# Pietas cum animo sua sorte contento magni aestimatur



## webbosoft

Hello,

Confused Latin student here... Anybody got any idea where I'm going wrong with these sentences?

*- Pietas cum animo sua sorte contento magni aestimatur.
*My attempt: Piety with his character is highly valued by contented fate. (_Doesn't make sense; sua??_)

Thanks for your help!


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## judkinsc

Perhaps, "Respect for his own fate was valued highly with his tense/struggled breath [life]"  i.e. "respect for his fate was valued above his strained life"
_
Pietas sua sorte __magni __aestimatur__ cum animo contento._

Are you sure it's not _contentione _instead?  That would make:  "Respect for his fate was valued over his struggle for life"


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## webbosoft

It's definitely _contento_, which the exercise book's vocab gives as '_contentus - satisfied_'. Also: 'pietas - piety', 'animus - soul', 'sorte - lot'. (Not that there's anything wrong with making it better English, but those are the meanings which should make sense).

So: "Piety for his own lot was valued highly with/by his satisfied soul."?

Can _magni_ be comparative? (so '_valued above_')


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## judkinsc

_magni_ or _parvi_ are used with the verb "aestimo" for "highly" or "weakly" in an adverbial sense, yes.  It's the idea of _magni pretii _"of great price" or _parvi pretii _"of little price."

Turning it from "valued highly" to "valued above" is fine, since _magnus _is the comparative of _bonus_ and the idea of "to value highly" is comparative itself.  It's just a tweak in the translation for better sense in English.

_Pietas_ can be used with an ablative, such as _sua sorte_ to mean "respect/devotion/piety _for_ something" in this case, that'd be "his fate."

Ahh, "satisfied."  There are two possibilities for _contentus_, either the perfect passive of _contineo _or of _contendo_.  I took it for_ contendo _earlier.

Then it'd be: "Respect for his fate was valued above his content life."

I'm just going to ignore "cum" there, since it could be taken as an indicative of the ablative for an exercise book...  If this were a real phrase from Classical Latin, I'd be concerned with it, but weird junk pops up in exercise books sometimes.  Just let it indicate the ablative and take it with _aestimatur magni_.

"Respect for his fate was valued highly with his contented life"
"Piety for his fate was valued highly with his satisfied soul."

Using _animus_ for "soul" is a strictly religious and medieval terminology.  It means a different thing in Classical Latin: "breath, life; mind, attention."

One of the most entertaining verbs in Caesar's _Gallic Wars_ is "animadverto," which means "to turn attention [your mind] towards [something]"


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## J.F. de TROYES

I'd liked to parse it this way:

"*Cum* anim*o* sua sorte content*o : 1-cum + abl.*
 * **2-contentus,a,um* agrees with *"animo"*
*                                                         3-contentus+ abl. :"sua sorte"*
word for word:
                     "with a mind being happy with its fate".

*"Pietas"  *is  linked  with *"animo...contento" *by *"Cum", * the "with" preposition ( they have to be found together in the same human being to be of great price ).

I'd translate: " Being both respectful and satisfied with his fate is priceless."


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## judkinsc

You've taken the part "animo sua sorte contento" as an ablative phase then, with _Pietas_ as its subject.

Sounds good to me.  It's a simpler answer that what I'd offered.

I'd still get rid of _cum, _since it looks like an anglicism in the Latin.

_Pietas animo sua sorte contento magni aestimatur _looks much better.

"Piety in a spirit happy with its fate is highly valued."


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## J.F. de TROYES

judkinsc said:


> You've taken the part "animo sua sorte contento" as an ablative phase then, with _Pietas_ as its subject.
> 
> Sounds good to me. It's a simpler answer that what I'd offered.
> 
> I'd still get rid of _cum, _since it looks like an anglicism in the Latin.
> 
> _Pietas animo sua sorte contento magni aestimatur _looks much better.
> 
> "Piety in a spirit happy with its fate is highly valued."


 
You're right to point out that "cum " is a bit awkward; actually an adverbial phrase with "cum " generally depends on a verb, but as far as I can remember, I've already read phrases like " virtus cum dignitate " the meaning of which is close to "virtus simul cum dignitate" . A Latin-French dictionary quotes phrases like "cum prima luce proficisci " and "cum nuntio exire" ( to get away as soon sas the news are known ) where the simultaneity is expressed by "cum"; that's why I am sticking to my guess.
I presume that your translation would be rather adequate to " Pietas erga (or) in + acc." ?


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## judkinsc

J.F. de TROYES said:


> I presume that your translation would be rather adequate to " Pietas erga (or) in + acc." ?



If it remains in the ablative, it can be "Piety in a spirit happy with its fate is highly valued", or more emphatically: _Pietas, ergo, animo sua sorte contento magni aestimatur.  _That is, "To be loyal to the gods as well as happy is highly valued [in a man]."

With an accusative, it changes the idea to "towards," as in movement or opposition towards.  I'm not sure how that would make as much sense with this phrase, but perhaps:  "Piety [compared to/against/next to] a spirit happy with its fate is highly valued."  The idea would then be to place _"pietas_" in opposition or juxtaposition with "_animo sua sorte contento."  _(Piety, compared to a spirit happy with its fate, is highly valued.)  It would be a statement arguing that piety is better than happiness.


I like to read my Latin absent of most prepositions, unless they add to the effect or are mandated by the verb.  It creates clearer possibilities, as well as multiple possibilities.  That probably comes from reading authors who liked to do that, though.

Caesar is still the best for clear, simple Latin.  He doesn't use unnecessary prepositions either.

_Cum _can be used as a conjunction with the indicative or subjunctive of a verb, and funtions for the meaning of "when/while" _ind._ or "since" _subj._.
Although you offered them in the infinitive, if they're placed in the indicative it becomes: "_cum prima luce proficisci_" (when dawn [arrived]). 

In "_cum nuntio exire,_" though, I don't see a necessarily temporal aspect to the usage of "cum", but simply the idea of the additional information. (i.e. "We left with the news.  We left on the tide.  We broke with the traditions. etc.  Nothing special there.  It's not a reference to time, in essence, but simply a relation of one thing to something else, to which the idea of time is then added.)   

With the "_virtus cum dignitate_," I would need more context, but if it's inferring _simul_ then the temporal aspect is from _simul_ being there. i.e. "virtue [at the same time as] dignity" instead of "virtue with dignity".


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