Abstract

What is the point of isdem? Editors of Juvenal pass over the word without comment and most translators are content with an unexplained ‘the same’. But if it means ‘the same as the ships that made the bridge’, it is odd that it should be put with the first clause. On the other hand, if Juvenal means the same ships as those that passed through the Athos canal, the reference must be to the fleet that sailed to Greece and not to the boats that formed the bridge. The awkwardness of the passage is shown up by the obscurity of the Budé translation: ‘la mer tellement couverte de ces mêmes navires que, solidifiée, elle aurait supporté les roues des chars.’