Witches of Thessaly + Trigger Words

Question 1

iuvenis

Answer 1

As a young man, I set out from Miletus to the Olympic Games

Question 2

cum

Answer 2

I travelled through the whole of Thessaly, since I also wanted to visit other places in this famous province, till I arrived at Larissa

Question 3

ac

Answer 3

Whilst wandering through the city, searching for remedies for my poverty as my travelling allowance had diminished, I caught sight of an old man in the middle of the forum

Question 4

insistebat

Answer 4

He was standing on a stone and proclaiming in a loud voice that if anyone wanted to guard a dead man, he would receive a great reward

Question 5

et cuidam

Answer 5

I said to someone passing: “What is this, I hear? Are the dead accustomed to run away here?”

Question 6

tace

Answer 6

“Be quiet,” the man replied,

Question 7

nam

Answer 7

“For you are a boy and a mere foreigner, naturally you don’t know that you are in Thessaly, where witches always bite pieces out of the faces of the dead, they use these as extra ingredients in their magic spells.”

Question 8

contra

Answer 8

In reply, I said, “What sort of protection is needed?”

Question 9

iam primum

Answer 9

“First of all,” he replied, “You must stay fully awake for the whole night with open and sleepless eyes, always intent on the corpse, and you must not turn your glance away anywhere, since those very evil witches creep up secretly, having changed their shape into any animal.

Question 10

nam et

Answer 10

“For they can take the form of birds and dogs and mice, and indeed even flies,”

Question 11

his cognitis

Answer 11

Having found out this information, I strengthened my spirit and, immediately approaching the old man, said, “Now stop shouting. A guard is here, prepared,”

Question 12

vix

Answer 12

I had scarcely finished before he led me at once to a certain house where he pointed out a weeping woman wrapped in dark clothing.

Question 13

illa surrexit

Answer 13

She got up and led me into a bedroom.

Question 14

ibi

Answer 14

There, with her hand, she uncovered a corpse wrapped in shining white linen.

Question 15

ubi singular

Answer 15

When she had anxiously pointed out his individual features, she left.

Question 16

sic

Answer 16

Left alone in this way to console a corpse, having rubbed and prepared my eyes for guard duty, whilst I was soothing my spirit with songs, I stayed awake until the middle of the night.

Question 17

tum autem

Answer 17

But then my fear increased when suddenly a weasel, creeping in, stopped, facing me, and fixed its eyes upon me.

Question 18

tanta

Answer 18

Such great self-confidence in such a small animal disturbed my mind.

Question 19

Denique

Answer 19

Finally, I spoke in this way to it: “Go away, wicked beast, before you quickly experience my strength. Go away!”

Question 20

mustela

Answer 20

The weasel turned and left the bedroom immediately.

Question 21

Sine mora

Answer 21

Without delay, such a deep sleep suddenly overwhelmed me that not even Apollo himself could have easily have distinguished which of the two of us lying there was the more dead.

Question 22

tandem

Answer 22

At last, having awoken at dawn, terrified by great panic, I ran over to the corpse. When I had moved the lamp near and uncovered his face, I inspected everything carefully. Nothing was missing. Then his poor wife burst in, weeping. Having inspected the body, she paid the money without any delay.

Question 23

per

Answer 23

“For the sake of your honour,” he said, “citizens, for the sake of public duty, help this murdered citizen punish severely the vilest crime of that wicked and evil woman.

Question 24

haec

Answer 24

“For this woman, and no other, poisoned a poor young man, my sister’s son, to please her lover, and for the sake of inherited profit,”

Question 25

illa

Answer 25

That woman, with tears streaming and swearing by the gods as piously as she could, was denying such a great crime.

Question 26

ergo

Answer 26

Therefore, the old man said, “Let us place judgment of the truth (in the hands of) divine providence.

Question 27

Zatchlas

Answer 27

“Zatchlas is here, a very famous Egyptian prophet, who, in return for a large reward, has promised me that he would bring back the spirit of that corpse from the dead for a short while and bring his body back to life.”

Question 28

immitto

Answer 28

I pushed myself into the crowd, and standing on a stone, behind the bier itself, I was watching everything with curious eyes.

Question 29

Iam tumore

Answer 29

Now, the chest of the corpse began to raise itself with swelling, now the body was being filled with breath.

Question 30

et surgit

Answer 30

Then the corpse got up and spoke out: “Why, I beg, do you bring me back to the functions of a momentary life, when I was already sailing on the Stygian pools after drinking from the waters of Lethe. Now stop, I pray, and leave me to my rest.”

Question 31

haec vox

Answer 31

The voice was heard from the corpse, but the prophet said rather more forcefully, “Why don’t you tell the people about your death?”

Question 32

respondet

Answer 32

He replied from the bier and addressed the people in this way with a deep groan:

Question 33

malis

Answer 33

“Murdered by the evil skills of a new bride and a victim of a poisoned cup, I gave up my bed still warm to the adulterer.

Question 34

Dabo

Answer 34

“I will give you very clear proofs of the truth and I will reveal what absolutely no one else has discovered or predicted.”

Question 35

tunc

Answer 35

Then, pointing at me with his finger, he said,

Question 36

nam cum

Answer 36

“For when this very keen-witted guardian of my body was keeping his alert watch over me, some witches, eager for my remains, appeared, having changed their form.

Question 37

cum

Answer 37

“Since they had not been able to deceive his determined efforts, they finally cast a cloud of sleep upon him and buried him deep in slumber.

Question 38

tum me

Answer 38

“Then, they began to arouse me by my name and did not stop until my sluggish joints and cold limbs were slowly struggling in obedience to their magic spell.

Question 39

hic autem

Answer 39

“But this man, who was alive and only dead in sleep, by chance has the same name as me.

Question 40

ad

Answer 40

“Therefore, at his name, he rose unwittingly and, walking mechanically like a lifeless ghost, he approached the door.

Question 41

quamquam

Answer 41

“Although the doors of the bedroom had been carefully locked, the witches, through some holy, first cut off his nose and then his ears, so he suffered mutilation instead of me.

Question 42

tum sagae

Answer 42

“Then the witches attached to him wax shaped like his ears, which had been cut off, and fit on a nose similar to the one cut off.

Question 43

et nunc

Answer 43

“Now this poor man stands here, having earned no reward for his hard work except mutilation.”

Question 44

his dictis

Answer 44

Terrified by these words, I began to examine my appearance.

Question 45

manu

Answer 45

I grasped my nose with my hand: it came off; I touched my ears: they fell off.

Question 46

ac dum

Answer 46

And whilst the crowd identified me with pointed fingers and nods, dripping with cold sweat, I escaped between the feet of the bystanders.

Question 47

nec potea

Answer 47

Afterwards, I could not return to my native land, so maimed and so ridiculous, but I hid the wounds to my ears by letting my hair grow long on both sides and, what is more, I concealed the humiliating condition of my nose for decency’s sake with this small patch.