63 Colloquial and Li.. - Ganino.com

Early Roman tragedy 151
(b) atque eccum in ipso tempore ostentum senem
(Pac. trag. 283 R. = p. 258–9 no. 251 W. = 178 Sch.)
Why, see him! There in the very nick of time the old man is disclosed.
These passages are interesting examples of the range of usages of the
accusative case. The accusative is used of persons who are possibly arriving
on the stage, or the speaker otherwise wants to draw the hearer’s attention
to them. In dramatic language this can be done with the ellipsis of a verb
(vide or the like), and was undoubtedly accompanied by the movement of
the hand.
5.19 Incoherent syntax
(a) mater gravida parere se ardentem facem | visa est in somnis Hecuba
(Enn. scaen. 50–1 J. = p. 234–5 no. 38–9 W. = inc. trag. 5–6 R.)
My mother Hecuba, heavy with a child, in a dream thought she gave
birth to a burning brand.
This is a conflation between parere se facem vidit and parere facem visa est,
quoted by Cicero in his discussion of dreams in the De divinatione.Jocelyn
points out that Ovid imitates the construction in Ep. 17.237–8 fax quoque
me terret, quam se peperisse cruentam | ante diem partus est tua visa parens
(1969: 223).
(b) †alter† 70 terribilem minatur vitae cruciatum et necem
quae nemo est tam firmo ingenio et tanta confidentia
quin refugiat timido sanguen atque exalbescat metu
(Enn. scaen. 22–4 R. = p. 230–1 no. 27–9 W. = 18–20 J.)
[?] threatens my life with butchery and torture terrible, horrors at which
there is none so steadfast in spirit, none endowed with such firm trust
that his blood would not flee him in his fright and himself not turn white
with fear.
Cicero quotes this passage in the De oratore (3.218) in his discussion of how
to present fear. Jocelyn suggests understanding quin refugiat timido sanguen
atque exalbescat metu as a ‘pictorial substitute’ for a verb like timeat, and
taking quae (i.e. cruciatum et necem) as its object (1969: 196).
Regarding both (a) and (b), it is possible to think that in Ennius’ time,
at least in dramatic language, similar strict rules concerning the logical
70 Text is according to Jocelyn who does not accept Ribbeck’s mater (see his discussion, 1969: 190–2).
Warmington (1967) prints mater and translates ‘mother threatens my life . . . ’ Jocelyn thinks that
the cruciatus et nex Alcmeo is terrified by are those resulting from a trial he was to face (1969: 192–4).