Seneca

How did the Romans measure time? I would have assumed tamen inter sextam et septimam erat meant “nevertheless it was between six and seven [o’clock]” but both our book and Perseus explained it as between noon and one.

I noticed that our book chose to use arcum instead of ortum in the line Iam Phoebus breviore via contraxerat ortum lucis. I read the commentary, which claims it is impossible for it to be ortum, but I didn’t really understand their reasoning. I took that line to mean “Phoebus had already drawn in the rising of light with a shorter path,” which makes just as much sense to me as “the arc of light.” Is there any way to know which word Seneca intended?

My Latin teacher in high school used to make us write the date in Latin on our tests/everything for credit, so I know this one. The number of days isn’t counting after the kalends/nones/ides, but rather up to the next one (and you include the kalends/nones/ides in the count, as well as the current day). So dies III idus Octobris is October 13th because there are three days (the 13th, 14th and 15th) until the ides. To give another example, October 29th would be IV Kal. Nov.

There is a textual difficulty here that we will talk about in class.

I’m curious about the textual discrepancies between the Perseus/Wordpress version and the Cambridge book version.

The Perseus/Wordpress version uses the verb inquies followed by cum omnes poetae (Too rustic, you will say: when all the poets…).

But the Cambridge book uses the verb <adeo his> followed by acquiescent omnes poetae (I address to them….all the poets acquiesce).

Why do two different versions of the text exist? Have different translators/authors chosen particular verbs over others? Which is closest to Seneca’s version? And what are the effects of the different verb choices?

I find it extremely interesting that within this section of verse, Seneca personifies and deifies the sun, the moon, and wine with the names of Gods.  These Gods are everyday, natural experiences.  The purpose of this text is to make Claudius himself a part of nature, however satirical that may be.  These Gods are already established as the sun, the moon, and wine, while this section of verse furthers Claudius’ ascendance into heaven and transformation into the pumpkin.

Regarding regnum in line 3 – Perseus suggests that it is a neuter nominative singular noun, but wouldn’t it make more sense that regnum be in the accusative and the direct object?  The book gives a translation of “Cynthia was already triumphantly extending her sway,” but I feel as though a closer translation would be “victorious Cynthia was already increasing her kingdom” creating a sentence structure with regnum as the direct object.

While Seneca uses carpebat twice in the imperfect active indicative, I would argue that each use should have a different meaning. Our book translator chooses “snatching” in line 4, and “plucking” in line 6. Both have similar meanings, though snatching implies more force. I found the definition “devour/eat” for carpo which I prefer in line 4. This pairs more closely with the Bacchanalian quality of the winter: the winter rain devours the riches gained from the autumn.

Thus, I would translate line four as “and the deformed/foul winter was devouring the beloved honors/adornments of a rich autumn”.

This more forceful definition of carpebat helps contrast between a Bacchanalian force in line four and the meeker grape picker in line 6. After all, Bacchus leaves and the force of the word should diminish drastically after iussoque senescere Baccho. As the translation stands in the book, that contrast doesn’t seem apparent enough.

This is a grammatical and syntactical question in that I would like to fully comprehend how the conveyance of days and months works in Latin. dies III idus Octobris is similar but not identical to the earlier phrase ante diem III idus Octobris which we touched on, and thus I was unsure how the grammar was working. (Even in the earlier phrase gives me some uncertainty). The texts say that it means the 13th of October. I know the Ides of October falls on the 15th (thanks, Perseus) but I simply don’t know what dies III is doing. Is it as simple as the 3rd day of the ides of October? I thought so but then wouldn’t that make it the 18th and not the 13th?

I took puto in puto magis intellegi to be the verb putare; but this has many meanings (as indicated in Glossa) such as “to clean/prune”, “to believe”, “to consider”, and “to reckon”, none of which seemed particularly fitting . I took it as (II.) “to clear up, set in order; to arrange, settle, adjust.”In this way, the phrase can mean, “I [will] arrange to [have myself] be understood more completely”. For intellegi is a fairly obvious passive infinitive and fixed in meaning, the same with magis. The translations seem to suggest this is the right direction, but is there a use of the verb puto that I am missing?