Content of Prose Passages - AP Latin

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Praebuerat dictis Tritonia talibus aures
carminaque Aonidum iustamque probaverat iram;
tum secum: 'laudare parum est, laudemur et ipsae
numina nec sperni sine poena nostra sinamus.'
Maeoniaeque animum fatis intendit Arachnes, 5
quam sibi lanificae non cedere laudibus artis
audierat. non illa loco nec origine gentis
clara, sed arte fuit: pater huic Colophonius Idmon
Phocaico bibulas tinguebat murice lanas;
occiderat mater, sed et haec de plebe suoque 10
aequa viro fuerat; Lydas tamen illa per urbes
quaesierat studio nomen memorabile, quamvis
orta domo parva parvis habitabat Hypaepis.
huius ut adspicerent opus admirabile, saepe
deseruere sui nymphae vineta Timoli, 15
deseruere suas nymphae Pactolides undas.

What is the best translation of "secum" in line 3?

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Answer

The word "se" is an example of a reflexive pronoun, a word that refers back to the subject of the sentence. These words end in "-self"in English. Since the subject is "Tritonia," we know the translation should be somewhere along the lines of herself, but the addition of "cum" tells us that "se"is in the ablative case and therefore literally translates as with herself, but that does not make the most sense in English, for what she is doing is speaking to herself. Contextually, and in translation, the most appropriate translation is to herself.

(Passage adapted from Metamorphoses by Ovid, VI.1-16)

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