Fable 8: Aves et Quadrupedes

Here's the next fable with a kind of running commentary that is not entirely possible within the confines of the forthcoming book from Bolchazy-Carducci. This will be Fable 8 in the book: De Avibus et Quadrupedibus. For more information Fable about this fable, see the Discussion Forum for this fable at the Aesopus Ning.

Avibus cum Bestiis asperrima pugna erat, utrimque spes, utrimque ingens metus, utrimque periculum, cum Vespertilio, relictis sociis, ad hostem defecit. Ad postremum vincunt Aves, duce et auspice Aquila. Transfugam vero Vespertilionem damnant, ut nunquam iterum inter Aves numeretur, nec amplius in luce videatur. Et haec causa est cur Vespertilio nunquam, nisi nocte, volat.

Avibus cum Bestiis asperrima pugna erat,
= The dative here expresses an idea that we would term "having" in English: the birds were having a fight. Since a "fight" is not an object you can actually hold in your hand, Latin uses the dative to express this idea, as opposed to the metaphorical sense of "having" that we rely on in English. Notice also the use of the superlative to express the extreme quality of something, with an explicit comparison: an extremely fierce battle, a battle most fierce.

utrimque spes, utrimque ingens metus, utrimque periculum,
= The dative utrimque is also being used to express something like possession in English. The pronoun refers to each of two - in this case, both birds and beasts. Notice the etymology of the Latin word neuter = ne - uter, "neither of two" - i.e., neither masculine, nor feminine.

cum Vespertilio,
= Be careful: vespertilio is a nominative form - don't let the final "o" make you think this is an ablative form with a preposition. Instead, what you have here is the conjunction cum, with the subject of a verb - although we are going to have to wait quite a while for the verb to complete the clause.

relictis sociis,
= As you may have noticed, Latin has an oddly unbalance participle system: there is a perfect passive participle, but no perfect active participle - and there is a present active participle, but no present passive participle. This means that when Latin wants to create an ablative absolute clause using a perfect verb form, it has no choice but to use a passive form. In English, you might want to change that to an active form: "The bat, after he had abandoned his allies..."

ad hostem defecit.
= This gives us the verb we wanted to complete the cum clause. Note also that it is an indicative verb, simply reporting on the temporal sequence of events.

Ad postremum vincunt Aves,
= You might be in doubt about whether the word aves supplies the subject or the object of the verb. Since the verb vincunt requires an object, but does not necessarily require an object, you can safely assume that aves is the subject of the verb: "At last the birds are victorious." The preposition phrase is used metaphorically, in a temporal sense: "at (the) last (thing)."

duce et auspice Aquila.
= This ablative absolute does not contain an explicit participle; just as forms of the verb "to be" can be safely omitted from Latin sentences, the same is true of participial forms of the verb "to be" in ablative absolutes. It is quite amusing to think of the eagle being an auspex, which literally means "bird-watcher," in the sense of the soothsayer whose job it was to watch the birds to take the omens. Over time, the meaning of the word auspex become more and more generalized, referring to anyone who authorized an undertaking, and eventually to the leader of that undertaking, as is the case with the eagle here, who is the chief leader and authority among the bird forces.

Transfugam vero Vespertilionem damnant,
= The postpositive particle marks the beginning of a new sentence, and the emphatic word in first position, transfugam, is part of the predicate: "they condemn the bat (as) a traitor."

ut nunquam iterum inter Aves numeretur,
= The ut clauses explains the results of the bat's condemnation.

nec amplius in luce videatur.
= This clause explains more about the results for the bat. Notice that nec can stand for et non with an indicative verb, or here as et ne, with a subjunctive verb. There is also a nice parallel construction between the two aspects of the bat's punishment:
nunquam iterum - inter Aves - numeretur
nec amplius - in luce - videatur
adverb - prepositional phrase - passive verb

Et haec causa est
= This phrase announces something like what you would expect from a Kipling "just-so" story! The technical term for this kind of story is an "aetiological" tale, a story that explains the reason why something exists (the Greek word "aetion" means "cause" or "origin").

cur Vespertilio nunquam, nisi nocte, volat.
= You might expect the subjunctive if this were an indirect question. Instead, with the indicative verb volat, you can consider it a direct question: "This is the reason! (And the question is:) Why does the bat never fly except at night?" In terms of subjunctive usage, the regular use of the subjunctive for all indirect questions, including questions of fact, is something you do not find in early Latin. The use of the subjunctive for all indirect questions, including questions of fact (as here), evolved over time, no doubt due in part to the influence of other subordinate clauses which, for their own reasons, used the subjunctive.

