sui again, please critique

Latin Learning Latin
1

Boethius, Consolation, Book ii, prosa v.

Philosophy is explaining how the beauty of gems, and other such objects, falls short of the beauty of living beings.

Quae tametsi conditoris opera suique* distinctione
postremae aliquid pulchritudinis trahunt,
infra vestram tamen excellentiam conlocatae
admirationem vestram nullo modo merebantur.

Which [Quae, gems and such] even if, owing to the work of the creator [ i.e. God]
and with a special distinctiveness of their own [sui: antecedent is plural subject of trahunt]
some inferior [postremae] beauty they bring
nevertheless, placed below your excellence,
they in no way merit your veneration.


Quae: I read as feminine plural, to agree with gemmae.
opera [opera, operae, fem.], distinctione: I read both ablative singular
conditoris: gen. singular
conlocatae: nominative plural; I read as “conlocatae sunt”, to agree with “Quae”, and “gemmae”

SHAKY SPECULATION FOLLOWS.
*sui: genitive plural, to agree in number with plural subject of trahunt. Why? Since “sui” does not agree in case with “distinctione”, “sui” cannot be an adjective. Sui must be a reflexive pronoun; hence it must agree in number with the verb “trahunt”. At first I wanted to make the antecedent of “sui” be “conditor”, after “conditoris”. But I gave up on this, after studying a couple of translations. I definitely need help on this point.

2

One thing that I think is confusing you slightly is the fact that reflexive pronoun se is indeterminate as to number: it can be either singular or plural, depending on the subject of the verb. (Similarly, suus can refer to either a singular or a plural antecedent, depending on the number of the subject of the verb.)

Conlocatae is simply a past participle used as an adjective–no need for sunt. The verb of the clause is of course merebantur.

I think the ablatives go with trahunt: "they derive some inferior beauty from the work of the creator and a special distinctiveness of their own . . . "

Note merebantur is imperfect: “they in no way merited your admiration”.

Otherwise, your analysis is fundamentally correct.

Bill

3

pronoun: Yes, you spotted the problem, which it is a special case of my imperfect grasp of pronouns and adjectival pronouns. I’m trying to give them special attention.

conlocatae: is adjective, no need for sunt. Right! Got it. I cannot now retrace the mental path that led me astray.

merebantur is imperfect: Got it. Must look out for verb tense.

Thanks for the pinpoint observations, Qimmik.