| domino suo, immo patri; coniugi suo, immo fratri; ancilla sua, immo filia; ipsius uxor, immo soror, Abaelardo Heloisa. |
domino...patri...coniugi...fratri: the dative is being used here for the addressee of the letter (it is written TO Abelard) ancilla... filia... uxor... soror: the nominative is used for the person writing the letter (Heloise) ipsius: i.e. Abaelardi |
| what kind of terms does Heloise use to describe her relationship with Abelard? | |
| missam ad amicum pro consolatione epistulam, dilectissime, vestram ad me forte quidam nuper attulit. quam ex ipsa statim tituli fronte vestram esse considerans, |
missam...epistulam: this is a single phrase, with missam being a participle describing epistulam dilectissime: vocative vestram: also refers to epistulam forte: ablative of fors quidam: nominative singular (subject of attulit) attulit: s.v. affero quam: relative pronoun, antecedent is epistulam statim: adverb ipsa: ablative (goes with fronte) vestram (epistulam) esse: indirect statement, introduced by considerans |
| The letter that Heloise has read is a letter that Abelard sent not to her, but to one of his friends (and in this letter he explains something about the terrible events in his life): how did Heloise get hold of this letter from Abelard to his friend? | |
| tanto ardentius eam cepi legere quanto scriptorem ipsum carius amplector, ut cuius rem perdidi verbis saltem tanquam eius quadam imagine recreer. |
ardentius: comparative adverb eam = epistulam scriptorem: masc. accusative singular (object of amplector) ut...recreer: ut+subjunctive (purpose clause) quadam imagine: ablative (with passive verb recreer) saltem tanquam: at least |
| how did Heloise feel about being able to read this letter? what function does this letter fulfill for her? | |
| erant, memini, huius epistulae fere omnia felle et absinthio plena, quae scilicet nostrae conversionis miserabilem historiam et tuas, unice, cruces assiduas referebant. |
erant: subject is omnia fere: adverb felle: s.v. fel (ablative with plena) quae: relative pronoun, antecedent is omnia cruces: s.v. crux (accusative plural, object of referebant) unice: vocative |
| what is the tone of Abelard's letter? what subject matter does he discuss in the letter? | |
| complevisti re vera in epistula illa quod in exordio eius amico promisisti, ut videlicet in comparatione tuarum suas molestias nullas vel parvas reputaret; |
re vera = verum, truly promisisti: s.v. promitto quod: relative pronoun (no expressed antecedent: that which you promised...) ut...reputaret: ut+subjunctive (purpose clause) suas: refers back to amicus (this friend of Abelard is also the subject of reputaret) |
| what was Abelard's purpose in writing this letter to his friend? what is the friend supposed to conclude after reading Abelard's letter? | |
| ubi quidem expositis prius magistrorum tuorum in te persecutionibus, deinde in corpus tuum summae proditionis iniuria, |
expositis persecutionibus: ablative absolute prius: comparative adverb |
| what are the terrible events that Abelard first discusses in his letter? | |
| ad condiscipulorum quoque tuorum Alberici videlicet Remensis et Lotulfi Lombardi exsecrabilem invidiam et infestationem nimiam stilum contulisti. |
ad: takes accusative (ad invidiam... infestationem)
stilum contulisti = scripsisti |
| what is the next thing that he discusses in the letter? | |
| quorum quidem suggestionibus quid de glorioso illo theologiae tuae opere, quid de te ipso quasi in carcere damnato actum sit non praetermisisti. [...] |
suggestio: this is not a classical Latin word, but you will find the verb suggesto in the dictionary |
| what else does Abelard include in the letter? | |
|
quae cum siccis oculis |
quae: relative pronoun (antecedent is omnia, all those things in the letter) |
| how did Heloise react to the letter? how did it make her feel? | |
| et eo magis auxerunt quo in te adhuc pericula crescere retulisti; [...] |
magis: comparative adverb
auxerunt: s.v. augeo auxerunt: the object of this verb is the dolores meos pericula crescere: indirect statement, introduced by retulisti retulisti: s.v. refero |
| in addition to past troubles, what else does Abelard report in the letter? | |
| ut omnes pariter de vita tua desperare cogamur, et cottidie ultimos illos de nece tua rumores trepidantia nostra corda et palpitantia pectora expectent. |
ut...cogamur...expectent: ut+subjunctive (result clause) |
| what bad news does Heloise nervously await every day? |
