Tuesday, October 21, 2025

06.01.26: Level 3; language review; Labours of Hercules [4] The Arcadian stag; [5] The stables of Augeas

[4] The Arcadian Stag

In Arcadiā cervus erat aureīs cornibus, pedibus vērō aēneīs. Hunc sequī Herculēs ab Eurystheō iussus erat. Frūstrā per tōtum annum cervum īnsecūtus est; tandem sagittā vulnerātum cēpit.

[5] The stables of Augeas

Augeās, rēx Ēlidis, tria mīllia boum habēbat. Hōrum stabula per trīgintā annōs nōn erant lōta. Herculēs Augeān adiit, eīque dīxit: "Ūnō diē haec stabula lavābō. Vīsne mihi, hōc factō, decimam boum partem dare?" Respondit Augeās: "Dabō lubenter." Tum Herculēs, conversō per stabula amne, opus facillimē intrā ūnum diem perēgit.

amnis, -is [3/m]: (deep flowing / rapid) water; river; torrent

… ruunt dē montibus amnēs (Vergil) │ Torrents rush down the mountains

convertō, -ere, convertī, conversus [3]: (here) divert

[i] Give the nominative and genitive singular, gender and declension of the following nouns from the text:

boum

cornibus

partem

pedibus

[ii] Parse the following verbs from the text (person, number, tense, active / passive / deponent and infinitive / principal parts / conjugation)

adiit

dabō

erant lōta

īnsecūtus est

iussus erat

perēgit

vīs

[iii] Find from either text an example of:

ablative absolute

ablative of agent 

ablative of means / instrument

ablative of time within which

infinitive of a deponent verb

ordinal number

superlative adverb

____________________

[i]

boum < bōs, bovis [3 m/f]

cornibus < cornus, -ūs [4/n]

partem < pars, partis [3/f]

pedibus < pēs, pedis [3/m]

[ii]

adiit: 3rd singular, perfect tense, active < adeō, adīre, adiī / adīvī; aditus [irregular]

dabō: 1st singular, future tense, active < dō, dare, dedī, datus [1]

erant lōta: 3rd plural, pluperfect tense, passive < lavō, -āre, lāvī, lōtus (or lāvātus / lautus) [1]

īnsecūtus est: 3rd singular, perfect tense, active < īnsequor, īnsequī, īnsecūtus sum [3/deponent]

iussus erat: 3rd singular, pluperfect tense, passive < iubeō, -ēre, iussī, iussus [2]

perēgit: 3rd singular, perfect tense, active < peragō, -ere, perēgī, perāctus [3]

vīs: 2nd singular, present tense, active < volō, velle, voluī (no passive participle; fut.act. participle: volitūrus) [irregular]

[iii]

ablative absolute │ conversō (per stabula) amne; hōc factō

ablative of agent  │ ab Eurystheō

ablative of means / instrument │ sagittā

ablative of time within which │ ūnō diē

infinitive of a deponent verb │ sequī

ordinal number │ decimam

superlative adverb │ facillimē

[4] There was in Arcadia a stag with golden antlers, but with feet made of brass. Hercules had been ordered by Eurystheus to follow it. He followed the stag in vain throughout a whole year; at length he wounded (it) with an arrow (and) took it.

[5] Augeas, king of Elis, had three thousand oxen. Their stalls had not been washed for thirty years. Hercules approached Augeas and said to him: ‘Within one day I will wash these stalls. Are you willing to give me the tenth part of the oxen when this is done?’ Augeas replied, ‘I will give them willingly.’ Then Hercules, having diverted the river through the stables, accomplished the work very easily in one day.

Aeripedis quarto tulit aurea cornua cervi; Gerard van der Gucht; 1725-1732 (c.); © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Hercules cleaning the Augean stables. Illustration from "The Twelve Labours of Hercules, Son of Jupiter & Alcmena", 1808

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