Transiet in Tibull., 1., 4, 27, is surprising.* Veneo, I am sold, sometimes abandons the conjugation of eo, and makes the imperfect veniebam instead of venibam, for so, at least, we find in good MSS. of Cicero, Philip., ii., 37, and in Verr., III., 47. Ambio sometimes follows eo; e. g., ambibat in Ovid, Metam.. v., 361: Liv., xxvii., 18: Plin., Epist., vi., 33: Tac., Ann., ii., 19; ana ambibunt, for ambient, is said to occur in Pliny (H. N., viii., 35?). [§ 216.] 8. Queo, I can. 9. Nequeo, I cannot. These two verbs are both conjugated like eo: perfect, quivi, nequivi; supine, quitum, nequitum. Most of their forms occur; but, with the exception of the present, they are not very frequent in prose, and some authors, such as Nepos and Cæsar, never use this verb at all. Instead of nequeo, non queo also was used, and in Cicero the latter is even more frequent. Quis and quit are found only with non. Sing. Queo, quis, quit. Sing. Quibam, quibat, &c. INDICATIVE. Sing. Quibo. Plur. quibunt. Sing. Quivi, quivit. nequivi, nequisti, nequivit (iit). Plur. quiverunt. [We ought very probably to read transit with Heinsius, on MS. authority, making, at the same time, a change in the punctuation. (Consult Lachmann, ad loc.]-Am. Ed. + [Queo is much weaker than possum, and appears to denote mere possi. bility under existing circumstances. Compare Döderlein, Lat. Syn., vol. iv., p. 160.]-Am. Ed. 'There is also a passive form of these verbs; quitur, nequitur, quita est, nequitum est, but it occurs very rarely, and is used, like coeptus sum, only when an infinitive passive follows: e. g., in Terence; forma in tenebris nosci non quita est, the figure could not be recognised. [§ 217.] 10. Fio, I become, or am made.* Fro is properly an intransitive verb, the Greek púw, without a supine. But owing to the affinity existing between the ideas of becoming and being made, it was used also as a passive of facio, from which it took the perfect factus sum, and the latter then received the meaning "I have become," along with that of "I have been made." In consequence of this transition into the passive, the infinitive became fieri instead of the original form fiere. Hence, with the exception of the supplementary forms from facere (factus, faciendus, factus sum, eram, &c.), and the passive termination of the infinitive, there is no irregularity in this verb. In the present, imperfect, and future it follows the third conjugation; for the i belongs to the root of the word, and is long, except in fit and those forms in which an r occurs in the inflection. (See § 16.) INDICATIVE. Sing. Fio, fis, fit. Sing. fiebam, as, at. Sing. fiam, fies, fiet. INFINITIVE. fieri (factum esse, factum iri). SUBJUNCTIVE. Present. fiam, fias, fiat. fierem, es, et. IMPERATIVE. Pres. Sing. fi. Plur. fite. Part. Pres. is wanting. Note.-Among the compounds the following must be noticed as defectives: infit, which is used only in this third person sing., he or she begins; e. g., loqui, or with the ellipsis of loqui; and defit, defiat, defiunt, defieri, which does not occur in prose. Respecting confit, see above, § 183. * [As regards the old forms, and the quantity of fio, consult Anthon's Lat. Pros., p. 16, not. (ed. 1842).]—Am. Ed. CHAPTER LIX. [§ 218.] DEFECTIVE VERBS. THE term Defective Verbs is here applied to those only in which the defectiveness is striking, and which are found only in certain forms and combinations, for there are, besides, a very large number of defective verbs, of which certain tenses are not found on account of their meaning, or cannot be shown to have been used by the writers whose works have come down to us. Many of them have been noticed in the lists of verbs in the preceding chapters; with regard to others, it must be left to good taste, cultivated by reading the best authors, as to whether we may use, e. g., cupe, from cupio, like cape, from capio, and whether we may say dor, I am given, like prodor, or putatus sum, like habitus sum. (Putatum est occurs in Cicero, p. Muren., 17.) We shall here treat of the verbs aio and inquam, I say; fari, to speak; the perfects coepi, memini, novi and odi; the imperatives apage, ave, salve, vale; cedo and quaeso; and, lastly, of forem. Note. In prose, as well as in poetry, ain'? do you think so? is frequently used for aisne, just as we find viden', abin', for videsne, abisne. See ◊ 24. The comic writers, especially Terence, use the imperfect aibam, &c., as a word of two syllables. [§ 219.] 