Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Per SEO
Per SEO
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Cast on an Island
Iuppiter nevertheless saw all these things, and he decided to save his son. He therefore made the sea calm, and
he led the box to the island [of] Seriphus. Of this island, Polydectes [pah leh DEK teez] was at that time the
king. After the box was pushed to the shore, Danaê rested [was taking quiet] on the sand. After a brief time, she
was found by a certain [by some] fisherman. and was taken to the home of the king Polydectes. That [man]
kindly received mother and boy, and gave [them] a safe place in his borders. Danaê accepted this gift willingly,
and for such great act of kindness, she thanked the king [made thanks to the king].
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. A human sacrifice
Then the king set the day and got everything ready. When the day arrived, Andromeda was led to the shore and
tied up to the cliff in front of everyone. Everyone deplored her fate, and they didn't hold back their tears. Then
suddenly, while everyone was waiting for the monster, Perseus came running up; and, when he saw the tears, he
asked why everyone was so sad. They explained the whole situation and showed him the girl. While this was
going on, a terrifying roar was heard; at just that moment a horrible looking monster was seen in the distance.
The sight of him terrified everyone. And the monster came rushing up to the shore very quickly, and was
already coming near the place where the girl was standing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. The rescue
And when he saw this, Perseus grabbed his sword, and, after he put on his sandals, he was lifted into the air.
Then from above he suddenly attacked the monster and seriously wounded its neck with his sword. When the
monster felt the wound, he let out a terrifying roar and went under the waves without delay. While he was
flying around the shore, Perseus was waiting for the monster to come back; the sea, don't you know, in the
meantime was everywhere stained with blood. A little while later, the beast lifted its head up once again; soon,
nevertheless it was wounded by Perseus with a more serious blow. Then once again it went under the waves,
and was not seen again.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Haec : These things, i.e. the following stories. You'll see the neuter plural of hic, haec, hoc
used this way very often.
2. Acrisius : Predicate nominative after the linking verb appellabatur.
6. Danaë : A Greek name, with genitive ending in -ês, and accusative in -ên.
7. tempestas: Despite its appearance, this isn't an accusative plural. Look closely at the
glossary listing below.
Magna : Why can't magna be agreeing with mare? What does it agree with?
9. haec omnia : Another substantive use of the demonstrative hic, haec, hoc. I told you to be on
the watch for this. Remember Perseus, 1.1? And what about omnia? It's an adjective used as a
substantive. Often you have to supply an appropriate noun to bring it over into acceptable English.
Here, because the adjective is neuter and plural, it's implying things. So we'll say all these things, or
perhaps just all this.
10. constituit : The use of constituo to mean decide is going to be a fairly regular sight in your
readings.
mare tranquillum : Two accusatives after a verb of making. One accusative may be an adjective,
as here. So we'll say made the sea calm, not made a calm sea.
11. Seriphum : In apposition with insulam. We usually say in English "the island of," "the city of."
12. appulsa : It comes from the verb appello, but don't confuse it with the verb apello (1), the one
you saw in Perseus 1.2, which means call. Study the vocabulary entry below.
Postquam : We're could translate this with a pluperfect, even though Latin has just the perfect.
With postquam and ubi the perfect is the tense most frequently employed.
13. piscatore quodam : A certain (some or a) fisherman. The pronoun/demonstrative quidam,
quaedam, quoddam causes a good deal of panic in beginning students. That's because the ending
-dam looks like a case ending. But the case ending for this word comes before the indeclinable -dam
suffix. The case ending is the -o- just before -dam.
16. dedit : Eis, dative of indirect object is to be understood.
17. egit : This is the perfect of the verb ago, -ere, egi, actus.
Regi is the dative of rex, regis, m. The translation, literally, is for such a great act of kindness
(beneficio), he made thanks to the king. We would say simply, he thanked the king for his great
kindness.
10. constituo, -ere, -stitui, -stitutus, tr., place, post, station; set up;
decide.
tranquillus, -a, -um, adj., calm, still.
11. perduco, -ducere, -duxi, -ductus, tr. lead through, lead, bring,
conduct.
12. apello, -ere, -puli, -pulsus, tr., drive to, bring to; with or without
navem, land, put in.
litus, litoris, n., shore.
harena, -ae, f. sand; shore, beach (sometimes spelled arena).
13. quies, -etis, f., rest; peace, quiet.
piscator, -oris, m., fisherman.
quidam, quaedam, quoddam, pr. some, a certain; a(n).
13. quidam, quaedam, quoddam, demonstr., a certain, some, or a(n).
14. reperio, -ire, repperi, repertus, tr., find, discover.
Perseus igitur multos annos ibi habitavit, et cum matre
suâ vitam egit beatam. At Polydectes Danaen magnopere
20 amabat atque eam ducere in matrimonium volebat. Hoc
tamen consilium Perseo minime gratum erat. Polydectes
igitur Perseum dimittere constituit. Tum iuvenem ad se
vocavit et haec dixit: Turpe est vitam hanc ignavam agere;
iam dudum tu adulescens es; quousque hîc manebis? Tem-
25 pus est arma capere et virtutem praestare. Hinc abi, et
caput Medusae mihi refer.
