Latin OCR GCSE Literature - Prose - Messalina - Line 79-89 - Translation and style

adsidebat mater Lepida, quae florenti filiae haud concors fuerat; sed supremis eius necessitatibus ad miserationem versa suadebat ne percussorem operiretur: transiisse vitam neque aliud quam mortem decoram quarendum.

Sitting beside her was her mother Lepida, who had not been in harmony with her daughter when she was flourishing, but in her final hours of need, having turned to pity, she advised her not to wait for an assassin: her life was past and she should not seek anything other than a noble death.

Sed nihil honestum inerat Messalinae animo, oer libidines corrupto; lacrimae et questus inriti effundebantur cum impetu venientuium pulsae sunt fores adstititque tribunus.

But there was nothing honourable in Messalina’s Mind, which was corrupted by her lusts; tears and futile complaints were pouring forth, when the doors were struck by the force of those arriving and the tribune stood nearby.

tunc primum Messalina fortunam suam intellexit ferrumque accepit; quod frustra iugulo aut pectori per trepidationem admovens, ictu tribuni transigitur.

Then for the first time Messalina recofnised her fate and took up the sword, applying this in vain to her throat or chest because of her panic, she was pierced by the tribune’s blow.

corpus matri concessum

The body was granted to the mother.

‘asidebat’ line 79

‘Sitting beside’ this verb has been promoted to the start to show the low position of Lepida/M, and to show how Messalina is the subject - this is unusual, which demonstrates how the presence of the mother is unusual

‘mater’…’filiae’ line 79

‘mother’…’daughter’ the choice of these words emphasises their relationship

‘quae florenti filiae haud concors fuerat’ line 79/80

‘who had not been in harmony with her daughter when she was flourishing’ - the liquid alliteration of ‘l’ + fricative alliteration of ‘f’ links the words and emphasises the irony - Messalina is no longer flourishing

‘sed supremis eius necessitatibus ad miserationem versa suadebat ne percussorem opperiretur’

‘but in her final hours of need having turned to pity she advised her not to wait for an assassin’ the sibilance of ‘s’ emphasises Tactius’s disgust at the pair (hiss), also shows the secrecy - whispering and finally emphasises the treachery and death

‘transiisse’ line 82

‘was past’ the promotion of the verb emphasises its harsh meaning

‘transisse vitam’ line 82

‘her life was past’ - life and death are juxtaposing each other - unsympathetic

‘ne….neque…nihil’ lines 81,82,83

‘not..not…nothing’ - variatio - emphaises the harshness of Lepida’s message, and the lack on honour

‘mortem decoram’ line 82

‘noble death’ assonance of 'o’ links the two words together, could also link to ‘percussorem’ meaning assassin

‘transiisse vitam neque aliud quam mortem decoram quaerendum’ line 82/3

‘her life was past, and she should not seek anything other than a noble death’ the repeated ending ‘m’ links the words together showing what Messalina should do

‘nihil honestum inerat Messalinae animo per libidines corrupto ’ line 83

‘nothing honourable in Messalina’s mind, which was corrupted by her lusts’

1. Tactius is making a judgement

2. the assonance of ‘i’ links the words together,

3. alliteration of ‘m’ and ‘n’ - sadness

‘per libidines corrupto’

this is a very harsh short sentence and derogatory

‘effundebantur’ line 84

‘were pouring fourth’ - passive suggests that Messalina does not have any control over her reactions or the situation

‘tribunus’ line 86

‘tribune’ this word has been postponed to the end of the sentence to show how he’s there but separate

‘adsidebat’…’adstititque’ line 79/86

‘Sititng beside’…’stood’ the contrast between the two levels could show how the tribune has more power

‘tunc primum Messalina fortunam suam intellexit’ line 86/7

‘then for the first time Messalina recognised her fate’ the alliteration of ‘m’ and ‘n’’ emphasises the sadness of the scene

the long description shows Messalina’s panic

‘intellexit…accepit’ line 87

‘realised’ ‘accepted’ the two verbs in sequence show Messalina’s thought process

final two sentences

the long sentence contrasting the short final sentence shows the long run up to Messalina’s death and contrasts it with her short death

‘pectori per trepidationem’ line 88

‘just translate the whole sentence’ the plosive alliteration of ‘p’ could suggest force

‘tribune transigitur’ line 88

‘was pierced by the tribune’s’ the passive verb show Messalina’s lifelessness, the alliteration of ‘t’ emphasises that the tribune was the agent not Messalina

‘corpus matri concessum’ line 89

‘the body was granted to the mother’

the use of body rather than a name shows M’s lifelessness

the use of Mother rather than Lepida reminds the reader that Messalina doesn’t have many companions

the passive postponed again shows M’s lifelessness and emphasises it

the short three-word clause contrasts with lengthy prelude, and shows how M was disposed of quickly