Salvete,
I hope that people are keeping safe as far as possible. To help stave off cabin fever, I have a few more Latin difficulties to ask for help with I’m afraid! This time, the issue is, I hope minor, and is within the passage for translation at the end of Ch. 21 of Mike Seigel’s Latin: A Clear Guide to Syntax, namely Ex. 21.2, p.103 - please see the link or my transcription below:
Ex. 21.2 THE CAUDINE FORKS
Samnites tamen, incerti quid facerent, legatos cum litteris ad Herennium Pontium, patrem imperatoris, miserunt qui eum rogarent ut consilium daret. ille autem, senectute gravatus, a rebus publicis iam diu aberat. sed in corpore invalido valebat vis animi. is ubi audivit ad Furculas Caudinas duos exercitus Romanos clauses esse censuit ut omnes quam primum inviolati dimitterentur. quae cum contempta esset sententia, censuit ut omnes interficerentur. eis rogantibus cur duo tam discordia responsa dedisset, dixit priore consilio, quod melius putaret, Samnites cum potentissimo populo perpetuam pacem amicitiamque firmaturos esse; altero in multos annos bellum dilaturos esse, dum Romani vires recepissent; nullum tertium consilium esse.
Supplied vocabulary:
censeo - I recommend
differo, differre, distuli, dilatum - I put off
Now, I found this passage to be considerably easier than that of the previous chapter (the difficulty curve of this book seems to me to be a little less obviously progressive than is claimed in the introduction and elsewhere). I present here a workmanlike translation to try and demonstrate my understanding of the Latin grammar.
Nevertheless the Samnites, unsure of what they were to do [indirect question], sent envoys to Herennius Pontius, the father of their general, to ask him to give [to them] advice. However that man, weighted down by old age, had already been absent for a long time from public affairs. But in a weak body, strength [of mind - untranslated as per Aetos*] prevailed. He, when he heard that two Roman armies were besieged at the Caudine Forks, recommended that all the uninjured men be discharged as quickly as possible [do I have this right?]. When this sentiment had been disregarded, he recommended that they all be killed. [Abl. absolute w/pres. participle] With them asking why he had given two so discordant replies, he said that by means of the first plan, which he thought the better, the Samnites would affirm a perpetual peace and friendship with a most powerful people; by means of the other, the war would be put off for many years [is this how in + acc. should be translated here - it makes sense in English, but I have not seen this before. I would have just expected an acc. of duration of time/time how long], until the Romans could recover their strength [ubi+subj. temporal clause w/ sense possibility]; there was no third option.
My main concerns here were 1) what precisely is going on grammatically at ‘quae cum contempta esset sententia’ - I see a connecting relative describing sententia - ‘i.e. Which [This] sentiment when it had been disregarded,’ and 2) ‘in multos annos’ and 3) is dum+subjunctive here, as I see it, a temporal clause ‘until’ with subjunctive used to express possibility? I suppose 3) I was also slightly troubled by whether or not ‘priore consilio’ and ‘altero’ are ablatives of means/instrument?
As usual, the pointing out of any howlers - or indeed, even niggling misunderstandings would be immensely appreciated - it all helps me to get better.
Best wishes,
Jamie