Tabellarius vero, quamquam sic a ianitore monitus est

[Caleb Lewis]

On page 175 lines 70-72 it says "Tabellarius vero, quamquam sic a ianitore monitus est, alterum gradum ad canem versus facit -- sed ecce canis in eum salit catenam rumpens!" I know it says something to the effect of "But the tabellarius, however, despite the ianitore's advice, took another step toward the dog - but the dog jumped up and broke his chain!", but the subtleties escape me. I have some questions,

1. What does "quamquam sic" mean? The dictionary definitions aren't helping me here.
2. What does "salit" mean here?
3. What's the best translation of "alterum gradum ad canem versus facit"? What I have or something else?
4. What is the conjugation of "rumpens"
5. "Ecce" seems awkward here, how does it really fit into the translation?
6. What is both "eum" and "catenam" in the accusative?

Thanks, all.

 

[Dantius]

quamquam sic monitus est – although he had been warned in this way

salit = jumped – "in eum" = at him

your translation for alterum...facit is corrrect

rumpens is a present active participle – there's no word meaning "and" in the Latin, so literally it's "but (lo!) the dog jumped at him, breaking its/his chain"

if you want to sound archaic you can translate it as "lo!" like I did above, but you can also use like "look!" or "behold!"

eum is accusative because it's the object of the preposition "in", which when it implies motion takes the accusative; catenam is the direct object of rumpens

 

[Bitmap]

Pay attention to the tenses ... technically speaking, this sentence is written in the present tense – so it should be 'takes a step' (gradum facit) ... 'jumps' (salit) ... 'breaks' (if you translate rumpens with a coordinate clause).

... unless this is some kind of historical present, but I wouldn't expect that from a textbook.