(ii.) _Translation._--With the practice you have now had, you may translate at once; but notice carefully that--
(a) the parenthetical clause +erant ... mecum+ enlarges +Syracusanis+; and
(b) +quod quaererem+ describes +illud ipsum+.
_So I immediately said to the Syracusans who were with me (some people of importance) that I thought that was the very thing I was looking for._
+V.+ +Immissi cum falcibus multi purgarunt locum.+
+falcibus+ = _with bill-hooks_; +falx+ perh. akin to +flect-o+ = _bend_, from its shape. Cf. _falcon_ (from its _hooked_ claws).
+purgarunt+ = _cleared_; +purgo+, contr. from +pur-igo+ = +purum + ago+ = _purge_. Cf. +pur-us+.
_Some men sent in with bill-hooks cleared out the space._
+VI.+ +Quo cum patefactus esset aditus, accessimus.+
+patefactus+ = _laid open_: +pateo + facio+. Cf. _patent_.
_As soon as the way was open, we went up to it._
+VII.+ +Apparebat in sepulcro epigramma, exesis posterioribus partibus versiculorum, dimidiatis fere.+
+epigramma+ = _inscription_. Cf. _epi-gram_.
+exesis+ = lit. ‘_eaten out_’; +ex + edo+. Cf. _ed-ible_.
+dimidiatis+ = _halved_ = +dis + medius+, i.e. _divided into halves_.
(ii.) _Translation._--_There was the inscription on the tomb: the latter part of each line was gone, nearly half the verse._
_Note._--Notice here the rendering of the Lat. abl. absol., an idiom foreign to our language except for example in the so-called nom. absol. of Milton. Cf. Introduction, p. 12 (5). [[Introduction 13 (5)]]
Cicero adds the following reflection:--‘_Ita nobilissima Graeciae civitas, quondam vero etiam doctissima, sui civis unius acutissimi monumentum ignorasset, nisi ab hoimine Arpinate didicisset._’
_Thus it was that one of the most renowned of Greek cities, and in ancient times one of the most enlightened, would have remained ignorant of the monument of the greatest genius it ever produced, if it had not learnt it from a man born at Arpinum._[19]
[Footnote 19: Also the birthplace of Marius. Cf. p. 163.] [[Selection B4]]
Before you leave this passage, try to notice some of the following points, and if possible consult _some_ of these authorities:--
(i.) Read (_e.g._ in Church and Brodribb’s translation) Livy’s account of the siege of Syracuse by Marcellus, 214-212 B.C., Book xxiv. cap. 34; Book xxv. caps. 23-31.