# "Videtur" introducing indirect statement



## rajahbeloof

_"Sol excidisse mihi e mundo videtur." —_Cicero

In this sentence, it would seem that _videtur_ is introducing an indirect statement. My attempt at translating it into English was influenced by this information: "_As I see it, the sun seems to have fallen away from the world._" Is this a proper translation, or have I missed the mark entirely?


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## wandle

Where does Cicero say that?

*Mihi videtur* means 'it seems to me' or 'I think'.

If this is about physical appearances, then: _'It seems to me that the sun has fallen out of the universe'_.


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## rajahbeloof

Sorry that was the wrong link, and the proper document "cannot be found" (according to the site, that is).


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## wandle

rajahbeloof said:


> Thank you for your response. He says it in _De Natura Deorum_ (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Cic.%20N.D.%202.51.128&lang=original).


You are welcome, but I do not find your sentence in that quotation (Cic. N.D. 2.51).


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## rajahbeloof

Perhaps this will work: http://books.google.com/books?id=VHMtAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA86&lpg=PA86&dq=Sol+excidisse+mihi+e+mundo+videtur&source=bl&ots=J0J1a8Wxfz&sig=BtEXh3RkAV4epfAhmJq0dzRnnZw&sa=X&ei=WmkzUOq9CsfXigKksIDQAQ&ved=0CCgQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=Sol%20excidisse%20mihi%20e%20mundo%20videtur&f=false


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## wandle

As a matter of fact, Cicero writes in *ad Atticum 9,10, 3*:

*alia res nunc tota est, alia mens mea. sol, ut est in tua quadam epistula, excidisse mihi e mundo videtur. ut aegroto, dum anima est, spes esse dicitur, sic ego, quoad Pompeius in Italia fuit, sperare non destiti.*

This is his reaction to the death of Pompey. The placement of *mihi*, separate from *videtur* and between *excidisse* and *e mundo* gives the sense: _the sun has disappeared from my world_.
His last hope for a preservation of the Republic has gone.


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## rajahbeloof

Yeah! That matches up with the dictionary abbreviation: "id. Att. 9,10,3", but whenever I clicked on the hyperlink they provided, it said they "could not find it". Does this change your suggestion at all, though?


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## wandle

See my latest edit.


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## rajahbeloof

I just saw it. Brilliant, to say the least. Thank you.


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## wandle

rajahbeloof said:


> I just saw it. Brilliant, to say the least. Thank you.



Not so brilliant: that letter was written in April 49 BC, just after Pompey had left Italy and 18 months before his death!


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## XiaoRoel

*Mihi,* como bien dice _wandle_, _afecta a todo el contenido_ de la oración. El *OI* en latín es un _argumento_ del núcleo verbal que designa al _interesado en el significado total de la oración_.
En inglés quizás se podría traducir, sin mayores pretensiones literarias, por _for myself_.
Como te explica wandle, el mundo de Cicerón se está viniendo abajo con la victoria del cesarismo preimperial y dentro de la tradición ecléctica, este fin del mundo se representa con la excisión de la tierra y el sol, tema común a la concepción del mundo popular en el Mediterráneo Oriental y Oriente Medio.


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