OCR GCSE Latin - Verse Literature - Baucis et Philemon (Ovid) - Lines 36-50 - Translation and Style

interea totiens haustum cratera repleri

sponte sua per seque vident succrescere vina;

Meanwhile they see the mixing bowl, which had been drained so many times, refilled of its own accord and the wine increasing by itself.

attoniti novitate pavent manibusque supinnis

concipient Baucisque preces timidusque Philemon

et veniam dapibus nullisque paratibus orant.

Astonished by the strangeness (of the event), they fear, and with hands facing upwards, both Baucis and fearful Philemon (begin to) form prayers and beg pardon for the feast and lack of preparations.

unicus answer erat, minimae custodia villae,

quem dis hospitibus domini mactare parabant;

There was (just) one goose, guardian of the very small house, which the owners were preparing to kill for the gods, their guests;

ille celer penna tardos aetate fatigat

eluditque die tandemque est visis ad ipsos

confugisse deos. (next section)

the goose, swift with its wing(s), wore (them) out as they were slow through age, eluded them for a long time and finally seemed to have fled for refuge to the gods themselves.

superi vetuere necari

‘di’ que ‘sumus, meritasque luet civinia poenas

impia’ dixerunt; ‘vobis immunibus huius

esse mali dabitur. (next section)

The gods forbade it to be killed, and said, ‘We are gods, and the irreligious neighbourhood will pay the penalty it deserves; it will be granted to you to be exempt from this destruction.

modo vestra relinquite tecta

ac nostros comitate gradus et in ardua montis ite simul.’

Just leave your home and accompany our steps and go together with (us) to the steep parts of the mountain.’

‘cratera repleri….succrescere vina’ lines 36/7

‘mixing bowl…refilled…the wine increasing’ - chiasmus draws attention to the draining and magical refilling of the crater

‘sponte sua per seque’ line 37 (and succrescere)

‘of its own accord…and by itself’ - pleonasm - more words than needed; sibilance reflects magic/fizz of wine filling the air

‘attoniti novitate’ line 38

‘Astonished by the strangeness’ - dactylic rapid rythym showing panic and fear; word stress falls on ‘on’ and ‘nov’ emphasising these words and so strangeness of the event

‘attoniti novitate pavent’ line 38 œ

‘Astonished by the strangeness, they fear’ - alliteration of ‘t’ emphasises these words - strangeness/astonishment

‘supinis/concipiunt’ line 38/9

‘facing upwards…form’ - enjambment speeds up pace and creates suspense; ‘supinis’ shows pious nature

‘Baucisque preces timidusque Philemon’ line 39

‘Baucis and fearful Philemon…prayers’ - polysyndeton creates a fast pace and shows that there’s lots happening; enclosing word order - shows how both prayed - piety, respect

‘veniam…orant’ line 40

‘beg pardon’ - enclosing word order - emphasises their apologeticness

‘dapibus…paratibus’ line 40

‘feast and…preparations’ - homioteleuton emphasises the two things that they were sorry for

‘nullisque’ line 40

‘lack of’ - hyperbole - really apologising for poverty

‘unicus’ line 41

‘one’ - not need grammatically, emphatic position - stresses poverty

‘minimae’ line 41

‘very small’ - superlative, stresses poverty

‘minimae custodia villae’ line 41

‘guardian of the very small house’ - enclosing word order shows how the goose guarded the whole house; ‘villae’ suggests that the house feels like a palace to B+P/big job for one guardian

‘dis hospitibus’ line 42

‘their guests’ - juxtaposition - daunting to have someone to stay

‘domini’ line 42

‘master’ - daunting/ironic - no slaves to be a master of

‘penna tardos’ line 43

‘wings…slow’ - juxtapose - how Philemon could not catch it - shows reasons

‘fatigat/eluditque’ line 43/4

‘wore them out…eluded them’ - enjambment, pleonasm - emphasises them being tired out

‘eluditque…tandemque’ line 44

‘eluded them…and finally’ - polysyndeton shows length of chase

‘diu tandemque’ line 44

‘for a long time and finally’ - juxtaposition emphasises long time'

‘ipsos’ line 44

‘themselves’ - emphatic position, emphatic pronoun, hyperbole - like the goose has gone to heaven

‘deos. superi’ line 45

‘the gods. The gods.’ - variatio, caesura emphasises gods - goose has flown to heaven

‘di’ line 46

‘gods’ - emphatic at start of line - shock that they are gods, huge revelation

‘meritasque luet vicini poenas’ line 46

‘neighbourhood will pay the penalty it deserves' - ‘meritasque’ promoted for emphasis; enclosing word order implies punishment - flood will surround them

‘/impia’ line 47

‘irreligious’ - enjambment creates suspense as to what the reason is

‘impia…immnibus’ line 47

‘irreligious…exempt from’ - assonance stresses contrast between the neighbourhood and B+P

‘dabitur’ line 48

‘it will be granted’ - passive obscures agent - mysterious

‘modo vestra relinquite tecta / ac nostros comitate gradus’ lines 48/9

‘Just leave your home and accompany our steps’ - adj verb noun structure x2 - very clear -emphasises instructive nature

‘ardua montis’ line 49

‘the steep parts of the mountain’ - copying virgil, emphasis on ardua - need to get to high/steep parts