Helps to Latin Translation at Sight Part 10

+II.+ +M. Centenius fuit cognomine Paenula, insignis inter primipili centuriones et magnitudine corporis et animo.+

(i.) _Vocabulary._--

+primipili+ = the chief centurion of the +triarii+ (the third, veteran line of the legion), the +primipilus+, or +primus pilus+. So Livy vii.

41, '+primus centurio erat, quem nunc (centurionem) primi pili appellant+.'

+cognomine+, _i.e._ +co-nomen+, a name _added_ to the +nomen+, a t.i.tle, epithet, _e.g._:

+Publius+ = the distinctive +praenomen+.

+Scipio+ = +nomen+, designating his +gens+.

+Africa.n.u.s+ = +cognomen+.

(ii.) _Translation._--The form of this sentence is quite simple. The subject is +M. Centenius+, with which +insignis+ agrees. _There was a certain M. Centenius, by surname Penula, distinguished among the first-rank_ (or _chief_) _centurions_ (of the Triarii) _both for his great bodily size and courage._

+III.+ +Is perfunctus militia, per P. Cornelium Sullam praetorem in senatum introductus, pet.i.t a Patribus, uti sibi quinque milia militum darentur.+

(i.) _Vocabulary._--

+perfunctus+, cf. _function_, and notice force of +per+ = discharge _completely_.

(ii.) _Translation._--The princ.i.p.al verb is clearly +pet.i.t+, and +is+ is the only possible subject (= +Centenius+), with which +introductus+ agrees. There is one subordinate clause, introduced by +ut+, telling us the object of his request.

Translate, first literally, _He having discharged completely his military service, being introduced into the Senate by P. C. Sulla, the Praetor, asks the Fathers that 5000 soldiers should be given him_. Now improve this: get rid at all costs of the _having_ and _being_, which are not English, and change the _asks_ into the past tense of narration.

Thus:--

_After he had completed his term of service, and had been introduced to the Senate by P. Corn. Sulla, the Praetor, he pet.i.tioned the Fathers that 5000 soldiers should be given him._

+IV.+ +Se peritum et hostis et regionum, brevi operae pretium facturum: et, quibus artibus ad id locorum nostri et duces et exercitus capti forent, iis adversus inventorem usurum.+

(i.) _Vocabulary._--

+peritum+, cf. _ex-peri-enced_. v+par-+, +per-+, _pierce_, _go through_; so, +ex-per-ior+, +per-iculum+, in sense of a _trial_.

+operae pretium+ = lit. '_what will pay for the trouble_,' _i.e. worth while_, _i.e._ worth the _time_ (or _labour_) spent upon it.

+artibus--ars.+ v+ar+ = _fit_, _join_ = skill in joining something, skill in producing; so, _artist_, _artisan_, _artifice_, etc.

+ad id locorum+[13] = _to that point of time_. The ideas of _place_ and _time_ readily interchange; so, +in loco+ = at the right _place_ or _time_.

[Footnote 13: Cf. Sall.u.s.t, _Jugurtha_, 63 _Tamen is_ +ad id locorum+ _talis vir_ = _Such was his character up to this time_.]

(ii.) _Translation._--The form of the sentence shows that it is _reported speech_, and not the actual words of the speaker +Centenius+, who is still the princ.i.p.al subject, and +dixit+, _understood_, the princ.i.p.al verb, and +se peritum ... usurum+ the object of +dixit+. You should now be able to translate without any difficulty, and the logical common-sense rules for the conversion of Or. Recta into Or. Obliqua explain the mood of the verb +capti forent+ in the subordinate clause introduced by +quibus+.

Literally: _Centenius said that he, experienced in both the enemy and the districts, would soon make it worth (their) while: and that he would use against their inventor those arts by which up to that time both our leaders and our armies had been overcome._ Notice that the long relative clause +quibus artibus ... forent+ is in Latin placed before the antecedent +iis+.

You will readily see that this must be improved in several points.

Thus:--

(a) +Use Oratio Recta+--more graphic and better suited to our idiom.

(b) _arts_. Change this to some more suitable military term--e.g.

_tactics_.

_He was well acquainted (he said) both with the enemy and the country, and would shortly make it worth their while, and would employ against their originator those very tactics by which both our leaders and our armies had up to that time been baffled._

+V.+ +Id non promissum magis stolide, quam stolide creditum: tamquam eaedem militares et imperatoriae artes essent!+

(i.) _Vocabulary._--

+stolide+, cf. _stolid_ = dull, foolish.

(ii.) _Translation._--The finite copula +est+ is, as often, omitted; the two princ.i.p.al verbs are +promissum (est)+ and +creditum (est)+ linked by the comparative particles +magis--quam+, and the subject is +id+; +tamquam--essent!+ is a subordinate clause modifying the two princ.i.p.al verbs, and expressing contemptuous wonder.

Cf. '+tamquam clausa sit Asia, sic nihil perfertur ad nos+.'

You can now translate

Literally: _That was promised not more foolishly than it was foolishly believed, just as if the arts of a soldier and of a general were the same._

Here you can make several improvements; avoid the repet.i.tion of _foolishly_, and use a better term than _arts_, and perhaps break up the sentence into two short ones. Thus:--

_The folly of the promise was not greater than that of the credit it received. Just as though the qualities of a soldier and of a general were the same!_

+VI.+ +Data pro quinque octo milia militum; pars dimidia cives, pars socii.+

(i.) _Vocabulary._--

+dimidia+ v+med-+, +mid-+ = _middle_, so +dimidius+ = +dis + medius+.

(ii.) _Translation._--This sentence is very simple: notice that here, too, +sunt+ and +erant+ are omitted.

_Eight thousand soldiers were given him instead of five: half were citizens, half allies._

+VII.+ +Et ipse aliquantum voluntariorum in itinere ex agris concivit, ac prope duplicate exercitu, in Lucanos pervenit, ubi Hannibal, nequiquam secutus Claudium, subst.i.terat.+

(i.) _Vocabulary._--

+aliquantum+ = _considerable_, used in the neuter as a noun, with a part.i.tive genitive +voluntariorum+. Cf. use of +satis+, +parum+, etc.

+concivit+ = _raised_, lit. roused, stirred up. Cf. +ci-eo+, and our _ex-cite_, _in-cite_.

+subst.i.terat+ = _had halted_. +si-st-o+ is only a form of +sto+ strengthened by reduplication (cf. ?st??) with a causal force. Cf.

+rest.i.tit+, p. 27, sentence iv. [[Demonstration II:iv]]

(ii.) _Translation._--The princ.i.p.al subject is clearly +ipse+; there are two princ.i.p.al verbs, +concivit+ and +pervenit+, coupled by +ac+, and one subordinate clause, +ubi ... subst.i.terat+, introduced by +ubi+, and modifying +pervenit+.

The sense is so clear that you may translate at once into good English:--

_Moreover he himself raised a considerable number of volunteers in the country during his march; and so, with his numbers nearly doubled, he reached Lucania, where Hannibal, after his fruitless chase of Claudius, had halted._