I’m going to post a daily translation exercise from real Latin text.
This one is from a paragraph by Tacitus, discussing the Germanic deity Nerthus.
I. Est in insula Oceani castum nemus, dicatumque in eo vehiculum, veste contectum; attingere uni sacerdoti concessum.
II. Is adesse penetrali deam intellegit vectamque bubus feminis multa cum veneratione prosequitur. Laeti tunc dies, festa loca, quaecumque adventu hospitioque dignatur.
III. Non bella ineunt, non arma sumunt; clausum omne ferrum; pax et quies tunc tantum nota, tunc tantum amata, donec idem sacerdos satiatam conversatione mortalium deam templo reddat.
IV. Mox vehiculum et vestes et, si credere velis, numen ipsum secreto lacu abluitur.
V. Servi ministrant, quos statim idem lacus haurit.
Translation
Warning: it seems that there isn’t a one-to-one comparison between the Latin and English sentences.
I. There is a sacred grove on an island in the Ocean, in which there is a consecrated chariot, draped with cloth, where the priest alone may touch.
II. He perceives the presence of the goddess in the innermost shrine and with great reverence escorts her in her chariot, which is drawn by female cattle.
III. There are days of rejoicing then and the countryside celebrates the festival, wherever she designs to visit and to accept hospitality.
IV. No one goes to war, no one takes up arms, all objects of iron are locked away, then and only then do they experience peace and quiet, only then do they prize them, until the goddess has had her fill of human society and the priest brings her back to her temple.
V. Afterwards the chariot, the cloth, and, if one may believe it, the deity herself are washed in a hidden lake.
VI. The slaves who perform this office are immediately swallowed up in the same lake.