Victo malis muliebri pavore—an online translation reads, “throwing off all womanish fears in their distress.”
No dictionary I consulted lists distress as one of the translations of malis. If the above translation is incorrect, what would a better rendering be?
There’s no reason why ‘distress’ should be wrong. Mala translated literally means ‘bad things’, but no one would use such awkward rendering, so you’re (relatively) free to choose what you want to interpret these ‘bad things’ as.
Some translations take malis here as an ablative of time/circumstances (a particular version of the locative ablative): in their distress / in the evil they were in
Other translations take it (and I would prefer this reading) as an ablative of means implying here also a cause (a version of the instrumental ablative): by the means (because=) of the bad situation / the distress they were in
The syntax works thus (as you probably know already):
pavor muliebris [hīs] malīs vincitur → pavor muliebris [hīs] malīs victus est → victō(abl.) malīs(abl.) muliebrī(abl.) pavōre(abl.)
made with http://linguax.com
= when the womanly fear had been overcome by the means (=because) of the bad situation [they’re were in]
So pick which you prefer.
Your responses were very helpful. I appreciate the feedback.