Hi, I’m attempting to translate the Aeneid, and I’m a bit confused by the grammar of the following passage:
“…quam Iuno fertur terris magis omnibus…”
I’m confused because this is typically translated as “which Juno holds dearest/closest of all the (cities of) the world” or something to that effect, but isn’t fertur passive voice, making Juno the object, not the subject? So it would be “Juno is held” (or whatever translation of fertur you feel is appropriate)?
Juno is the subject of the passive fertur: she is reported to have cared etc. It would be the object if it were (forgive me, Virgil): quam Junonem ferunt etc.
It also really helps to look at the entire sense unit:
quam Iuno fertur terris magis omnibus unam
posthabita coluisse Samo
If you can answer the question “Why is coluisse infinitive?” then you’ve answered the question on the usage of “fertur,” which is a fairly common usage of fero, BTW:
b. Ferunt, fertur, feruntur, etc., they relate, tell, say; it is said, it appears, etc.—With inf.: quin etiam Xenocratem ferunt, cum quaereretur ex eo, etc.… respondisse, etc., Cic. Rep. 1, 2: fuisse quendam ferunt Demaratum, etc., id. ib. 2, 19: quem ex Hyperboreis Delphos ferunt advenisse, id. N. D. 3, 23, 57; Hor. C. 3, 17, 2: homo omnium in dicendo, ut ferebant, acerrimus et copiosissimus, Cic. de Or. 1, 11, 45: Ceres fertur fruges … mortalibus instituisse, Lucr. 5, 14: in Syria quoque fertur item locus esse, etc., id. 6, 755: is Amulium regem interemisse fertur, Cic. Rep. 2, 3: qui in contione dixisse fertur, id. ib. 2, 10 fin.: quam (urbem) Juno fertur terris omnibus unam coluisse, Verg. A. 1, 15: non sat idoneus Pugnae ferebaris, you were accounted, held, Hor. C. 2, 19, 27: si ornate locutus est, sicut fertur et mihi videtur, Cic. de Or. 1, 11, 49; cf.: cum quaestor ex Macedonia venissem Athenas florente Academia, ut temporibus illis ferebatur, id. ib. § 45.
Lewis, C. T., & Short, C. (1891). Harpers’ Latin Dictionary (pp. 738–739). New York; Oxford: Harper & Brothers; Clarendon Press.