# Consumite Furore

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consumite-furore/94994>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 24, 2001, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consumite-furore/94994 "2001-11-24T04:51:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ricksummon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ricksummon/32/3333_2.png) [@ricksummon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricksummon)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2001, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consumite-furore/94994/1 "2001-11-24T04:51:37Z")

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For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, _Consumite Furore_ is the theme song to a mid-90’s computer game called _Phantasmagoria._ A recording of it can be found at [http://www.markseibert.com/music.htm](http://www.markseibert.com/music.htm). These are the lyrics along with the “official” English translation.

> [@](#):
>
> **Consumite Furore (Expend Your Rage)**
> 
> Venite in fascinum  
> O spiritus tenebrarum  
> Magne Asterothe, te iubeo  
> Implete hunc lapidem  
> Implete eum viribus  
> Sulfuratis vestris  
> Consumite eum iris vestris  
> Istas vires adsumem  
> Iubeo te!
> 
> Come into this talisman,  
> O spirit of darkness,  
> Mighty Asteroth, I command you.  
> Fill this stone,  
> Fill it with your  
> sulphurous powers.  
> Expend your angers on it.  
> Those powers I will assume,  
> I command you!

Now, here’s my question. I know hardly any Latin, but according to my Latin dictionary, “vestris” is the _plural_ form of “your.” So, why is it used here?

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2001, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consumite-furore/94994/2 "2001-11-24T05:08:05Z")

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Note that the word translated here as “your” is not a pronoun, but an adjective. In Latin, an adjective must agree in number and case with the noun it modifies. In this instance the adjective _vestris_ (“your”) is ablative plural because the noun it modifies, _viribus_ is the ablative plural of the noun _vis_ (“power”).

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**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2001, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consumite-furore/94994/3 "2001-11-24T16:13:59Z")

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Yes, that would account for the -is ending, but I think the question here is why Asteroth is being addressed as _vos_ (second person plural), not _tu_ (second person singular). (Both of these pronouns can be formed into possessive adjectives with a full complement of endings; the issue here is not whether the powers are plural, but why Asteroth is.)

Asteroth is being addressed in the plural as a sign of respect, just as one might address a single person as “vous” in French. (I don’t know whether this is correct classical Latin, but it’s dead common in medieval Latin, and it sounds like the makers of the game are either borrowing or imitating a medieval incantation here.)