Helps to Latin Translation at Sight

by Edmund Luce

Translate, first literally, He having discharged completely his military service, being introduced into the Senate by P. C. Sulla, the Praetor, asks the Fathers that 5000 soldiers should be given him. Now improve this: get rid at all costs of the having and being, which are not English, and change the asks into the past tense of narration. Thus:—

After he had completed his term of service, and had been introduced to the Senate by P. Corn. Sulla, the Praetor, he petitioned the Fathers that 5000 soldiers should be given him.

[IV.] Se peritum et hostis et regionum, brevi operae pretium facturum: et, quibus artibus ad id locorum nostri et duces et exercitus capti forent, iis adversus inventorem usurum.

(i.) Vocabulary.—

peritum, cf. ex-peri-enced. √par-, per-, pierce, go through; so, ex-per-ior, per-iculum, in sense of a trial.

operae pretium = lit. ‘what will pay for the trouble,’ i.e. worth while, i.e. worth the time (or labour) spent upon it.

artibus—ars. √ar = fit, join = skill in joining something, skill in producing; so, artist, artisan, artifice, etc.

ad id locorum[13] = to that point of time. The ideas of place and time readily interchange; so, in loco = at the right place or time.

(ii.) Translation.—The form of the sentence shows that it is reported speech, and not the actual words of the speaker Centenius, who is still the principal subject, and dixit, understood, the principal verb, and se peritum . . . usurum the object of dixit. You should now be able to translate without any difficulty, and the logical common-sense rules for the conversion of Or. Recta into Or. Obliqua explain the mood of the verb capti forent in the subordinate clause introduced by quibus.

Literally: Centenius said that he, experienced in both the enemy and the districts, would soon make it worth (their) while: and that he would use against their inventor those arts by which up to that time both our leaders and our armies had been overcome. Notice that the long relative clause quibus artibus . . . forent is in Latin placed before the antecedent iis.