22.06.25: Level 3; the Labours of Hercules; [I] The infant Hercules and the serpents

[I] THE INFANT HERCULES AND THE SERPENTS

Dī grave supplicium sūmunt dē malīs, sed iī quī lēgibus deōrum pārent, etiam post mortem cūrantur. Illa vita dīs erat grātissima quae hominibus miserīs ūtilissima fuerat. Omnium autem praemiōrum summum erat immortālitās. Illud praemium Herculī datum est.

Herculīs pater fuit Iuppiter, māter Alcmēna, et omnium hominum validissimus fuisse dīcitur. Sed Iūnō, rēgina deōrum, eum, adhūc infantem, interficere studēbat; nam eī et Herculēs et Alcmēna erant invisī. Itaque misit duās serpentēs, utramque saevissimam, quae mediā nocte domum Alcmēnae vēnērunt. Ibi Herculēs, cum fratre suō, nōn in lectulō sed in scūtō ingentī dormiēbat iam audācēs serpentēs adpropinquāverant, iam scūtum movēbant. Tum frāter, terrōre commōtus, magnā vōce mātrem vocāvit, sed Herculēs ipse, fortior quam frāter, statim ingentēs serpentēs manibus suīs rapuit et interfēcit.

Notes

[1] dī grave supplicium sūmunt │ the gods inflict heavy / serious punishment; illa vita dīs erat grātissima │ that life was very pleasing to the gods

Declension of deus: very few nouns in Latin have alternative endings; deus, -ī  [2/m] has the usual 2^nd declension endings in the singular, but there are alternative endings in the plural

[2] iī quī lēgibus deōrum pārent │ those (people) who obey the laws of the gods

iī is an alternative spelling of the plural eī (they) in the nominative plural; similarly iīs = eīs in the dative and ablative plural

[3] iī quī lēgibus deōrum pārent

pāreō, pārēre, pāruī [2] obey (give obedience to); some verbs in Latin – known in grammar as “special verbs” are followed by the dative case:

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/02/180425-level-3-verbs-with-dative-case-2.html

[4] omnium hominum validissimus fuisse dīcitur │ he is said to have been the strongest of all men

You have already seen two infinitive forms:

[i] amāre: to love; the present active infinitive

[ii] amārī: to be loved; the present passive infinitive

The Latin infinitives are important since they are used in constructions which do not match English. That is a major topic which will be discussed in later posts. For the moment, note the following:

[iii] amāvisse: to have loved; the perfect active infinitive

These are regularly formed from the third principal part of the verb:

(1) amō, amāre, amāvī

(2) amāvī: I (have) loved

(3) remove -ī > amāv-

(4) add -isse

(5) > amāvisse: to have loved

Therefore:

sum, esse, fuī >

fuī: I was / have been

remove -ī > fu-

add -isse

> fuisse: to have been

[5] eī et Herculēs et Alcmēna erant invīsī │ both Hercules and Alcmena were hateful to her

invīsus, -um, -a: hateful i.e. they evoked a feeling of hatred in her

[6] Itaque misit duās serpentēs, utramque saevissimam │ Therefore, she sent two serpents, each (of them) very fierce

uter¦que [m], utra¦que [f], utrum¦que [n]: each (of two); both

[7] Herculēs ipse … ingentēs serpentēs … rapuit │ Hercules himself seized the huge serpents

Image: ipse, ipsa, ipsum is used to convey emphasis, the same idea as English ‘myself’, ‘yourself’, ‘himself’ etc. in combination with a noun or personal pronoun e.g. He himself said that. When used with a noun, the translation may be ‘the very’.

Caesarem ipsum servāvimus. │ We saved Caesar himself.

Vōs ipsī iūdicāte: decet mulierem nōn vēlātam ōrāre Deum? (Vulgate) │ You yourselves judge: is it proper for a woman without a veil to pray to God?

Fidēlissimī servī senem ad templum ipsum portāvērunt. │ The most faithful servants carried the old man to the temple itself /  the very temple.

Note: in English, -self and -selves, apart from having the same emphatic function as Latin ipse e.g. I myself will do it, also is used to express reflexive actions e.g. She hurt herself, he looked at himself in the mirror; Latin does not use ipse to convey this, but the reflexive pronoun sē.

Sē ex nāvī prōiēcit. (Caesar) │ He threw himself from the ship.