Carolus Dickens

[Gregorius Textor]

(Another writing exercise. Corrections welcome.)

Carolus Dickens scriptor praeclarus fuit.

Anno Domini MDCCCXII in Britanniā natus est, filius Ioannis Dickens.

Cum pater prodigus, multa aes alienum[1] contractus, in carcerem iactatus esset, puero opus erat in officinā laborare.

Carolus theatrum amabat. Multos cum amicos convivabatur. Saepe longissime in urbe ambulabat aut rure equitabat.

Pauperes et humiles, viduas pupillosque curabat. Suum autem uxorem odivit et repudiabat.[2]

In Britanniā Hiberniāque lustrabans fabellas suas recitabat. Bis in Americam peregrinatus est.[3]

Notes:

[1] debita

[2] disiungit. I'm trying to say that he legally separated from his wife. I can't find a term that clearly means separate, as opposed to divorce, and am not sure that classical Latin speakers even had the concept, although the Mediaevals must have.

[3]Although I've recently finished reading a biography of Dickens, I'm writing from memory, so the things I say might not be completely accurate.

 

[Pacifica]

multa aes alienum[1] contractus

Two problems here:

1) Multa doesn't agree with aes alienum.

2) Contraho is not a deponent verb. So its perfect participle has a passive meaning, "having been contracted", not active "having contracted". You could fix this by turning the phrase into an ablative absolute: multo aere alieno contracto.

Multos cum amicos convivabatur.

Cum takes the ablative.

Suum autem uxorem odivit

Suum is in the wrong gender.

Odivit is attested in late Latin, I think, but it isn't a correct form. The defectiveness of the verb odisse means that you can't really express a perfect-tense meaning with it (the perfect form has a present meaning) but maybe you can say odisse coepit or some other paraphrase. However, I'm not entirely sure if you did have a perfect meaning in mind or rather an imperfect one. Did you mean to refer to the moment when he started hating his wife, or to his hatred of her in general?

repudiabat

The imperfect tense sounds odd here.

I'm trying to say that he legally separated from his wife. I can't find a term that clearly means separate, as opposed to divorce, and am not sure that classical Latin speakers even had the concept, although the Mediaevals must have.

I don't know.

In Britanniā Hiberniāque lustrabans

Lustrabans isn't a word. You probably meant lustrans. If so, it would be more usual for it to have a direct object.

 

[Glabrigausapes]

Lustrabans

Imperfect participle!

Suum is in the wrong gender.

Maybe he meant gen. plural of sus.

 

[Gregorius Textor]

Odivit is attested in late Latin, I think, but it isn't a correct form. The defectiveness of the verb odisse means that you can't really express a perfect-tense meaning with it (the perfect form has a present meaning) but maybe you can say odisse coepit or some other paraphrase. However, I'm not entirely sure if you did have a perfect meaning in mind or rather an imperfect one. Did you mean to refer to the moment when he started hating his wife, or to his hatred of her in general?

I had forgotten that odi means "I hate" rather than "I have hated". I meant his hatred of her in general, so I want the imperfect sense, which, according to Bennett's New Latin Grammar, #133, is given by the pluperfect form of this word. So I think I can say oderat et repudiavit.

Maybe he meant gen. plural of sus

Yeah, as in "he thought his wife was a sus"!!!

 

[Pacifica]

So I think I can say oderat et repudiavit.

That does sound better.

Yeah, as in "he thought his wife was a sus"!!!

I don't see how it could mean that.

 

[Gregorius Textor]

Revised:

Carolus Dickens scriptor praeclarus fuit.

Anno Domini MDCCCXII in Britanniā natus est, filius Ioannis Dickens.

Cum pater prodigus, multo aere alieno contracto,
in carcerem iactatus esset, puero opus erat in officinā laborare.

Carolus theatrum amabat. Multis cum amicis convivabatur.
Saepe longissime in urbe ambulabat aut rure equitabat.

Pauperes et humiles, viduas pupillosque curabat.
Suam autem uxorem oderat et repudiavit.

Britanniam Hiberniamque lustrans fabellas suas recitabat.
Bis in Americam peregrinatus est.