More Loci Antiqui 6!

Textbooks Wheelock's Latin
1

Right, once again I am having trouble finding the subject!! (It’s the curse of the infinitive…) Here is the sentence:-

Quid vero stultius quam cetera parare quae parantur pecunia sed amicos non parare optimam et pulcherrimam quasi supellectilem vitae

My translation has ended up (very worryingly) as
Why indeed that(?) the more stupid than the rest get those (?) which are obtained by money, but ?? to not get friends, the finest and most beautiful things, as if the furniture of life..

I would guess it should be something like:

Why indeed that those more stupid than the rest get (the things) which are obtained by money and not friends, which are the finest and most beautiful things, so to speak, the furniture of life..

But I don’t know why!! I can’t seem to see accusatives to make up accusative infinitive constructions, and the infinitives are throwing me.

Any and all help appreciated :slight_smile:

2

This one took me some effort myself; the hardest was figuring out the part beginning with “optimam”…

Don’t forget the comma after “amīcōs nōn parāre”. :slight_smile:

“But what is more foolish than obtaining other things that are obtained by money, but not obtaining friends, as if it were the best and most beautiful furniture of life?”

I am still not at all confident about that last part. I’m hoping somebody else can chime in…

(BTW, note that “vērō”, as opposed to “vērē”, often has a contrastive nature akin to “but” or “however”; Wheelock and especially the official answer key are not good about pointing this out.)

3

Cūr nēmō alter aliquid dīxit? Adriāne? Thesaure? Quō fuistis?