Metamorphoses V: 615 - illa

 

cinefactus

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Sōl erat ā tergō: vīdī praecēdere longam
ante pedes umbram, nisi sī timor illa vidēbat;

I can't figure out why it is not illam rather than illa. Can anyone show me where I am going wrong?
 
 

cinefactus

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Thanks, I thought of that, but I couldn't figure out why an umbra would suddenly become those things.
 

Pacifica

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Illam wouldn't have scanned, so maybe that played a role. Basically, though, illa is referring to the previously stated fact rather than to the shadow.
 
D

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Nope. (But I'd have to read the previous verses to see what illa refers to)
 
B

Bitmap

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I took it as "those events", i.e. either the things she is narrating (the shadow growing bigger) or possibly to all the things in her memory.
 
D

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Still, across the plains, over tree-covered mountains, through rocks and crags, and where there was no path, I ran. The sun was at my back. I saw a long shadow stretching before my feet, unless it was my fear that saw it, but certainly I feared the sound of feet, and the deep breaths from his mouth stirred the ribbons in my hair.

From https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorph5.php#anchor_Toc64106321

Translated by A. S. Kline © Copyright 2000 All Rights Reserved

He/she takes it for the shadow. Something is not right...
 
B

Bitmap

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"It" can also just refer to the fact that the shadow is stretching (not the shadow itself).
 
D

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Ran so fast in fear that did not notice the plains, mountains, rocks and crags... maybe illa refers to those things
 
B

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Well, as I said, it could be all the events in her memory ... or the event she narrates as a whole. Note that the phrase she uses to refer to herself uses the perfect tense (vidi), while timor is accompanied by the imperfect tense – which can be taken as a broader perspective, I suppose, not merely focusing on one thing (the shadow), but the whole setting.
 
 

cinefactus

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There is nothing I can see before that line apart from the shadow that illa could refer to. Unless she is alluding to the long chase.
 

Callaina

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I agree with Bitmap/Pacifica -- I don't see anything weird about illa referring to a sort of generic "those things/events". I've often seen it used this way.
 
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