effectus salubris in Celsus, i., 3; ii., 1; iii., 6; in Livy, xxvii., 1; tumultus equestris; xxix., 35: exercitus terrestris; and xxvii., 26: tumultus silvestris; also collis and locus silvestris in Cæsar, Bell. Gall., ii., 18, vi., 34; vomitus acris in Celsus, viii., 4.

Note 2.-The names of the months September, October, November, December, also belong to this class of adjectives. As adjectives, however, they are defective, since the neuter never occurs, and the masculine and feminine scarcely in any other connexion than with mensis (masc.), Calendae, Nonae, and Idus. Horace uses libertate Decembri.

[§ 101.] 2. Other adjectives have in reality two forms, the one for the masculine and feminine in common (generis communis), and the other for the neuter. This class consists of those in is, neut. e; as, levis (masc. and fem.), leve, and the comparatives in or (masc. and fem.), us (neut.); as, levior, levius.

Note. Some adjectives have a double form; one in us, a, um,

in is, e.

the other

The forms acclivus, declivus, proclivus, and a few others not mentioned here, are but rarely used for acclivis, declivis, and proclivis.

[§ 102.] 3. All other adjectives have only one termination for all three genders; as, felix, prudens, anceps, sollers, pauper, dives, vetus, Arpinas. So, also, the present participles in ns; as, laudans, monens, legens, audiens. But all the adjectives of this class have the termination ia in the nom., acc., and voc. plural of the neuter gender. (Very few, and, properly speaking, only vetus, veteris, have the termination a, respecting which, see above, § 65.) E. g., felicia, prudentia, ancipitia, sollertia, laudantia. Opulens and violens are only different forms of opulentus, violentus.

Note 1.-Dives is an adjective of one termination, and the neuter, therefore, is dives; as, dives opus, dives munus. There is another form of the word with two terminations, dis, neut. dite, but it very rarely occurs in the nominative singular; dis being found only in Terence, Adelph., v., 1, 8, and dite in Valer. Flacc., ii., 296: but in the other cases and in the plural it is frequently used; as, ditem Asiam, diti gaza, ditia stipendia facere, ditibus promissis; the nominative plural divitia does not seem to occur at all. In the comparative and superlative both forms, divitior, divitissimus, and ditior, ditissimus, are equally in use; the longer forms in the prose of Cicero, and

H

the shorter ones in poetry and later prose writers. Pubes, genit. puberis, is an adjective of one termination; but the compound impubes, ĕris, appears also in the form impubis, e, genit. impubis, e. g., impube corpus.

Note 2.-Substantives in tor derived from transitive verbs may likewise be classed among adjectives; as, praeceptor, victor; for as they may easily form a feminine in trix (see $41), they have almost the character of adjectives; and even in prose we read, e. g., victor exercitus, victrices litterae, in tam corruptrice provincia. Thus Livy says of L. Brutus, ille liberator populi Romani animus; that is, aliquando liberaturus populum Rom.; and Tacitus, eductus in domo regnatrice. (See Bentley on Horace, Carm., iv., 9, 39.) The use of these substantives as adjectives is limited in prose; but the poets extend it much farther, and use even the Greek patronymics in as and is in the same manner. Ovid, e. g., says, Pelias hasta, laurus Parnāsis, Ausonis ora, Sithonis unda; and Virgil, ursa Libystis, &c. A singular feature of these words is, that, together with the feminine termination of the plural trices, they have also a neuter termination, tricia; e. g., victricia bella, ultricia tela; hence in the plural they become adjectives of three terminations; as, victores, victrices, victricia. The substantive hospes, too, has in poetry a neuter plural, hospita, in the sense of an adjective.

[§ 103.] 4. With regard to the declension of adjectives, it must be observed that the feminines in a follow the first declension; the masculines in us and er, which make the feminine in a, and the neuters in um, follow the second. All other terminations belong to the third declension. As, therefore, adjectives follow the same declensions as substantives, the former also have been treated of above, and their irregularities have been pointed out. (See § 51 and 66, &c.)

Note. The following table shows the declension of adjectives of one termination:

5. Indeclinable adjectives are: nequam; frugi (properly a dative of the obsolete frux, but is used quite as an adjective; its derivative frugalis is not found in any ancient writer); praesto (occurs only in connexion with the verb esse); and semis, which is always added to other numerals in the sense of " and a half," the conjunction being omitted, e. g., recipe uncias quinque semis, take five ounces and a half. It must not be confounded with the substantive semis, gen. semissis. Potis, or pote, is obsolete, and occurs only in poetry in connexion with ess? (whence arose the contracted form posse). Damnas, guilty, is used only as a legal term, in connexion with esto and sunto.

Adjectives defective in number are pauci and plerique, which, in ordinary language, have no singular. The diminutive of paucus, however, occurs as a neuter pauxillum or pauxillulum, though rarely in other genders. The singular plerusque is obsolete, and is found only in Sallust, who was fond of old forms of expression, e. g., pleraque juventus, nobilitas; plerumque exercitum; but the neuter plerumque (the greatest part) likewise occurs, though only in an isolated passage of Livy. It is usually an adverb, signifying "mostly," or, "for the most part." (See § 266.)