Here is the illustration of the fable by Francis Barlow:

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The Aesopus Ning is now open for business - so, for more fables and to share your questions and comments with others, come visit the Ning!

Fable 7: Pavo et Grus

Here's the next fable with a kind of running commentary that is not entirely possible within the confines of the forthcoming book from Bolchazy-Carducci. This will be Fable 7 in the book: De Pavone et Grue. For more information Fable about this fable, see the Discussion Forum for this fable at the Aesopus Ning.

Pavo et Grus foedus inter se ineunt unaque cenant. Inter cenandum, Pavo nobilitatem suam iactat, formosam ostentat caudam, Gruemque hospitem contemnit. Grus fatetur Pavonem formosiorem esse pennis; se tamen, cum vix tectis supervolitat Pavo, animoso volatu penetrare nubes.

Pavo et Grus
= As often, the main protagonists of the fable are introduced in the opening words of the fable.

foedus inter se ineunt
= The verb inire, "to go into" can take a direct accusative object, as here: foedus ineunt, or it can sometimes be amplified with a preposition in which reinforces the verbal prefix in: (in) urbem inire, "to enter the city." Notice also that the pronoun se refers back to the subject of the verb, which is plural. So, if you were to parse the pronoun, it would be masculine accusative plural.

unaque cenant.
= The word una is used adverbially, meaning "in one and the same place, at the same time, in company, together." The final long "a' shows that this word is probably the remnant of what was an ablative phrase, una via, which involved a feminine noun.

Inter cenandum,
= The gerund is a verbal noun, and when used with the preposition inter, it is equivalent to the English expression "while ___ing." It's important not to be distracted by the similarity of the gerund to the future passive participle; there is nothing passive about the verbal action in the gerund: inter cenandum means that pavo et grus una cenant, very actively dining! Note that you can also find the preposition inter used with another verbal noun, the infinitive: Multum interest inter legere et intelligere, "There is a big difference between reading and understanding."

Pavo nobilitatem suam iactat,
= The reflexive possessive pronoun refers back to the subject of the verb, which is easy to identify here: pavo. The verb is a frequentative form, from the basic form iacere, "to toss." The verb iactare can be used literally to mean throwing, casting, hurling, etc., but it can also be used metaphorically to refer to throwing words about, brandishing claims, especially boastful claims, as the peacock does here.

formosam ostentat caudam,
= Notice the noun phrase wrapped around the verb of which it is the object. The verb ostentare is another frequentative verb form, from ostendere. We get the boastful sense of the Latin word in the English derivative, "ostentatious."

Gruemque hospitem contemnit.
= The noun hospitem, used here in apposition to gruem, suggests not only that peacock is vain, but also rude: even if what the peacock was saying might be true, it is not the kind of argument you want to start over dinner with a friend. It shows a lack of what we would call in English "hospitality" if you treat your hospes in this way.

Grus fatetur
= The verb is from an archaic Latin verb of speaking, and it conveys a sense of admitting or acknowledging something. In Latin grammatical terminology, the indicative mood is sometimes called fatendi modus, "the confessional mood," because the indicative mood is used to acknowledge of statements of fact.

