Per se

[john abshire]

Ipse per se eum in Asia nuper vicerunt.
They themselves overcame him in Asia recently (through themselves).
How does “per se” fit in the sentence?

 

[Pacifica]

The first word should be ipsi, presumably.

Per se means "by themselves" in the sense of by their own means, unaided.

 

[john abshire]

The first word should be ipsi, presumably.

Per se means "by themselves" in the sense of by their own means, unaided.

It is ipsi
They themselves overcame him by themselves in Asia recently.
??

 

[Pacifica]

Basically, yes, though that sounds awkward in English.

 

[john abshire]

Basically, yes, though that sounds awkward in English.

I see now (in the textbook) that the meaning is “by” with a reflexive pronoun.
Since the wording is awkward in English, do you leave it out, and the meaning is just understood? Or were you just acknowledging that the wording is awkward?

 

[Pacifica]

If your aim is merely to understand the Latin, you have and that's good. Now if you're interested in how to translate things in a non-awkward way, you can simply drop the first "themselves".