Suetonius - The portents before the murder of Caesar

Question 1

Sed Caesari futura caedes evidentibus prodigiis denuntiata est.

Answer 1

But his imminent murder was indicated to Caesar by obvious portents.

Question 2

Proximis diebus equorum greges, quos in traiciendo Rubiconi flumini consecrarat ac vagos et sine custode dimiserat,

Answer 2

During the previous few days a herd of horses, which during his crossing he had dedicated to the river Rubicon and let loose without any keeper,

Question 3

comperit pertinacissime pabulo abstinere ubertimque flere.

Answer 3

he found were very stubbornly refusing to graze and were crying in floods.

Question 4

Et immolantem haruspex Spurinna monuit ut caveret periculum, quod non ultra Martias Idus proferretur.

Answer 4

And, [when Caesar] was sacrificing, Spurrina the soothsayer warned him to beware of danger, which would not be delayed beyond the Ides of March.

Question 5

Pridie autem easdem Idus

Answer 5

Moreover the day before those same ides

Question 6

avem regaliolum cum laureo ramulo Pompeianae curiae se inferentem volucres varii generis ex proximo nemore persecutae ibidem discerpserunt.

Answer 6

birds of a different species out of a nearby grove, having pursued a king bird (wren) with a small laurel branch entering Pompey’s senate-house, tore it apart on the spot.

Question 7

Ea vero nocte, cui inluxit dies caedis, et ipse sibi visus est per quietem interdum supra nubes volitare,

Answer 7

In fact during that night on which dawned the day of the murder, and in the quiet he himself seemed at times to fly above the clouds,

Question 8

alias cum love dextram iungere;

Answer 8

at another time with Jupiter [he seemed] to hold his right hand.

Question 9

et Calpurnia uxor imaginata est conlabi fastigium domus maritumque in gremio suo confodi;

Answer 9

And his wife Calpurnia dreamed the gable of the house collapsed and her husband was stabbed on her lap;

Question 10

ac subito cubiculi fores sponte patuerunt.

Answer 10

and suddenly the double doors opened of their own accord.

Question 11

Ob haec simul et ob infirmam valitudinem

Answer 11

Because of this and at the same time because of his weak health,

Question 12

diu cunctatus an se contineret et quae apud senatum proposuerat agere differret,

Answer 12

he hesitated for a long time whether to stay at home and put off the [business] which he had planned to do,

Question 13

tandem Decimo Bruto adhortante, ne frequentis ac iam dudum opperientis destitueret,

Answer 13

At last with Decimus Brutus advising him lest he dissapoint the crowded and long since waiting [senate-house],

Question 14

quinta fere hora progressus est libellumque insidiarum indicem ab obvio quodam porrectum

Answer 14

He set off at the fifth hour, having been handed a document by a certain bystander giving information about the conspirators,

Question 15

libellis ceteris, quos sinistra manu tenebat, quasi mox lecturus commiscuit.

Answer 15

which he mixed with the rest of the documents he was holding in his left hand, as though he was about to read [them] soon.

Question 16

Dein pluribus hostiis caesis, cum litare non posset,

Answer 16

Next with more victims having been killed, when he was not able to obtain a favourable omen,

Question 17

introiit curiam spreta religione Spurinnamque irridens et ut falsum arguens,

Answer 17

he went inside the senate-house having been scorned by the ritual, and mocking Spurinna and accusing him as false,

Question 18

quod sine ulla sua noxa Idus Martiae adessent:

Answer 18

because the Ides of March came without any harm to him:

Question 19

quamquam is venisse quidem eas diceret, sed non praeterisse.

Answer 19

although he was saying that indeed they came, but they had not gone.