Diomēdēs, Bistonum rēx, equās carne hominum
pāscēbat. Herculēs vērō equās clam abstulit, et ad mare dūxit. Hīc autem
Bistonēs eum adortī sunt. Diū pugnātum est. Dēvictīs tandem
Bistonibus, Herculēs rēgem interfēcit, et corpus equābus dēdit.
Tum reversus est incolumis equās sēcum dūcēns. Hae vērō mānsuēfactae sunt carne
dominī suī pastae.
mānsuēfaciō, -ere,
-fēcī, -factus [3-iō]: tame
pāscō, -ere, pāvī,
pastus [3]: feed
Notes:
[1] It doesn’t
turn up often: equa, -ae [1/f]: mare; female horse (and not: equus, -ī
[2/m])
Note: corpus equābus
dēdit │ he gave the body to the mares
equa, -ae is a first declension noun,
yet here its dative plural is not in -īs, which is what you would
expect, but -ābus; why is this?
(a) [i] fīlius, -ī
[2/m]: son; [ii] fīlia, -ae [1/f]:
daughter
(b) [i] deus, -ī
[2/m]: god; [ii] dea, -ae [1/f]: goddess
The nouns in (a) and (b) – in the
dative and ablative plural – would look the same i.e. they would both end in
-īs; therefore, to distinguish between the masculine and the feminine nouns,
the dative and ablative plural of the feminine nouns become -ābus:
(a) [i] fīlius [m]
> dat. / abl. pl. filiīs; [ii] fīlia [f] > dat. / abl. pl.
fīliābus
(b) [i] deus [m]
> dat. / abl. pl. deīs; [ii] dea [f] > dat. / abl. pl. deābus
The same is
happening here to distinguish between [i] equus [m] > dat. / abl. pl. equīs;
[ii] equa [f] > dat. / abl. pl. equābus (but equīs
is also found in the literature to refer to [ii])
illa īrāta equābus
eius inmīsit furōrem (Honoratus) │ Having grown angry she sent madness upon his
horses
However – and it’s
a big ‘however’ – that is not a rule!
While fīliābus and deābus are ‘fixed’ forms of the dative and
ablative plural of these two specific and very commonly used nouns, it is not
a ‘formula’ that can be used to distinguish between, for example, servus,
-ī [2/m]: slave and serva, -ae [1/f]: (female) slave, or amīcus
(male friend) and amīca (female friend); those nouns – and any others
like them – all have the same dative and ablative plural in -īs.
[2] Impersonal
passives
Diū pugnātum est. │ The battle went on for a
long time.
[i] A transitive
verb can be followed by a direct object, for example:
Rēx epistulam
scrībit │ The king writes / is writing a letter.
Imperātor epistulam
legēbat │ The commander was reading a letter.
Magister epistulam
mīsit / mīserat │ The teacher (has) sent / had sent a letter.
Fēmina epistulam
accipiet │ The lady will receive a letter.
[ii] Those
transitive verbs can be changed into passive forms, epistula becoming
the subject of the sentence:
Epistula (ā rēge) scrībitur │ A letter
is (being) written (by the king).
Epistula (ab
imperātōre) legēbatur│ The letter was being read (by the commander).
Epistula (ā
magistrō) missa est / erat│ The letter was (has been) / had been sent by the
teacher.
Epistula (ā
fēminā) accipiētur │ A letter will be received by the lady.
[iii] Intransitive
verbs cannot be followed by a direct object, for example:
currō, -ere: run
dormiō, -īre:
sleep
eō, īre: go
pugnō, -āre: fight
veniō, -īre: come
[iv] Intransitive
verbs cannot have passive forms with a subject e.g. *he has been slept*, *they
were being ran*. However, passive forms of intransitive verbs without a subject
are used to convey impersonal ideas; in English, that may be expressed
by, for example:
“There was
shouting going on outside / people were shouting” i.e. the focus
is on an action rather than anybody specific performing it.
Diū pugnātum est. │ Literally: It was
fought for a long time = There was fighting / people fought for a long time, or
(an impersonal) ‘they’ fought for a long time; a noun related to the verb may
also work: There was a battle for a long time / the battle went on for a long
time.
Therefore,
translations can vary but, in the examples below from the authors, you can see
that the impersonal nature of the verb is retained:
Pugnātum est ab utrīsque ācriter (Caesar) │ There
was fierce fighting on both sides; literally: ‘it’ was fought
bitterly …
ea mē spectātum
tulerat per Dionȳsia. postquam illō ventum est, iam, ut
mē collocāverat, exorītur ventus turbō (Plautus) │ She had taken me to see (the
show) at the Dyonisiac festival. After we’d arrived there, just as she
had settled me, a storm wind arose.
Ergō ex omnibus
locīs urbis in forum curritur (Livy) │ Therefore, from all parts of the
city people are running into the forum
Macte novā
virtūte, puer: Sīc ītur ad astra (Vergil) │ Be blessed in your new
courage, boy; this is the way to the stars / one goes to … [literally: In this
way it is being gone …]
Ad arma conclāmātum
est (Livy) │ The cry ‘to arms!’ was raised.
Et Rōmam inde
frequenter migrātum est, ā parentibus maximē ac propinquīs raptārum
(Livy) │ And from there, there was frequent migration to Rome,
especially by the parents and relatives of those / the women who had been
abducted.
Magnīs opibus dormītur
in urbe (Juvenal) │ Only with great wealth is it possible to sleep / do people
sleep in the city.
However, Martial’s
dormouse doesn’t quite obey the ‘rule’: (1) Tōta mihi (2) dormītur
(1) hiems et pinguior illō tempore sum, quō mē nihil nisi somnus alit. │
Literally: (1) the whole winter for me (2) is slept [ = I sleep
the whole winter] and I am fatter during that time (season), when nothing but
sleep feeds me.
____________________
Diomedes, king of
the Bistones, used to feed his mares with human flesh. But Hercules carried off
the mares by stealth, and led them to the sea. But here the Bistones attacked
him. They fought for a long time. The Bistones having been at length completely
defeated, Hercules slew their king, and gave his body to the mares. Then he
returned in safety, bringing the mares with him. Now they became tame (after
being) fed on the flesh of their owner.
Hercules and the Mares of Diomedes by Antonio Tempesta (1608)
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