I’m reading a story about Persius, and have got to the bit where Polydectes is trying to get rid of Persius, so that he can try his luck with his mum, and Polydectes says to Persius:
which I assume means something like “You’re not a kid anymore. Are you going to stay here forever?” But I can’t get a literal translation for ‘iam dudum’, (now, a little while ago you are a youth ??) and I can’t find a meaning for ‘Quo’ which fits. Can someone help?
Dudum means “for some time, for a long time.” So Iam dudum might mean “for some time already.”
Quo usque is a common Latin idiom meaning, roughly, “how long.” Literally, it’s something like “all the way to what point.”
Consider the first sentence of Cicero’s first Catilinarian oration:
Quo usque tandem, Catilina, abutere patientia nostra?
With some liberty: “When will we see the last, Catiline, of you exploiting our patience?”
Or, more literally, “All the way to what point at last, Catiline, will you abuse our patience?”