Of adjectives defective in case there are several of which the nominative is not in use, or, at least, cannot be proved to have been used; e. g., sons, seminex (or seminecis), and a few similar compounds. We farther do not find ceterus and ludicrus (or ceter, ludicer ?), but the other genders occur in the nominative. The genitive primoris has neither a nominative (primor or primoris) nor the neuter forms. Cicero uses the word only in the phrase primoribus labris (equivalent to primis); others frequently use the plural in the sense of principes, or the grandees of a nation. Parum, too little, is the neuter of the obsolete parus, connected with parvus, and is used as a substantive only in the nom. and accusative. Necesse exists only as a neuter in connexion with est, erat, &c., and with habeo, habes, &c.; necessum, which is likewise used only with est, erat, &c., very rarely occurs except in old Latin, the adjective necessarius, a, um, being used in its stead. Volupe is likewise obsolete, and is used only with est, erat, &c. Of mactus, a, um, which is believed to be a contraction of magis auctus, we have only macte and macti with the imperative of the verb esse. (Comp. § 453.) The genitive of plerique is wanting; but plurimi, which has the same meaning, supplies the deficiency.

CHAPTER XXV.

COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES.

[§ 104.] 1. ADJECTIVES (also the present and past participles when used as adjectives) may, by means of a change in their termination, be made to indicate that the quality they denote belongs to a subject in a higher, or in

the highest degree. The degrees of comparison (gradus comparationis), as this change is called, are, the comparative, when a comparison is made between two (persons, things, or conditions), and the superlative, when a comparison takes place among three or more. The fundamental form of the adjective in this respect is called the positive.

Note.-An object may be compared either with another, or with itself at different times, or one of its qualities may be compared with another; e. g., Gaius doctior est quam Marcus, or Gaius doctior nunc est quam fuit, or Gaius doctior est quam justior. (Respecting this peculiarity of the Latin language, see 690.) The comparative, however, is also used, in an elliptic mode of speaking, instead of our "too" (nimis); e. g., si tibi quaedam videbuntur obscuriora; that is, too obscure, or more obscure than it should be (quam par erat), or, as we may say, "rather obscure," in which sense paulo is sometimes added, as in paulo liberius locutus est, he spoke rather freely. In like manner, the superlative, when used without the objects of comparison being mentioned, indicates only that the quality exists in a high degree, which we express by the adverb very, e. g., homo doctissimus does not always mean "the most learned," but very often "a very learned man ;" and intemperantissime vixit, he lived very intemperately.

2. The comparative has the termination or for the masculine and feminine, and us for the neuter; and these terminations are added to the stem of the word such as it appears in the oblique cases. The rule may be practically expressed thus: to form the comparative, add or or us to that case of the positive which ends in i, that is, in words of the second declension to the genitive, and in those of the third to the dative, e. .g., doctus (docti), doctior; liber (liberi), liberior; pulcher (pulchri), pulchrior; levis, levior; acer (acri), acrior; prudens, prudentior; indulgens, indulgentior; audax, audacior; dives, divitior; velox, velocior. Sinister alone makes the comparative sinisterior (which has the same meaning as the positive), although its genitive is sinistri, and sinisteri.

Note.-Some comparatives, also, have a diminutive form; as, grandiusculus, majusculus, longiusculus, meliusculus, minusculus, tardiusculus, plusculum. Their signification varies between a diminution of the comparative and of the positive; e. g., minusculus may mean rather small, or rather smaller.

3. The superlative ends in issimus, a, um, and is formea as the comparative by adding this termination to the stem of the positive, such as it presents itself in the genitive, and the other oblique cases, after the removal of the terminations, e. g., doct-issimus, prudent-issimus, audacissimus concord-issimus. It has already been remarked (§ 2) that this termination of the superlative was originally written and pronounced umus, and it is even now re

tained in the editions of some ancient authors, as the comic poets and Sallust.

[§ 105.] 4. The following cases must be noticed as exceptions:

(a) All adjectives in er (those in er, a, um; as, liber and pulcher, as well as those in er, is, e; as, acer, celeber, and those of one termination; as, pauper, gen. pauperis) make the superlative in errimus, by adding rimus to the nominative of the masculine gender; as, pulcher-rimus, acer-rimus, celeber-rimus, pauper-rimus. Vetus and nuperus, too, have veterrimus, nuperrimus. Maturus has both forms, maturissimus and maturrimus, though the latter chiefly in the adverb.

(b) Some adjectives in ilis, viz., facilis, difficilis, similis, dissimilis, gracilis, and humilis, make the superlative in illimus, by adding limus to the positive after the removal of the termination is; as, facil-limus, humil-limus. Imbecillus, or imbecillis, has two forms, imbecillissimus and imbecillimus; agilis, on the other hand, has no superlative.

(c) Adjectives compounded with dicus, ficus, and võlus (from the verbs dicere, facere, velle) make the comparative in entior and the superlative in entissimus, from the unusual and obsolete forms dicens, volens, faciens, e. g., maledicentior, benevolentior, munificentior, munificentissimus, magnificentissimus.

Note.-Terence (Phorm., v., 6, 31) makes mirificissimus, from mirificus, but this and similar forms are considered by the ancient grammarians as anomalies, and mirificentissimus is the usual form. Several adjectives ir dicus, and most of those in ficus, have no comparative and superlative, at least they are not found in our writers. Adjectives compounded with loquus (from loqui), such as grandiloquus, vaniloquus, are said to form their degrees of comparison from loquens, but no instance of the kind occurs; in Plautus, however, we find mendaciloquius and confidentiloquius.

CHAPTER XXVI.

COMPARISON BY ADVERBS AND INCREASED COMPARISON.

[§ 106.] 1. INSTEAD of the peculiar forms of the comparative and superlative, we sometimes find a circumlocution, magis and maxime, or adverbs of a similar meaning (as summe), being added to the positive. This rarely occurs in the case of adjectives which form their degrees of comparison in the regular way, and for the most part