Aeneid II: 273

 

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In somnīs, ecce, ante oculōs maestissimus Hector
vīsus adesse mihi, largōsque effundere flētūs,
raptātus bīgīs, ut quondam, āterque cruentō
pulvere, perque pedes trāiectus lōra tumentīs.

How does lōra work grammatically? I could understand trāiecta lōra, or trāiectus lōrīs.

Thanks :)
 
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The rule of thumb I was given (for both Greek and Latin poetry) was that whenever you see an accusative that you can't make sense of, take it as a Greek accusative (or an accusativus respectus).

A thing that I added more or less myself: especially when there is a participle.
 
 

cinefactus

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Thanks. I didn't realise that it could be extended more generally.
 
 

cinefactus

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I am assuming 275 is the same:
Eī mihi, quālis erat, quantum mūtātus ab illō
quī redit exuviās indūtus Achillī
 
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Thanks. I didn't realise that it could be extended more generally.

As a caveat, I didn't say that the accusative is to be taken as an instrumental here, even though that's essentially what the meaning of the sentence comes down to.

The literal meaning, however, is "He was pierced through his feet with regard to reins" and the poet essentially leaves it up to you to figure out what he means ... or what the "narrator" means (depending on which literary theory you worship :p)

"traiectus lora" also evokes the image (at least to me) of Achilles giving the reins to the horses as he was dragging his dead body around Troy, which may be another way of understanding this Greek accusative.
 
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What do you mean exactly by "meaningful"?

Either this passage plays an important role in the whole narration,
or it is a reference to a quote by Homer to tie the work to the Iliad (which would be my suspicion, but I haven't read the Iliad in Greek and I don't have a commentary available and I'm not your greatest expert on the Aeneid).
 

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Either this passage plays an important role in the whole narration
What does an important role in the whole narration have to do with Greek accusatives?
or it is a reference to a quote by Homer to tie the work to the Iliad (which would be my suspicion, but I haven't read the Iliad in Greek and I don't have a commentary available and I'm not your greatest expert on the Aeneid).
I suppose that could be (the Greek accusatives could be due to Vergil imitating Homer's phrasing), though I don't know, of course.
 
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What does an important role in the whole narration have to do with Greek accusatives?

An accumulation of stylistic devices and other particularities usually underline the fact that a particular passage has special meaning.
 

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In Harrison's 10 commentary, he has an appendix that focuses on some of these, attempting to categorize them.

(i) Aen. 1. 561 ‘vultum demissa’, 228 ‘lacrimis oculos suffusa’. In this, the most common type, the direct object of the active form of the sentence (vultum demittere, lacrimis oculos suffundere) becomes the indirect object in a passive form of the sentence, but keeps its accusative case: cf. (iii) below.

(ii) Aen. 2. 273 ‘perque pedes traiectus lora’, G. 3. 307 ‘vellera . . . Tyrios incocta rubores’. In this rare type the accusative after the passive verb replaces an instrumental ablative in the active form of the sentence: traicere eum loris, incoquere vellera ruboribus (for the latter cf. G. 4. 279).

(iii) Aen. 10. 156-7 ‘puppis / . . . Phrygios subiuncta leones’, Ecl. 3. 106-7 ‘inscripti nomina regum / . . . flores’ (the only examples of this type). Here the subject of the passive form is surprisingly the indirect object in the active form: subiungere puppi leones, inscribere nomina floribus; the direct object of the active form of the sentence is now indirect, but keeps its accusative case, cf. (i).

(iv) Aen. 2. 275 ‘exuvias indutus Achilli’. Superficially analogous to (i), such examples are in fact a special case. induor and similar verbs of clothing and unclothing contain a strong reflexive element and imitate the middle voice and form of their Greek counterparts…”

He goes on to say that (ii) and (iii) are most likely developments of (i). These three occur most of the time after a past participle (only exceptions in the Aeneid are 1.713, 8.265, and 9.646), with (i) commonly being used of parts of the body. This, he says, suggests an analogy between the accusative of respect involving an adjective (e.g., saucius pectus), a Greek construction which the poets introduced to Latin.

...no doubt the similarity of the participial form to a common construction after an adjective motivated the original use of the 'Greek' accusative after verbs in Latin.”

(i) first occurred probably in Ennius and definitely in Lucretius; (iv) is found in Plautus, and (ii) and (iii) are first found in Virgil.

“These facts would seem to indicate that the construction is originally a poetic Graecism [he previously cited examples from Homer, Aristophanes, and Sophocles], and it is not found in the prose of Caesar and Cicero (though Thucydides has it, 1. 126).”
 
 

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A&G gives the following explanation for traiectus lora in the section on double accusatives, separate from their treatment of the Greek acc. and acc. as object of middle verb:
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In the categorization of strange accusatives I am reminded of the irregular phrasing casusque tuos expressa...arma in Valerius Flaccus (and similarly ara casus suos expressa in Tacitus). I don't know whether this is closest to category 2 or 3 because I'm not sure how exprimo is normally constructed in this sense.
 
 

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At least I feel better now, that others have remarked on it :)
 
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