[here Augustine discusses "teratology," or the study of monsters; for an excellent discussion see the New York Academy of Medicine's website, Teratology in Western Medicine Through 1800]
| Quaeritur etiam utrum ex filiis Noe (uel potius ex illo uno homine, unde etiam ipsi extiterunt) propagata esse credendum sit quaedam monstruosa hominum genera, |
quaeritur: impersonal passive ("the question is...") |
| Augustine is asking a question here, but the syntax is hard: "the question is: should we believe that there are certain monstrous races of people spawned from the sons of Noah - or, rather, whether there are monstrous races spawned from that one man, from whom the sons of Noah themselves descend?" |
|
| quae gentium narrat historia: | quae: relative pronoun, neuter
plural (antecedent is genera); it is the object of the verb narrat gentium: s.v. gens, gentis (gentiles, pagans) historia: nominative, subject of verb narrat |
| where does Augustine find information about these monster races? | |
| sicut perhibentur quidam unum habere oculum in fronte media, |
quidam: masc. nom. plural (subject of perhibentur) habere: habere is complementary infinitive with perhibentur ("they are supposed to have") fronte: s.v. frons |
 |
where do these people have their one eye? |
| quibusdam plantas uersas esse post crura, |
(perhibetur) quibusdam plantas versas esse: parallel
structure |
| what is wrong with these people's feet? | |
| quibusdam utriusque sexus esse naturam et dextram mammam uirilem, sinistram muliebrem, |
quibusdam: dative of possession |
 |
what does the chest of a hermaphrodite look like? |
| vicibusque inter se coeundo et gignere et parere; |
vicibus: s.v. vicis gignere... parere: infinitives in indirect statement (i.e., the hermaphordites take turns) |
| how do hermaphrodites give birth to children? | |
| aliis ora non esse eosque per nares tantummodo halitu uiuere, |
esse...vivere: infinitives in indirect
statement |
| how do the people without mouths manage to survive | |
| alios statura esse cubitales, quos Pygmaeos a cubito Graeci uocant, |
alios...esse: accusative subject and infinitive in indirect
statement statura: ablative of specification cubitales: predicate adjective, agrees with alios a cubito: the Greek equivalent of Latin cubitum is "puge", which is the origin of the name "Pygmy" |
 |
why are the little people called "Pygmies"? |
| alibi |
alibi: adverb |
| how long do these five-year old moms live? | |
| Item ferunt esse gentem, ubi singula crura in pedibus habent nec poplitem flectunt, et sunt mirabilis celeritatis; quos Sciopodas uocant, |
ferunt = dicitur |
 |
how many feet do the Sciopod people have? |
| quod per aestum in terra iacentes resupini umbra se pedum protegant; |
quod: meaning "because" umbra: ablative |
 |
what do the Sciopod people do when it gets hot outside? |
| quosdam sine ceruice oculos habentes in umeris, |
quosdam [esse]: another infinitive in indirect
statement |
 |
where do the headless people have their eyes? |
| et cetera hominum uel quasi hominum genera, quae in maritima platea Carthaginis musivo picta sunt, |
quae: relative
pronoun (antecedent is genera); neuter plural, subject of picta sunt |
 |
where did Augustine see some pictures of the monster races? |
| ex libris deprompta uelut curiosioris historiae. |
deprompta: s.v. depromo, -ere depompta: neuter plural, agrees with genera curiosior: comparative of curiosus |
| where can stories about the monster races be found? | |
| Quid dicam de Cynocephalis, quorum canina capita atque ipse latratus magis bestias quam homines confitetur? |
Cynocephalus: another Greek term, from cyn, dog and cephal,
head |
 |
how can you tell that the dog-people are really more like dogs than people? |
| Sed omnia genera hominum, quae dicuntur esse, credere non est necesse. |
quae: relative
pronoun (antecedent is genera) |
| does Augustine think that we should believe that all these monster races exist? | |
| [...] Ante annos aliquot, nostra certe memoria, in Oriente duplex homo natus est superioribus membris, inferioribus simplex. |
nostra memoria: ablative inferioribus (membris) simplex (homo): parallel structure |
| what kind of monster was born in Augustine's lifetime? | |
| Nam duo erant capita, duo pectora, quattuor manus, uenter autem unus, et pedes duo, sicut uni homini; |
duplex membris superioribus: caput, pectus, manus simplex membris inferioribus: venter, pedes uni homini: dative of possession (sicut uni homini: like one man has) |
 |
what part of this child was normal? what part was abnormal? |
| et tamdiu uixit, ut multos ad eum uidendum fama contraheret. |
vixit: s.v. vivo |
| how many people saw this monster child? | |
| [...] et antipodas esse fabulantur, id est homines a contraria parte terrae, |
antipodas esse: accusative and infinitive in indirect
statement, introduced by fabulantur (deponent
verb) - "the story goes that there are people called Antipodes..." antipodas: another Greek phrase, from anti: opposite and pod: feet (hence the phrase Antipodes) |
| where do the Antipodes people live? | |
| ubi sol oritur, quando occidit nobis, |
oritur: s.v. orior |
| what happens in the Antipodes when our sun is setting? | |
| aduersa pedibus nostris calcare uestigia: |
vestigia: s.v. vestigium ("footprint") vestigia calcare: accusative + infinitive in indirect statement (introduced by fabulantur) |
 |
what is the relationship of the Antipodes people to us? |
| nulla ratione credendum est. |
nulla: ablative |
| does Augustine believe in the antipodes people? |
