Hi everyone,
I wanted to translate this sentence into Latin:
“While the farmer drives the flock of sheep, the slowest clouds stood in the sky”.
My translation was:
“Agricolā pecum ovium agente, nūbēs lentissimae in caelō stetērunt”.
But my book put it like this:
“Agricolā pecū ovium agente, nūbēs lentissimae in caelō stetērunt”.
My question: am I wrong? and why they used the ablative “pecū” not the accusative?
Thank you.
Shd be pecus (neut.). And phps stabant. The English is not good.
I thought: pecus, pecūs, m.
I think that entry is a mistake in Lewis and Short that has since been fixed. Glare doesn’t include it in his OLD, and I don’t see it at the cited passage (the edition on PHI has pecunia there instead). The writer of your book was probably thinking of pecū, pecūs n., though if not in the ablative, it’s typically in the plural (Glare: “sg. in quots. only in abl.”). I guess it’s possible, if unattested, but pecus (pecoris) or pecua is the better choice.
What book are you using?
JF Mondon. In the glossary he puts:
pecū, -ūs flock; (pl.) pastures
pecus, pecoris (nt.) cattle.
So, to be clear, the word (whatever it is) should be hear in the accusative?
Yes, but note that pecū is in the accusative.
Yes, you are right.
I thought it was: pecus, pecūs, m.
Instead, it is: pecū, -ūs, n. In this case, pecū is also accusative.
Thank you.