Mensam

[john abshire]

Mensam vacuam conspexit ad quam accessit et consedit ut ianuam videret.
He caught sight of an empty table walked up to it and sat down in order to watch the door.
?
Paulo post cum poculo vini rediit quod in mensa ante clodium tacitus posuit.
A little after that he returned with a cup of wine which silent he put down before clodius.
?

 

[Bitmap]

He caught sight of an empty table walked up to it and sat down in order to watch the door.

Yes. Literally "... an empty table to which he walked up ..."

A little after that he returned with a cup of wine which silent he put down before clodius.

I suppose you would write "which he put down silently" in English (lit. "which he put down while being silent").
You forgot to translate in mensa.

 

[john abshire]

Yes. Literally "... an empty table to which he walked up ..."



I suppose you would write "which he put down silently" in English (lit. "which he put down while being silent").
You forgot to translate in mensa.

Tacitus must modify “he”.
“A little after that he returned with a cup of wine which “silent he” sat down on the table before Clodius.”
I understand that “silently” would work here, or “which he put down by being silent”. “Silent he” is not permissible English.
However, it must be permissible Latin? And that is the point. You can “say” things in Latin that you can’t in English. Is this common in Latin, where an adjective describes a pronoun, but in English we would use an adverb? (Silently for “silent he”, in this case)

 

[Clemens]

Tacitus is not just an adjective, but a participle, and they can function in ways that seem utterly alien to English, especially regarding syntax.

 

[Bitmap]

Is this common in Latin, where an adjective describes a pronoun, but in English we would use an adverb?

Yes ... especially in poetry.

 

[john abshire]

Yes ... esoecially in poetry.

Thanks