Salvete,
while reading a bit in Livy about the siege of Saguntum I was startled by the use of masculine “stimulando” instead of “stimulanda” (to fit the preceding “ira”):
What am I missing? Shouldn’t it read either “irâ in hostes stimulandâ” or “iram in hostes stimulandô”? I checke three different editions, so it cannot be a typo.
Valete,
Carolus Raeticus
Isn’t that just a gerund instead of a gerundive?
I think as well that stimulando is a gerund.
What am I missing? Shouldn’t it read either “irâ in hostes stimulandâ” or “iram in hostes stimulandô”? I checke three different editions, so it cannot be a typo.
Interim animos eorum nunc ira in hostes stimulando, nunc spe praemiorum
accendit.
Here is the way I tried to solve this one.
Meanwhile, he inflamed their spirits, by goading [stimulando],
first on account of their anger against the enemy [ira in hostes],
and then on account of hope of rewards. [spe praemiorum]
Salve!
This does the trick for me. So, both “ira” and “spe” are basically ablatives of means/instrument, aren’t they? Isn’t this construction a bit heavy-handed?
Vale,
Carolus Raeticus
Meanwhile, he inflamed their spirits by inciting them alternatively [nunc . . . nunc] with rage against the enemy and with hope for rewards.
I think that animos does double duty as object of both stimulando and accendit.
I like that. I didn’t think of the double-duty object, because for some reason I cannot now recover I was looking for a different object of stimulando.