LAT 421
Midterm Translation Passages
Fall 2023

1. Satyricon 71.1-3

Trimalchio says, “friends, even slaves are human beings and have drunk the same milk [i.e. as free persons] on an equal basis, even if a bad fate has overwhelmed them. Nevertheless, while I'm safe & sound, they'll soon drink the water of freedom. In sum, I'm manumitting them all in my will. To Philargyrus I also bequeath an estate and his partner [i.e his informal/common-law wife], also an apartment complex to Cario and his 5% tax [for manumission] and a bed that has been covered. Indeed, I make Fortunata my heir, and I entrust her to all my friends. And I announce all these things for this reason, (namely) so that my household love me right now just as if (I were) dead.”

amicis is dative, plural, masculine; indirect object

2. De Bello Civili/Bellum Civile/Pharsalia 3.9-20

Then an image full of deadly shock, i.e. Julia, seemed to lift her gloomy head through the gaping earth and to stand fury-like on her tomb that was set afire. She says, “driven from the homes of Elysium and from the field of the blessed, after the civil war I am dragged to the shadows of the Styx and to the guilty shades. I myself saw the Furies holding torches which they would shake at your arms [i.e holding torches to shake at . . . ]; the ferryman of Acheron that is lit aflame is readying in advance countless ships; Tartarus is being opened for many punishments; all the Sisters, though their right-hand moves fast, are scarcely equal to the task, the threads are fatiguing the Fates as they break them off. While I was your spouse, Magnus, you celebrated happy triumphs . . .”.

coniuge is ablative, singular, feminine; ablative absolute

Exam Points: 414 total, distributed as follows:

I. Identifications: 10 pts. each, 40 total;
II. Translations: 2 pts. per word ( = 1 pt. for semantics, 1 pt. for syntax) + identification (1 pt. per morphological item, 2 pts. for a syntactic item), 314 total;
III. Commentary: 60 points each (5 points each for (1)-(3), 45 points for (4)), 60 total.