Friday, August 22, 2025

17.11.25: Level 3; contempt of death; indefinite pronouns and adverbs (a brief note)

Quam magnō animō fuit Thērāmenēs! Ōlim enim in carcerem ex mandātō trīgintā tyrannōrum coniectus, venēnum bibit, et reliquum ē pōculō in vās ēmīsit. Sonitū autem redditō, rīdēns inquit, "hoc pulchrō Critiae." Critiās autem in eum crūdēlissimus fuerat. Graecī enim in epulīs pōculum alicui trāditūrī, eum nōmināre solent.

epulum, -ī [2/n] or epulae, -ārum [1/f/pl]: feast; banquet

vās, vāsis [3/n]: Engl. deriv. ‘vase’; it also has that meaning in CL but also other meanings e.g. ‘vessel’, ‘dish’

[1] ex mandātō: by order …

[2] Graecī … pōculum … trāditūrī │ the Greeks … (when / they are) about to hand over the cup …

Future active participle:

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/06/250925-level-3-grammar-of-things-to.html

trādō, -ere, trādidī, trāditus [3] hand over

trādit¦us > trādit¦ūr¦us, -a, -um: about to hand over

[3] Graecī … pōculum alicui trāditūrī … │ the Greeks … (when) about to hand over the cup to anyone

The prefix ali- creates indefinite pronouns or adverbs from interrogatives:

quis │ who > aliquis (or aliquī), aliqua, aliquid: someone / anyone; something / anything

Examples:

aliquā  (adverb): somehow; in some manner

aliquō (adverb): to somewhere

The next topic at Level 3 deals with this in depth.

____________________

Of how great a mind was Theramenes! For at one time, having been thrown [ = after he had been thrown] into prison on the order of the thirty tyrants, he drank poison, and threw what remained from the cup into a vessel. But when a sound was returned (echoed), he said laughing / with a laugh, ‘This (is) for handsome Critias.’ Now Critias had been most cruel to him, for the Greeks at their feasts, when about to hand the cup to any one, are in the habit of calling [ = usually call] him by name.

No comments: