Bloggus Sum

And it's strike one for the revolution! This post contains:

• My three translation attempts, first unseen, then with a dictionary, then finally with another translation
• A vocab list of the trickier words
• A challenge: identify the form of verbs and comment on what the forms add to the passage.

Tres ferme horas pugnatum est et ubique atrociter; circa consulem tamen acrior infestiorque pugna est. Eum et robora uirorum sequebantur et ipse, quacumque in parte premi ac laborare senserat suos, impigre ferebat opem, insignemque armis et hostes summa ui petebant et tuebantur ciues, donec Insuber eques—Ducario nomen erat—facie quoque noscitans consulem, "En" inquit "hic est" popularibus suis, "qui legiones nostras cecidit agrosque et urbem est depopulatus; iam ego hanc uictimam manibus peremptorum foede ciuium dabo". Subditisque calcaribus equo per confertissimam hostium turbam impetum facit obtruncatoque prius armigero, qui se infesto uenienti obuiam obiecerat, consulem lancea transfixit; spoliare cupientem triarii obiectis scutis arcuere. Magnae partis fuga inde primum coepit; et iam nec lacus nec montes pauori obstabant; per omnia arta praeruptaque uelut caeci euadunt, armaque et uiri super alium alii praecipitantur.

Translation: pass 1

The fighting was terrible everywhere for about three hours; however the battle was fiercest and thickest around the consul. The citizens had followed him and his toughest men, and he himself had shamelessly taken the fight to whichever part he thought his troops were pressed and struggling, and the citizens had sought and killed the most outstanding soldiers and enemies with most strength; until an Insuban knight - his name was Ducarius - recognising the consul also by his face said to his companions "Look! Here is the man who felled our legions and laid waste to our fields and city. Now I will give this punishment with my hands for the crime of a snatched state."

After ?????????????? [after some group had stood down?], he made an attack through the extremely packed crowd of the enemy from his horse, and having first slaughtered the bodyguard who threw himself in the way of the angry approacher, skewered the consul with his lance; the surrounding men, shields thrown aside, prostrated themselves in front of those desiring to slaughter them. First from here, flight of the most part began; and now neither lake nor mountain stood in the way of fear; all men fled headfirst through all the broken devices, and weapons and over other men, as if they could escape slaughter.

Tricky Words - what I've figured out, then what the dictionary says.

impigre
Third declention noun, ablative Adverb: actively, quickly, keenly. It is also an adjective which means the same thing.

infestior
obviously not a good word - unsafe, dangerous

victimam
Accusative, feminine, maybe from victima. Guess it has something to do with sacrifice? Correct: victima, ae - sacrifice victim.

foede
I recognise this word from Virgil. It's a bad word - you do not want to be foedus - and I'm fairly sure it's an ablative, 3rd declension noun. Almost correct - foedus is an adjective meaning all things foul and loathesome, but the word here is the adverb foede - horribly, cruelly. Also, I think the word in Virgil is the homonym foedus, eris (n) - treaty, alliance.

subditis
The verb bit of an ablative absolute - a perfect participle, perhaps from subducto - drag under? Nope - it's from subdo, dere, didi, ditus: an irritating word which somehow encompasses "put under", "apply", "yield", "supply", "furnish", "substitute" and "counterfeit". I can see how all those words can come from subdo, but it's still a bastard collection to remember. What on earth can it mean in this context?!

calcaribus
No idea, except that it's a plural ablative, perhaps from calcax or something? Almost: calcar, aris (n) - spur, but also stimulus. I'm sure in an exam they would have given this to us. It also makes sense of subditis.

armigero
ablative of something like a bodyguard - the dictionary says armiger, eri (m) is a "shield-bearer"

confertissimam
From confertus; it also has another bally adverb, confertim, meaning closely or compact.

triarii
A technical term, and as I suspected, in the nom plural: the third rank of soldiers in battle, i.e. the reserve.

insuber
Not in the dictionary, which at least confirms that my suspicion that it's a proper noun of sorts.

arcuere
"to shut up, to enclose, avert, restrain, hinder, protect". I've no idea if this is etymologically close to the word arx, arcis, but it might help to remember that this verb means to "tower" someone, with all the associations that a tower has. My dictionary claims they both come from the Greek word "arego", and the word "arcanus" (secret) is also related.

spoliare
to strip, unclothe - to rob, plunder, despoil

tuebantur
I thought this was kill - but the dictionary informs me that tueor, tutus, eri actually means "look at", "guard", "care for", "support", "protect" e.t.c.

peremptorum
Genitive plural of something. PPP of perimo, kill, slay, exterminate.

Translation: pass 2

There was fighting for three hours, and everywhere fiercely; however, around the consul the fighting was more bitter and violent. The citizens had followed him and his toughest men, and he himself keenly directing the effort to whichever part he felt his men were pressed and toiling, [while] the citizens had sought and rounded up the most outstanding soldiers and enemies with most strength; until an Insuban knight - Ducarius was his name - recognising the consul also by his face said to his comrades, "look, here is the man who felled our legions and laid waste to our fields and city; now I will perform this sacrifice, with the hands of citizens cruelly annihilated!!!"

Digging in his spurs, he made attack through the tightest band of enemies on his horse, first cutting down the shield-bearer who had thrown himself in the way of the enraged oncomer, skewered the consul with his lance; the reserves restrained those who had thrown away their shields and wished to plunder him. From there first began the flight of the most part; and now neither lake nor mountain would stand in the way of fear; all ran headfirst, through all abandoned devices, weapons and over other men, as if they could evade slaughter.

Uncertainties

• pugnatum est and pugna est: impersonal verbs, apparently in the present. Does this make any difference to their sense?
• What is that quoque doing?
• I still dislike the line about the reserves.
  

After looking up an official translation: Project Gutenburg here

Serious FAIL in paragraph one:

Both the strongest of the troops, and himself too, promptly brought assistance wherever he perceived his men hard pressed and distressed. But, distinguished by his armour, the enemy attacked him with the utmost vigour, while his countrymen defended him

I seriously misconstrued sequebantur somehow. The second half makes sense, from the period. But what of the first half? I looked up the Wikipedia translation for a second opinion:

He was followed by the pick of his army, and wherever he saw his men hard pressed and in difficulties he at once went to their help. Distinguished by his armour he was the object of the enemy's fiercest attacks, which his comrades did their utmost to repel[...]

Now that actually translates sequebantur at least, but I still don't understand: isn't sequebantur deponant? Why is eum accusative? The best sense I can make is "the strongest men followed him".

Now will I offer this victim to the shades of my countrymen, miserably slain

Ouch. You didn't just see me mistake manes, ium - "dead spirits" - for manus, us - "hand". I also didn't quite get objecto correct:

first slaying his armour-bearer, who had opposed himself to his attack as he approached, ran the consul through with his lance; the triarii, opposing their shields, kept him off when seeking to despoil him.

The mistake didn't crucially change the meaning of the first word, but it did the second. I still don't know what this actually means however. Wikipedia gives:

but the triarii protected the body with their shields and prevented him from despoiling it

However, I am also far more literal than my fellow translator:

Then first the flight of a great number began; and now neither the lake nor the mountains obstructed their hurried retreat; they run through all places, confined and precipitous, as though they were blind; and arms and men are tumbled one upon another

pavori is from pavor, oris - "fear", not "retreat", though the sense is the same. My understanding of the last paragraph was scuppered by bad vocab:

cacus - "blind"
artus- close, narrow
praeruptua - abrupt, ragged

Final Translation

There was fighting for three hours, and everywhere fiercely; however, around the consul the fighting was more bitter and violent. The toughest men followed him, and he himself keenly directed the effort to whichever part he felt his men were pressed and toiling; enemies attacked him with the most force, outstanding in his armor, while his countrimen guarded him; until an Insuban knight - Ducarius was his name - recognising the consul also by his face said to his comrades, "look, here is the man who felled our legions and laid waste to our fields and city; now I will perform this sacrifice, to the shades of citizens cruelly annihilated!!!"

Digging in his spurs, he made attack through the tightest band of enemies on his horse, first cutting down the shield-bearer who had thrown himself in the way of the enraged oncomer, skewered the consul with his lance; the reserves restrained those who wished to despoil him with opposing shields. From there first began the flight of the most part; and now neither lake nor mountain would stand in the way of fear; all ran as if blind through small and broken routes, all fleeing headfirst over other arms and men.

Lesson of the day

• Look-ye up some adverbs. They're one of those little unimportant things passed over in Latin classes, precicely because they have no function beyond decoration, and are infrequently used (compared to, y'know, verbs). But see how often they tripped me up!

PART TWO: verb identification