LXI.
Primi omnium Ephesii (Ephesii: Ephesians from Ephesus, an ancient city opposite the island of Samos on the western coast of modern-day Turkey and the main commercial center of the Mediterranean.) adiere, memorantes non, ut vulgus crederet, (ut vulgus crederet: subjunctive in indirect discourse after memorantes: ‘as people believe’) Dianam atque Apollinem Delo genitos: (non …Dianam atque Apollinem Delo genitos: lit. ‘that Apollo and Diana had not been engendered at Delos’; Apollo, the god of the sun and of beauty and Diana, the goddess of the moon and of hunting were thought of having as their birthplace the tiny (only 350 hectares) island of Delos in the center of the Aegean sea’s Cyclades archipelago, off the southern coast of the much larger Mykonos island. Delo is abl. of place, without in for small islands.) esse apud se Cenchreum amnem, lucum Ortygiam, (Cenchreum amnem, lucum Ortygiam: a small stream running through the grove of Ortygia, the sacred place of asylum) ubi Latonam partu gravidam et oleae, quae tum etiam maneat, adnisam edidisse ea numina, (ubi Latonam partu gravidam et oleae, quae tum etiam maneat, adnisam edidisse ea numina: ubi is here relative adverb replacing quo, not temporal conjunction: lit. ‘in which Latona, pregnant with young and leaning against an olive tree, which even at that time remained, gave birth to those deities’; Latona was the daughter of the two Titans Coeus and Phoebe. Pregnant by Jupiter, she had to find a place of asylum to escape the wrath of Juno, Jupiter’s wife. partu gravidam: gravidus is followed by abl. (e.g. gravida puero) or gen. (e.g. mellis apes gravidae); quae tum etiam maneat: subjunctive for rel. clause in indirect discourse; in the actual words of the envoys the clause would be quae nunc etiam manet. The imperfect maneret would be more compatible then maneat with the sequence of tenses after a historical main verb, but the present is often used when present time is clearly in the speakers’ mind (cf. A.G. 485, a.); oleae is dat. with adnisam.) deorumque monitu sacratum nemus, atque ipsum illic Apollinem post interfectos Cyclopas (post interfectos Cyclopas: post is prep with acc., not adverb: lit. ‘after the slain Cyclops’; Cyclopas is Greek acc. plural; acc. sing. Cyclopa; another example is Macedonas below, acc. sing. Macedona. According to legend, Apollo killed the Cyclops for manufacturing the thunderbolts Jupiter used to destroy Aesculapius, Apollo’s son.) Iovis iram vitavisse. mox Liberum patrem, bello victorem, supplicibus Amazonum quae aram insiderant ignovisse. (Liberum patrem … supplicibus Amazonum quae aram insiderant ignovisse: Liber pater was another name of Bacchus, the god of wine: ‘that Bacchus had spared those of the Amazons who had occupied the shrine begging for mercy’; Bacchus or Dionysus fought against the Amazons, a warrior race of women possibly of Scythian or Sarmatian origin, who had refused to recognize and worship him as a god. He pursued them relentlessly until he cornered them on the island of Samos and massacred them. supplicibus Amazonum quae aram insiderant ignovisse: short for eis supplicibus Amazonum quae aram insiderant ignovisse, where eis supplicibus is dat. with ignovisse; aram can mean altar, temple, refuge, or the sacred grove itself, which is referred to as templo below. Amazonum is partitive gen. with the relative quae.) auctam hinc concessu Herculis, cum Lydia poteretur, caerimoniam templo (auctam hinc concessu Herculis, cum Lydia poteretur, caerimoniam templo: ‘that the sacred character of the sanctuary (templo: lit. ‘for the sanctuary) was subsequently expanded by Hercules’ permission when he made himself master of Lydia’; Hercules had been condemned for one year to be the slave of Omphale, queen of Lydia, a kingdom in western Asia Minor (modern Turkey). During his stay, Hercules performed many deeds of valor and ended up marrying Omphale. Lydia is abl. with potior.) neque Persarum dicione deminutum ius; post Macedonas, dein nos servavisse. (neque Persarum dicione deminutum ius; post Macedonas, dein nos servavisse: ‘[they said] that the right of asylum was not curtailed by the Persian occupation, and that after the Macedonians, we [Romans] had preserved it.’ Macedonian control over Greece, established by king Philip II in 338 B.C., continued under his son Alexander the Great and his successors, definitely ending in 197 B.C. with the Roman conquest of Greece. nos: in the words spoken directly by the Ephesian envoys, nos would be vos followed by indicative: ‘you Romans have preserved the right of sanctuary’.)