| Tum in illa grandi rixa interioris domus meae, quam fortiter excitaveram cum anima mea in cubiculo nostro, corde meo, |
rixa: ablative (in rixa) grandi: ablative, with rixa domus: genitive singular quam: adverb, with fortiter (how strongly!) anima mea: ablative, with cum corde: s.v. cor cubiculum = cor (a very interesting metaphor: think about that!) |
| what was Augustine's emotional state at this moment? | |
| tam vultu quam mente turbatus invado Alypium, exclamo: |
tam...quam: correlative phrase vultu...mente: ablatives, with passive turbatus Alypium: Alypius was a close friend of Augustine (they were both baptized by St. Ambrose of Milan) |
| who did Augustine speak to? | |
| quid patimur? quid est hoc, quod audisti? surgunt indocti et caelum rapiunt, |
quid: neuter accusative, object of patimus quod: relative pronoun (antecedent is hoc) indocti: that is, people not like Augustine (Augustine was very very doctus! superdoctus! nimis doctus!) caelum rapiunt: that is, they become Christians (again, not like Augustine: he is still not converted when this event takes place) |
| why is Augustine so upset about the other converts to Christianity that he and Alypius have heard about? | |
| et nos cum doctrinis nostris ecce ubi volutamur in carne et sanguine! |
doctrinis nostris: ablatives, with cum (preposition) carne: s.v. caro sanguine: s.v. sanguis |
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while other people are converting, what are Augustine and Alypius doing? |
| an quia praecesserunt, pudet sequi, et non pudet nec saltem sequi? |
sequi: infinitive of deponent
verb, sequor (nos pudet sequi hos indoctos christianos) |
| why are they ashamed to convert now that these others have converted? | |
| dixi nescio qua talia, et abripuit me ab illo aestus meus, cum taceret attonitus me intuens neque enim solita sonabam. |
nescio: this is not a real verb, but an idiom (nescio quid: I don't know
what, whatever, something or other) ab illo = ab Alypio cum taceret: cum + subjunctive (subject is Alypius) enim: postpositive |
| how is Alypius acting while Augustine is ranting and raving? | |
| plus loquebantur animum mecum frons, genae, oculi, color, modus vocis, quam verba, quae promebam. |
animum: object of loquebantur (transitive deponent
verb) mecum = cum me frons, genae, oculi, color, modus: nominatives, subject of loquebantur plus...quam... quae: relative pronoun, neuter acc. plural (antecedent is verba) |
| how can Alypius tell that Augustine is terribly upset? | |
| hortulus quidam erat hospitii nostri, quo nos utebamur sicut tota domo: nam hospes ibi non habitabat, dominus domus. |
quo: relative pronoun (antecedent
is hortulus) quo... tota domo: ablatives with utebamur hospes = dominus domus domus: genitive singular |
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why did Augustine and Alypius have free use of the garden and the house? |
| illuc me abstulerat tumultus pectoris, ubi nemo impediret ardentem litem, quam mecum aggressus eram, donec exiret qua tu sciebas, ego autem non: |
illuc: thither, to there (into the garden) tumultus: noun, subject of abstulerat abstulerat: s.v. aufero litem: s.v. lis quam: relative pronoun (antecedent is lis), accusative (object of aggressus eram, transitive deponent verb) donec exiret: subjunctive (subject is lis) qua: adverb, with exiret (where it will turn out, how it will turn out) ego autem non (sciebam): parallel structure |
| why did Augustine want to be alone? | |
| sed tantum insaniebam salubriter et moriebar vitaliter, |
salubriter...vitaliter: adverbs |
| how is it possible to combine the ideas of "moriebar" and "vitaliter"? | |
| gnarus, quid mali essem, et ignarus, quid boni post paululum futurus essem. |
quid mali: what (of) evil, what evil |
| what was Augustine painfully aware of? and what was he ignorant of? | |
| abscessi ergo in hortum et Alypius pedem post pedem. |
in hortum: in + accusative (preposition) Alypius (abscessit in hortum): parallel structure |
| who followed Augustine into the garden? | |
| [...] dicebam enim apud me intus: ecce modo fiat, modo fiat |
enim: postpositive |
| what was Augustine saying to himself as he went into the garden? |
