Nōn procul ā
Dubrīs est scopulus altus, unde ōceanum et nāvigia et ōram maritimam spectās.
Locus in fābulā commemorātus est, ubi Leir, rēgulus Britannōrum antīquōrum,
fortūnam suam mīseram dēplōrat, stultitiam suam culpat, fīliās suās
animī ingrātī accūsat. Scopulus ex poētā nōminātus est. Nam in fābulā
est locus ubi vir generōsus, amīcus fīdus rēgulī, dē scopulō sē
praecipitāre parat; sed fīlius suus vīrum ex perīculō servat. Fīlium
fīdum laudō. Nōs puerī locum saepe vīsitāmus.
[1] fīliās
suās animī ingrātī accūsat │ he accuses his daughters of
ingratitude
The genitive
case in Latin is also used with verbs of convicting, accusing and punishing. The
construction is parallel to the English "I accuse you of murder."
[2] dē scopulō
sē praecipitāre parat │ he prepares to throw himself off the
cliff
sē is a reflexive
pronoun used when an action is being performed on the subject himself,
herself, itself, themselves:
Sē ex nāvī
prōiēcit. (Caesar) │ He threw himself from the ship.
Dumnorīgem ad
sē vocat. (Caesar)│ He calls Dumnorix to him [i.e. to himself].
[3] fortūnam suam mīseram dēplōrat
The possessive adjective suus,
-a, -um declines in exactly the same way as any 1st / 2nd
declension adjective and the possessive adjectives meus, -a, -um and tuus, -a,
um can mean ‘his’, ‘her’, ‘its’ or ‘their’ when referring back to the subject
of the sentence i.e. it means his (own) etc. Russian speakers will see
no challenge in this since the Russian language has exactly the same concept in
the possessive adjectives svoj, svoja, svojo.
Frātrem eius laudat │ (s)he praises his / her (i.e.
somebody else’s) brother
Frātrem suum laudat │ (s)he praises his / her (own)
brother
Rēx fortūnam eius
mīseram dēplōrant │ the king laments his (i.e. somebody else’s) miserable fate
Fortūnam suam
mīseram dēplōrat │ he laments his (own) miserable fate
Stultitiam suam
culpat │ he blames his (own) stupidity
Fīliās suās
animī ingrātī accūsat │ he accuses his (own) daughters of ingratitude
Caesar suās
cōpiās subdūcit. (Caesar) │ Caesar leads up his (own) troops.
In theory,
because it is referring back to the subject suus cannot be used
in the nominative case.
Frāter eius rēgem necāvit │ His brother killed the king;
this could refer to the person’s own brother or to somebody else’s brother and
only context would determine the precise meaning. In practice, however, this is
not a consistent rule and you may – as you do in this text – come across suus
being used in the nominative:
Nam in fābulā est locus ubi vir generōsus, amīcus fīdus rēgulī,
dē scopulō sē praecipitāre parat; sed fīlius suus vīrum ex perīculō
servat. │ For in the story there is a place where a nobleman, a faithful
friend of the ruler, prepares to throw himself off the cliff; but his own
son saves the man from danger.
The use of suus here is to refer back to the nobleman and indicate
that it is the man’s own son who saves him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leir_of_Britain
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