ve tried to translate a text that is higher than my current ability. I took it from A Latin Reader For The Lower Forms In Schools of H.J. Hardy. And also knowing historical background of the story is a key to define meaning of words
Sincerely yours,
Huynh Trong Khanh