Latin Study Guide

Essay Question “Good translations rank high among the necessities of our times. Peoples and nations need them to escape from the Tower of Babel, and to understand the past. Yet translation has often, and rightly, been called impossible to achieve.” After your first bout year with (somewhat) real Latin, you now have earned the title of translator. With all your experiences in mind, please assess

Anaphora: the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses or lines. *We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender. Churchill. *Nihil agis, nihil moliris, nihil cogitas, quod non ego non modo audiam, sed etiam videam planeque sentiam. Cicero, In Catilinam Asyndeton: lack of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words. Chiasmus: two corresponding pairs arranged not in parallels (a-b-a-b) but in inverted order (a-b-b-a); from shape of the Greek letter chi (X). *Those gallant men will remain often in my thoughts and in my prayers always. MacArthur Hendiadys: use of two words connected by a conjunction, instead of subordinating one to the other, to express a single complex idea. *It sure is nice and cool today! (for "pleasantly cool") Hyperbole: exaggeration for emphasis or for rhetorical effect. Hysteron Proteron ("later-earlier"): inversion of the natural sequence of events, often meant to stress the event which, though later in time, is considered the more important. *"I like the island Manhattan. Smoke on your pipe and put that in." -- from the song "America," West Side Story lyric by Stephen Sondheim (submitted per litteram by guest rhetorician Anthony Scelba) Litotes: understatement, for intensification, by denying the contrary of the thing being affirmed. (Sometimes used synonymously with meiosis.) *A few unannounced quizzes are not inconceivable. *War is not healthy for children and other living things. *One nuclear bomb can ruin your whole day. (meiosis) Onomatopoeia: use of words to imitate natural sounds; accommodation of sound to sense. Personification: attribution of personality to an impersonal thing. *England expects every man to do his duty. Lord Nelson Pleonasm: use of superfluous or redundant words, often enriching the thought. *No one, rich or poor, will be excepted. Simile: an explicit comparison between two things using 'like' or 'as'.

*My love is as a fever, longing still For that which longer nurseth the disease, Shakespeare, Sonnet CXLVII Synecdoche: understanding one thing with another; the use of a part for the whole, or the whole for the part. (A form of metonymy.) *Give us this day our daily bread. Matthew 6 Zeugma: two different words linked to a verb or an adjective which is strictly appropriate to only one of them. *Nor Mars his sword, nor war's quick fire shall burn The living record of your memory.

Tristia 4.10.1-12 Future generations, listen so that you may know who that famous I was, the playful poet of tender love poems, whom you are reading. Sulmo is my fatherland, very fertile in cold waves, which is ninety miles away from the city (Rome). I was born here, and also, so that you may know the times, when each consul fell was slain by the same fate [battles of Forum Gallorum and Mutina]. And I was not the first born; I was produced after my brother had been brought forth, who had been born before by twelve months. The same dawn (lit. light-bringer) was present at the birthdays of both: One day was celebrated through two cakes. Tristia 4.10.93-8 Now for me grey hair, with my better years gone (driven away) had come, and had flecked my ancient hair, when the anger of the offended/wounded princeps ordered (lit. orders) me to make for the people of Tomis placed to the left (i.e. on the left) of the Euxine Sea (Black Sea). Tristia 1.13.1-12 When the very sad memory (lit. image) of that night comes to my mind (synchesis: a-b-a-b), which (night) was my last time in the city, when I recall the night, when I left behind so many things dear to me, also (even) now a teardrop slips from my eyes. Already nearly dawn/the day was present, on which Caesar had ordered me to leave from the furthest boundaries of Italy (lit. boundries of furthest -- transferred epithet - adjective grammatically modifies one word, but semantically fits with another, Italy--Ausonia poetic name). Neither time nor my mind/attitude had been enough/sufficient for preparing suitable things: our (poetic plural) heart had become numb because of/by the long delay. I took no thought for (lit. there was no care to me for) selecting slaves, companions, clothing or necessities (book: what could be of help) fit for an exile. I was stunned/dumbfounded just like (someone, a man) who having been struck by the thunderbolt (lit. fires) of Zeus lives and is himself unconscious of his own life. Tristia 1.3.12-22 and 79-89 When however pain/grief itself removed this cloud of/from my mind, and at last my senses recovered, I, about to leave, spoke for the last time to my sad friends, who out of the many recently there were one and (or) two. (My) loving wife herself was holding (me) crying crying more fiercely (polyptoton), with a shower (of tears) continually falling down her undeserving cheeks. (My) daughter distant was far away on the Libyan shores, and could not be/become more certain (i.e. be informed) of my fate. Wherever one (you) might look, grief and groans were sounding, and inside was the semblance of a not quiet funeral. Then indeed/truly my wife clinging to the shoulders of (me) going away mixed these sad words with my tears: 'You cannot be torn away. Together from here, together we will go,' she said; 'I will follow you and I will be an exile's wife in exile (lit. I, an exile's wife, will be an exile). The anger of Caesar orders you to leave the fatherland, loyalty/sense of duty (orders) me. This loyalty will be my Caesar.' She was trying such things, just as she had tried before, and scarcely/with difficulty she gave her hands (i.e. surrendered / gave up) conquered by "practical considerations." Amores 2.6 The parrot, imitating bird from India in the East, has died: go to the funeral in a crowd (i.e. all together, in a flock), birds; go, loyal/pious winged creatures, and beat your breasts with your wings

