Hi I’m using the Oxford Latin Course in my college class, and I need some help with a translation.
ille tabulam summā reverentiā acceptam perlēgit deōque grātiās ēgit.
What I am getting is: He (the priest), receiving the tablet gratefully, read through it completely and thanked the god,
If I have it right awesome, but I’m not certain on that, and any help would be much appreciated.
The literal translation of the sentence is:
“He thoroughly read the tablet, that had been received with the highest reference, and gave thanks to God.”
What is unclear in the sentence is of course by whom the tablet had actually been received. I suppose this is because of the passive meaning of the perfect participle (although it does generally seem to be regularly used as being active in meaning), and the absence of an active participle.
The only error in your translation really is that you have translated ‘acceptam’ as being a present participle, rather than perfective, i.e. the tablet has been received and is then read; it is not being read while being received (a very tricky thing to do).
You’ve got it right! No suggestions here.