Wheelock Chp. 17 - translation points of confusion

Textbooks Wheelock's Latin
1

Salvete everyone,

I’m having some difficulty with Chapter 17, the P&R. Any aid would bemost appreciated - see below.

Bennissimus,

Hi, this is my first semester in Latin and I usually use your answers to check myself. On the P&R for Chp. 17, I have a question about the relative clause in no. 1 “quae nos semper alunt.” Your key has the translation “which always nourishes us,” but isn’t the verb in the relative clause in the 3rd person plural? If so, and I could be mistaken, shouldn’t it read something like “which we always nourish.”

I have a question as well about no. 6 “Centum ex viris mortem diu timebant et nihil clementiae exspectabant.” The key has “A hundred of the men feared death for a long time and expected no mercy.” I’m confused about how centum ex viris translates to a hundred of the men, because I thought that ex took the ablative, but when I translate the sentence I get “A hundred men were afraid of death from men for a long time and were expecting nothing of mercy.” And that just sounds a little silly. Can you help?

Aine

2

I am no expert, so my opinion is just personal.

However, I think the key is right for No.1. Obviously the clause is led by quae, which indicates the thing it refers is in feminine plural, which should be “artium”.

Therefore, the whole sentence should be like this:

The power of arts is also powerful, which (arts) always nourish us.

Your explanation cannot hold, since if so, the “quae” has to be in accusative case, which can only be accusative neutral plural. However, nothing in the main clause is neutral plural. What’s more important, is that alunt should be 3rd person plural, which does not agree with the subject nos.

Hope you will find my explanation useful.

3

About No. 6, that is the ablative with cardinal numbers.

cardinal number + ex + ablative means “number out of xxxxx”

That is in the Wheelock book page 99.

4

if you think of it as being 100 out of the men, then it shouldn’t be too confusing. It got me, too. So, out of the larger group of men, one hundred were the subject of your sentence.