Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Latin term or phrase:
ipse vinum in testis conditum levit
English translation:
He himself sealed the wine in jars and stored it away.
Latin term
ipse vinum in testis conditum levit
My book is talking about Horace and his life on his farm in the Sabine Hills.
I do gather that levit is from lino and means to seal, but in what way would jars be sealed, please? Also, what is the exact grammatical role of "conditum" - supine?
All the best,
Simon
| 5 | He himself sealed the wine in jars and stored it away. |
Joseph Brazauskas
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| 4 | he raised a toast to the passing of the witness |
Nicholas Ferreira
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Jan 21, 2008 22:33: Joseph Brazauskas changed "Level" from "Non-PRO" to "PRO"
Jan 24, 2008 00:17: Joseph Brazauskas Created KOG entry
PRO (3): Nicholas Ferreira, Jim Tucker (X), Joseph Brazauskas
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Proposed translations
United States
When You Want It Done Right
Native in: English (Variant: British) 
, Spanish (Variant: Standard-Spain)
Works in: Latin to English, English to Latin, Greek (Ancient) to English, and 23 more.
He himself sealed the wine in jars and stored it away.
Vile potabis modicis Sabinum
cantharis, Graeca quod ego ipse testa
conditum levi, datus in theatro
cum tibi plausus,
care Maecenas, etc.
"You will drink plain Sabine (wine) from ordinary bowls which I myself sealed (lit., 'smeared'), (it) having been stored in a Greek jar (at the time) when applause (was) given you in the theatre, dear Maecenas..."
"Modicis...cantharis' is ablative of place from which, the preposition being omitted, as often in poetry, for metrical convenience. 'Sabinum' is used substantively in reference to the celebrated but cheap wine from the Sabine district. 'Graeca...testa' is locative ablative, the preposition again being omitted for metrical convenience. 'Conditum' is a perfect passive participle in agreement with 'Sabinum'; the corks used to stop amphorae were smeared with pitch in order to protect the flavour of the wine from air, which, as every professional wine-bibber knows, is detrimental to its quality, the jar itself being called 'Graeca' because, having contained a Greek vintage, the flavour of the humble Sabine variety that was put into it afterwards would have been improved. 'Conditum levi' is an instance of 'hysteron proteron', a grammatical device by which the natural order of events is reversed to emphasise that the later event is of greater importance in the mind of the speaker or writer than the earlier one. 'Est' is to be understood with 'datus', the tense being perfect indicative passive.
This ode, the authenticity of which has been doubted by some editors because Horace himself (Epistulae, 1.14.23) indicates that it could not have been produced on his own Sabine estate, was composed c. 30 B.C.E. to commemorate the first public appearance of his patron C. Maecenas, most probably in the theatre of Pompey, which was the only permanent one in Rome at that date, after his recovery from a serious illness.
The most likely rendering of the paraphrase is therefore, in my opinion, 'He himself sealed (lit., 'smeared') the wine in jars, it having been stored away' or, more freely, 'He himself sealed the wine in jars and stored it away.' But on the evidence of Horace himself, he did not do this.
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Note added at 5 hrs (2008-01-21 22:38:50 GMT)
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I did NOT vote to reclassify this question as PRO.
Canada
Conference interpreter anywhere, anytime
Native in: English , Spanish
Works in: Spanish to English, Latin to English, French to English, and 6 more.
he raised a toast to the passing of the witness
But gramatically, I would say levit is a contracted form of "levavit", and the object would be vinum. So literally "he raised wine", figuratively he made a toast, a libation...
What did he raise a toast to? "In conditum testis" Testis is genitive form of witness. "Conditum" is the past participle of condo. Here is could mean the "passing" of the witness, meaning his disappearance, death, imprisonment or retirement.
But I can tell you with greater surety if you provide some more context. Hope this helps.
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Note added at 15 mins (2008-01-21 17:03:22 GMT)
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Or if levit does come from lino (which means rub, smear), a possible translation could be:
he smeared wine on the writings of the witness.
So you see there is a very wide diversity of options here, and only with more context can the correct answer be given.
| neutral |
Jim Tucker (X)
: if it doesn't make sense in English, it's probably not right - there are exceptions, but they are rare // They are really not.
1 hr
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Both of the translations I proposed are valid possibilities, as is yours. Without context, where are we?
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