Pavonem formosiorem esse pennis;
= The accusative plus infinitive construction is introduced by the verb fatetur, "confesses the peacock to be more beautiful." The ablative noun expresses the means by which the peacock manifests his beauty: by means of his feathers, because of his feathers.

se tamen,
= The postpositive tamen marks the beginning of a new clause. Its parallel structure, accusative plus infinitive, following the previous clause allows us to be patient and wait quite a long time for the infinitive that goes with this accusative subject of the infinitive. The reflexive pronoun refers back to the subject of the main verb, grus. So, eventually we are going to learn something about what the crane is able to do that counters the admission that the peacock is the more beautiful of the two.

cum vix tectis supervolitat Pavo,
= The cum clause here with an indicative verb expresses a statement of fact. Just as the crane makes a statement of fact about the peacock being more beautiful, the crane also makes a statement of fact about the peacock's limited flying ability using an indicative verb. The verb supervolitat is another frequentative verb from from volare.

animoso volatu penetrare nubes.
= At last we get the infinitive to go with our accusative subject se; in addition to its accusative subject, the infinitive also takes an accusative object, nubes. The noun phrase contains a verbal noun, volatus, which is called a supine.

Here is the illustration of the fable by Francis Barlow:

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The Aesopus Ning is now open for business - so, for more fables and to share your questions and comments with others, come visit the Ning!

Fable 6: Accipiter et Luscinia

Here's the next fable with a kind of running commentary that is not entirely possible within the confines of the forthcoming book from Bolchazy-Carducci. This will be Fable 6 in the book: De Accipitre et Luscinia. For more information Fable about this fable, see the Discussion Forum for this fable at the Aesopus Ning.

Comprehenderat Lusciniam Accipiter, quae misere clamabat ut se captivam demitteret. Cui Accipiter: “Frustra clamosas cies querimonias, nam licet omnes silvarum commoveris aviculas, non ab unguibus meis liberabunt.”

Comprehenderat Lusciniam Accipiter,
= Although Latin often relies on Subject-Object-Verb for word order, this opening phrase shows the freedom of Latin word order, with Verb-Object-Subject. We are also introduced, as often, to the two leading characters of the fable right here in the opening words.

quae misere clamabat
= The gender difference between the the hawk and the nightingale makes it clear just who this relative pronoun refers to. In some editorial conventions, this relative pronoun might be capitalized and used as the beginning of a sentence. There is some grammatical support for doing just that, as you will see in the next comment.

ut se captivam demitteret.
= The purpose clause here takes a subjunctive verb as you would expect, and the subject of the verb - the hawk - is not expressed. It's obvious from context: if there is going to be any "letting go" that takes place, it will be the hawk who does it. What is interesting here here is the object phrase, se captivam, which you could translate using apposition in English if you want: she shouted for the hawk to let her, his captive, go. The rule for the use of reflexive pronouns (admittedly not always strictly observed in later Latin) is that the reflexive pronoun refers back to the subject of the main verb: that is, not to the subject of demitteret but instead to the subject of the main verb. Clearly, main verb here must be the verb clamabat - which would be an argument for capitalizing the relative pronoun and considering this to be a main verb in a "sentence" of its own, rather than a relative clause in a sentence whose main verb is comprehenderat, with the subject accipiter.

Cui Accipiter:
= As often, the nominative subject paired with a noun in the dative obviate the need for an explicit verb of speaking: "to which the hawk," in other words, "The hawk responded to the nightingale."

“Frustra clamosas cies querimonias,
= Notice the verb nice noun phrase, clamosas querimonias, which is wrappeda round the verb of which it is the object. The effect of this word order is to create an elegant predicate package, while putting a strong emphasis on both words of the noun phrase, with the strongest emphasis of all on the noisiness of those complaints, clamosas (very emphatic first position) cies querimonias (emphatic final position).

nam licet
= The word licet here is being used as a conjunction rather than as a true verb. It introduces a concessive hypothetical situation, much like quamvis (which also contains the remnants of a verb: vis) or etsi. You should expect a subjunctive verb, expressing the hypothetical situation.

omnes silvarum commoveris aviculas,
= Another noun phrase wrapped around its verb, which is indeed the subjunctive verb we were hoping for after licet. Notice also the disparaging use of the diminutive aviculas, which could be translated into English as "birdies," although the use of a diminutive forms in English always seems a bit awkward compared to the extremely widespread and productive use of diminutives in Latin.

non ab unguibus meis liberabunt.”
= The subject of this verb, not expressed, is supplied by the object of the previous verb: omnes aviculae.

Here is the illustration of the fable by Francis Barlow:

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The Aesopus Ning is now open for business - so, for more fables and to share your questions and comments with others, come visit the Ning!