and mark your tender cheeks with your stiff claws. All (of you grieve), who balance your journeys in the liquid/fluid air, however you before others, turtle dove the friend, grieve. For all (your) life harmony was plentiful for you and loyalty remained until the end long-lasting and firm. However what help is that loyalty, what help is that form of rare color (rare form and color), what help is that voice skilled in changing sounds, what help is it to have pleased our girl as soon as you were given? Unlucky glory of birds you to be sure lie (i.e. dead). That loquacious mimic of the human voice, the parrot, has died, a gift given from the edge of the world. The seventh light came not about to offer another (lit. following one); the dying tongue shouted "Corinna, goodbye." Ars Amatoria 1.89-110 But you hunt (for girls) especially in the curving theatres; these places are more fertile than your prayer/wish. There you will find (something) which you may love, (something) which you may be able to manipulate/deceive, (something) which you may touch once, (something) which you may wish to hold. As many an ant (ant in a crowd/frequently) returns and goes (hysteron proteron--"latter before") through (in) a long column, when he carries with his grain-bearing mouth the accustomed (i.e. his favorite) food, or as the bees having obtained their own glades and fragrant pastures fly through the flowers and the top of the thyme, thus the most fashionable ladies (singular for plural-meter) rush to the crowded games; The number (of women) has often delayed my decision (judgement). They come to be watched, they come so that they themselves may be watched; That spot has (causes?) the losses of chaste modesty (fave trans: is fatal to chaste modesty). You first made these games chaotic, Romulus, when the seized Sabine woman pleased the wifeless men (i.e. when the wifeless men decided to seize Sabine women). The people sat on steps made out of turf, with any old foliage covering their shaggy hair (archaic times). They look back and each notes with his eyes which girl he wants for himself, and in the quiet breast they move many things (pitter patter!). Ars Amatoria 1.113-32 In the middle of the applause (applause then lacked skill/discrimination) the king gave to the people the sought for sign for (their) prey. Straight away they jump out, declaring their love (lit. mind/intention) in a shout (i.e. shouting their intention) and they seize the maidens eagerly (lit. they lay eager hands on the maidens); like the doves, a most timid crowd, flee the eagles and like the little lamb (lambkin!) flees the woves having been seen (i.e. which have been spotted), thus those ones (the Sabine women) were afraid of the men rushing without order; the color which was there before remained in none (i.e. they all went pale). For the fear was one, the appearance of fear was not one (i.e. while their fear was the same, there were different manifestations of this fear): part tears their hair, part sits without a mind; one sad is silent, another calls to her mother in vain; this one groans, this one faints; this one remains, that one flees. If any (woman) fought back too much and denied her companion, the man himself carried her lifted up in his eager embrace and thus said 'Why do you spoil your tender little eyes with tears? What your father is to your mother, I will be this for you.' Romulus [Ovid speaking now], you alone knew to give "fringe benefits" to the soldiers: If you give me these "fringe benefits", I will be a soldier. Tristia 1.2.1-34 Gods of the sea and sky -- for what is left except prayers?--

refrain from loosening/breaking apart the frame of the shattered ship. O miserable me, what great mountains of water churn (lit. are turned/rolled)! Now, now you might think that they will touch the highest stars (height of heaven?). What great valleys settle down in the divided sea! Now, now you might think that they will touch black Tartarus. Wherever I look, there is nothing except sea and air, this swelling with waves (i.e. turbulent waters), that threatening with clouds (i.e. menacing sky). Between each the winds roar with a monstrous murmur. The waves of the sea do not know which master to obey. The helmsman is uncertain and does not find either what to avoid or what to seek: the skill itself is baffled by ambiguous/unpredictable evils. Surely we are dying, and there is not any hope for safety, and while I speak, a wave rushes over my face. Tristia 3.3.1-18 If you wonder by chance why this letter of mine was written by the fingers of another, I was ill. I was ill in the furthest parts of an unknown world, and I was nearly uncertain of my health. I do not (cannot?) tolerate the climate, nor have we become accustomed to those waters, and in some way I do not know the land itself is not pleasing. There is no house here suitable enough for an ill man, there is no food here useful for an ill man, there is no friend present to relieve the evil/bad stuff (illness) with Apollo's art, to console, to deceive (i.e. waste time) the times/hours slipping slowly by telling/chatting. I lie tired among remote/distant people and in the furthest places (zeugma), and whatever is absent comes to my mind affected (with sickness). Although everything comes to mind, you still conquer everything, wife, and you have more than a share in our heart. I speak to you absent, my voice names you alone; for me no night comes without you, no day [i.e. all he can think about]. Amores 3.9 If Memnon's mother (Aurora) grieved for him, if Achilles' mother (Thetis) grieved for him (major ellipsis), and the sad fates touch the great goddesses [chiasmus], tearful Elegeia, untie/loose your undeserving hair: alas now your name will be only too true. That poet of your work, your fame, Tibullus, as an empty body burns on a built up/high pyre. When the bad/evil fates steal good men, (forgive my confession) I am moved to think that there are no gods. Live piously: you will die piously; worship the sacred things (i.e. follow the writes): heavy/serious/oppressive death will drag you worshipping from the temples into a hollow tomb. Trust in/rely on good poems [ironic]: look here lies Tibullus; scarcely what remains from the whole a small urn takes/holds. If however something from/of us except a name and shade/spirit remains, Tibullus will be in Elysium (lit. an Elysian valley). You will come to meet this one, with your youthful temples bound with ivy, with your Calvus, learned/skilled/experienced Catullus; Your spirit/shade is a friend for these ones, if only there is a spirit of the body; Cultivated/civilizedTibullus, you have increased the pious numbers (number of pious people/poets). I pray, bones quiet (free from trouble) rest [imperative] in a safe urn (i.e. may your bones from free from trouble rest in a safe urn), and may the ground not be burdensome to your ashes/grave [optative].