27. Perseus ubi... : You very often see the subject of a subordinate clause
set before the subordinating conjunction: Perseus when he...
33. aera : This is an accusative singular form, even though the noun
belongs to the third declension: aer, aeris, m. You'd expect the accusative to
be aerem, wouldn't you? But this noun's originally a Greek word and it kept its
original accusative singular form.
36. specie horribili : Ablative of description.
37. aere : This word's not from aer, aeris, m. It's from aes, aeris, m. It
means bronze.
omnino : This isn't a form of the adjective omnis, -e, even though it's
etymologically related to it. It is easy to confuse it with the adjective, but if you
think about it a moment, you'll be able to keep them straight. The adjective
omnis, -e is a third declension adjective, and the ending -o never occurs in
the third declension.
39. abscido, -ere, -cidere, 45. ira, -ae, f., anger, wrath.
-cisus, tr., cut off. commoveo (2), -movi, -motus, tr.,
40. conspectus, -us, m., sight, move deeply, excite, arouse, alarm.
view. rapio, -ere, rapui, raptus, tr., seize,
verto, -ere, verti, versus, tr., turn. carry off.
42. inspicio, -ere, -spexi, 46. occido, -ere, -cidi, -cisus, tr.,
-spectus, tr., look into. cut down, kill.
43. ictus, -us, m., blow, stroke. dum, conj., while; until.
44. somnus, -i, m., sleep. 48. evado, -ere, -vasi, -vasus,
excito (1), tr., call out, rouse. intr., come out, escape.
Post haec Perseus in fines Aethiopum venit. Ibi Cepheus
50 quidam illo tempore regnabat. Hic Neptunum, maris deum,
olim offenderat. Neptunus autem monstrum saevissimum
miserat. Hoc cotidie e mari veniebat et homines devorabat.
Ob hanc causam pavor animos omnium occupaverat. Cepheus
igitur oraculum dei Hammonis consuluit, atque a deo iussus
55 est filiam monstro tradere. Eius autem filia, nomine Andromeda,
virgo formosissima erat. Cepheus, ubi haec audivit,
magnum dolorem percepit. Volebat tamen cives suos e
tanto periculo extrahere, atque ob eam causam constituit
imperata Hammonis facere.
noise.
60. certus, -a, -um, adj., fixed, terribilis, -e, adj., dreadful, terrible.
certain [not a certain, or some]. 67. procul, adv., in the distance,
61. deduco, -ere, -duxi, -ductus, at a distance, far off.
tr., lead ways; draw down; navem conspicio, -ere, -spexi, -spectus,
deducere, to launch a ship. tr., look perceive, observe.
62. rupes, -is, f., rock, cliff. 68. inicio, -ere, -ieci, -iactus, tr.,
alligo (1), tr., bind to, tie to. throw into, hurl upon; inspire in,
fatum, -i, n., fate, destiny. cause.
deploro (1), tr., deplore, lament. 69. celeritas, -tatis, f., speed.
64. accurro, -ere, -curri, -cursus, litus, litoris, n., shore.
intr., run to, come up hurriedly. contendo, -ere, -tendi, tentus, intr.,
65. expono, -ere, -posui, strain; hurry to.
-positus, tr., set forth, explain; appropinquo (1), intr., approach,
expose, adandon; set ashore. draw
66. fremitus, -us, m., a roar, a
loud
At Perseus, ubi haec vidit, gladium suum rapuit, et, post-
quam talaria induit, in aera sublatus est. Tum desuper in
monstrum impetum subito fecit et gladio suo collum eius
graviter vulneravit. Monstrum, ubi sensit vulnus, fremitum
75 horribilem edidit et sine morâ totum corpus sub aquam
mersit. Perseus, dum circum litus volat, reditum eius ex-
pectabat; mare autem interea undique sanguine inficitur.
Post breve tempus belua rursus caput sustulit; mox tamen
a Perseo ictu graviore vulnerata est. Tum iterum se sub
80 undas mersit, neque postea visa est.
72. in (monstrum). The preposition in often means against when it's used
in a military context.
75-6. totum corpus...mersit : Totum corpus is the object of mersit, not its
subject. Check mergo in the glossary below. It's a transitive verb.
79. graviore : Comparative degree from the adjective gravis, -e.
80. neque : Translate as in Chapter 7.63.
84. vênit : This is a form from the verb to come: veniô, -îre, vênî, ventus.
What tense is it? (Look carefully.)
83. terrore : Ablative of cause.
86. meritam gratiam rettulit : Literally, gave back (rettulit) deserved
thanks or better repaid the favor as it deserved. See the vocabulary for
Perseus 2.17. for a fuller discussion.
88. puellam duxit : Supply in matrimonium, as you saw in Perseus 3.20.