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Translation Aid – Cena Trimalchionis 62.9

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qui mori timore nisi ego

The storyteller Niceros asks a rhetorical question: what sort of person could die from fright if not himself?

In this construction, a form of possum in the subjunctive appears to have undergone ellipsis.  The construction likely a relative clause of characteristic.  A relative clause in the indicative would state something as fact, whereas a relative clause of characteristic conveys a sense of potential (A&G 534)—given that Niceros’ statement is rhetorical, a subjunctive mood is more fitting than the indicative.

qui: there is no antecedent for the relative pronoun qui; where the antecedent is undefined, a relative clause with the subjunctive indicates a characteristic of the antecedent (A&G 535).

mori: the present active infinitive of the deponent verb morior; here, a complementary infinitive to the absent form of possum.

timore: ablative of cause (A&G 404a).

nisi: although often used with conditions, nisi may be used by comic poets in the sense of only when a negative is expressed or understood in the main clause (A&G 525e).  There is no main clause preceding, but there is an understood negative: Niceros implies that no one could be more afraid than he.  Translate here as “save” or “except”.

ego: Niceros emphasizes his exceptional state of fright.

Translation Aid – Seneca the Elder, Suasoriae VI.6

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Arelli Fusci Patris

nihil aliud intercidet quam corpus fragilitatis caducae; morbis obnoxium, casibus expositum, proscriptionibus obiectum

nihil: indeclinable neuter noun, either nominative subject or accusative object of verb. See “intercidet” below.

aliud: singular neuter adjective modifying “nihil”; either nominative subject or accusative object of verb. See “intercidet” below.

intercidet: 3rd person, singular, future, active, indicative verb. Either transitive or intransitive.

  • if transitive, intercidet=subject+verb, nihil =object; i.e.: “he will kill nothing” or “he will cut nothing to pieces”
  • if intransitive, nihil =subject, intercidet=verb; i.e.: “nothing will die”

quam: adverb, indeclinable. Used to indicate comparison; i.e.: “than”

  • when “quam” is used, the two things compared are put into the same case (A&G 407)
  • “alius” is sometimes followed by “quam” in formal prose (A&G 407d); i.e.: “nothing other than the body…”

corpus: singular neuter noun, matching “nihil” and “aliud” in case; either nominative or accusative, depending on whether “intercidet” is transitive or intransitive.

morbis obnoxium, casibus expositum, proscriptionibus obiectum: series of appositives. “obnoxium”, “expositum”, and “obiectum” all modify “corpus”, matching it in case, gender and number.

nec potes non videri nimis vixisse qui moreris rei publicae superstes

potes: 2nd person, singular, present, active, indicative verb; main verb of the sentence.

            – potes=subject+verb; i.e.: “you are able”

 

videri: passive present infinitive verb. “videri” in the passive can be understood as “to seem” rather than “to be seen”

qui moreris: relative clause

  • qui: nominative singular masculine relative pronoun, matching subject “you” contained in “potes”
  • moreris: 2nd person, singular, present, active, indicative. Appears passive because it is a deponent verb.

superstes: can be either: 2nd person, singular, present, active, subjunctive verb, “you shall stand over”; or nominative, masculine, singular, 3rd declension noun, “survivor” or “support”

  • if “superstes” is a subjunctive verb, rei publicae take dative indirect object with the compound verb “supersto” (A&G 370); i.e.: “you shall stand over the republic”
    • in this case, “rei publicae superstes” becomes a main clause separate from the rest of the sentence, with “superstes” acting as a main use subjunctive
  • if “superstes” is a 3rd declension noun, rei publicae goes with nominative noun “supetstes”; i.e.: “a survivor of the state” or “a support for/of the state”
    • in this case, “rei publicae superstes” becomes a noun phrase, acting as an appositive that modifies the implied subject “you” in the main verb “potes”

note: the definition we take for “superstes” affects our understanding of its case use:

  •  if we take superstes to mean “survivor”, then it may be considered an objective genitive. I.e.: “a survivor of the republic”, as in: “you (Cicero) survive the republic”. Here, “survive” functions in the sense “to out live (or stand over)”, suggesting that even though Cicero himself may die, his legacy will survive or outlive the republic. Although now we tend not to use “survive” in this sense in everyday speech, you can still find it in this form in obituaries, such as: “Jane Doe is survived by her children”
  • if we take superstes to mean “supporter”, then it may be considered a dative of reference. I.e.: “a supporter for/of the republic”.