2. Inquam, I say.‡ This verb is used only between the words of a quota * [Aio is evidently connected with the Sanscrit aha (“ dixi,” “inquam”), and also with the Greek h-ul for on-μí. (Compare Pott, Etym. Forsch., vol. i., p. 281.) ]—Am. Ed. t [This third person of the perfect is very doubtful. (Compare Struve, über die Lat. Decl. und Conj., p. 213.) Late church writers, however, have aisti, aierunt, &c.]—Am. Ed. [Inquam and sum are the only two Latin verbs which still show traces tion, while ait, aiunt, are found most frequently in the Note. The first person of the perfect (more probably inqui than inquu) is not found;t the present inquam is used instead, and inquit may, therefore, just as well be taken for the present. The present subjunctive has been here given according to Priscian, p. 876, but has not yet been con firmed by any other authority. [§ 220.] 3. Fari, to speak, say.‡ This very irregular verb, with its compounds affāri, effari, profari, is, generally speaking, more used in poetry than in ordinary prose. The third persons of the present, fatur, fantur, the imperative fare, and the participle fatus, a, um (effatum is used also in a passive sense), occur most frequently. The ablative of the gerund, fando, is used in a passive sense even in prose, in the phrase fando audire, to know by hearsay. Compounds: affamur, Ovid; affamini, Curtius; affabar, Virgil; effabor and effaberis, also occur in poetry. The first person for, the subjunctive fer, feris, fetur, &c., and the participle fans in the nominative, do not occur, though the other cases of fans are found in poetry. Fandus, a, um, only in the combination fandum et nefandum; fanda, nefanda, which are equivalent to fas et nefas. [§ 221.] 4. Coepi, 5. Měmini, 6. Novi, 7. Odi, I have begun. I remember. I know. I hate. These four verbs are perfects of obsolete presents which have gone out of use, with the exception of nosco, of the m termination in the present tense, and the original forms of these verbs were undoubtedly inquami and sumi. This ending in -mi connects them at once with the Greek verbs in -μ, and also with the Sanscrit.]— Am. Ed. [Compare with in-quit the English quoth, the Anglo-Saxon quêthan, and the Welsh gwedyd.]-Am. Ed. + [Scaliger, however, reads inquii in Catullus (x., 27), and is followed by Döring and others. The metre and context both require inquii, which cannot, therefore, be said to be a form "not found."-Am. Ed. [Pott compares Fa-ri with the Sanscrit bha-sh, "loqui," and the Greek Φημί.]-Am. Ed. and coepio, coepere. They consequently have those tenses only which are derived from the perfect. In meaning, měmīni, nõvi, and ōdi are presents; novi, I know, shows the transition most clearly, for it properly means "I have learned to know." (See § 203.) Hence the pluperfect has the meaning of an imperfect: memineram, I remembered; noveram, I knew; oderam, I hated, not "I had hated," and the future perfect has the signification of a simple future, e. g., odero, I shall hate; meminero, I shall remember. Otherwise the terminations are quite regular. Note.-Hence coepisse has a perfect passive coeptus (a, um) sum; e. g., Liv., xxx., 30; quia a me bellum coeptum est: xxviii., 14; quum a neutris pugna coepta esset; but it is used especially in connexion with an infinitive passive, as in pons institui coeptus est; Tyrus septimo mense, quam oppugnari coepta erat, capta est; de re publica consuli coepti sumus; the active forms coepit, coeperat, however, may likewise be used in this connexion. Compare desitus est, 200. Compounds are occoepi, which is not unfrequently used along with the regular occipio (the same as incipio) and commemini. |