The death of Pliny the Elder paragraph 1 Flashcards
petis ut tibi avunculi mei exitum scribam, quo verius tradere posteris possis.
You ask that I write to you (about) the death of my uncle, so that you may be able to pass it down to posterity more accurately.
erat Miseni classemque imperio praesens regebat.
He was at Misenum and was commanding the fleet with authority in person.
nonum kal. Septembres hore fere spetima mater mea indicat ei nubem mirabilem apparere; quae visa est ei, ut eruditissimo viro, magna propiusque noscenda.
On the ninth day before the Kalends of September at about the seventh hour my mother points out to him that a strange cloud was visible; it seemed to him, as a most scholarly man, significant and worthy of investigation at close quarters.
iubet liburnicam parari; me si venire una vellem rogat; respondi studere me malle, et forte ipse quod scriberem dederat.
He orders a swift ship to be prepared; he asks me if I should like to go with him; I replied that I preferred to study, and by chance he himself had given me (something) to write.
egrediebatur domo; accipit codicillos Rectinae Tasci imminenti periculo perterritae (nam villa eius subiacebat, nec ulla nisi navibus fuga): orabat ut se tanto discrimini eriperet.
He was leaving the house; he receives a note from Rectina, the wife of Tascius, terrified by the imminent danger (for her house lay beneath (the mountain), nor (was there) any escape except by boats): she was begging that he should rescue her from so great a danger.
vertit ille consilium et quod studioso animo inceperat obit maximo.
He changes his plan, and what he had begun with an inquiring mind he accomplishes with a heroic (one).
deducit quadriremes, ascendit ipse non Rectinae modo sed multis (erat enim frequens amoenitas orae) laturas auxilium,
He launches warships (and) he himself embarks, about to bring help not only to Rectina but to many (for that delightful stretch of coast was densely populated).
festinat illuc unde alii fugiunt, rectumque cursum recta gubernacula in periculum tenet adeo solutus metu, ut omnes illius mali motus, omnes figura ut deprenderat oculis dictaret adnotaretque.
He hurries to that place from which others are fleeing, and he holds a straight course (and) a steady rudder into the danger, so freed from fear that he dictated and took notes on all the movements of that disaster, (and) all features as he had observed (them).
