or assumed; for the ancient actors had masks, which corresponded to their assumed character: 3.) person, the man himself; mea persona, my person, I.

Probus, 1.) good, genuine, sincere; when any thing is what it was taken for; as, aurum probum: 2.) good, honourable, upright; as, probus amicus, a sincere friend.

Scrupulus, 1.) a pointed stone: because in the shoe it presses and causes uneasiness, thence 2.) hesitation, uncertainty, scruple. Sublevare, 1.) to raise on high: 2.) to help, stand by: 3.) to lighten.

Note. 1.) The first meaning is most important, and must first be learnt, if we would know the word thoroughly. Without it all the other senses are precarious.

2.) The first meaning of many words is not yet known, or not always to be relied on. We must, therefore, not always consider it as known, but examine and endeavour to find it; partly from its etymology or its Greek origin; partly by collecting all its significations together, and considering from which of them the rest may be most simply derived :—much help in this particular will be obtained from a diligent study of the ancient writings.

PART II.

OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF WORDS.

THE putting together of words, sometimes called their construction, from construere, to put together or build, sometimes their syntax, from ovvrácσew, to arrange together, to marshal in order, must be considered in eight ways: with respect to 1.) Government: 2.) Order: 3.) Rhythm or Number (numerus): 4.) Conjunction: 5.) Interchange: 6.) Pleonasm: 7.) Ellipsis: 8.) Prosody or Versification.

CHAPTER I.

Of Government.

The government of words respects gender, number, case, time, mode &c.

The following previous observations deserve much

attention.

1.) Whatever we say or read in books consists of sentences: The man must learn much, who would be wise-consists of two sentences.

e. g.

2.) A sentence contains one subject and predicate: it may contain more. The subject is the word (whether denoting thing or person) of which something is said: the predicate is

what is said of the subject: e. g. The father is learned; the father is the subject, learned the predicate: God is great; God is the subject, great the predicate. We may reverse it, and say, Great is God; but God is still the subject, and great the predicate. In the same manner we may say, Great are the works of the Lord, or The works of the Lord are great: in both cases, the works of the Lord is the subject, great the predicate. Also in the sentence, To err is human, or It is human if one err, the predicate and subject are substantially the same.

3.) Sometimes the subject is accompanied by an adjective: The fine book is lost; the fine book is the subject, lost the predicate. The bought books lie here; the bought books the subject, lie here the predicate. Instead of this we may say, The books, which were bought, lie here; the books, which were bought is the subject.

4.) There are often more than one subject, or predicate:

a) subject: as, My father, mother, brother and sister are dead-here the predicate dead belongs to the four subjects, father, mother, brother, sister, which, taken together, form a plural: the predicate, therefore, with the verb, should be plural. Sometimes, however, both in Latin and English, the singular in such instances is used; which is less accurate.

b) predicate: as, My father is learned, rich, wise, and virtuous: here are four predicates, learned, rich &c.

5.) The subject is often separated from its predicate: of this the learner should be well aware; as, My father, who has been absent many weeks, has not yet written;-where the words, my father has not yet written, form a sentence, between which another sentence, who has been absent many weeks, is interposed: in the interposed sentence, who is the subject, absent the predicate. There are some greater separations; as, The book, which I am quite confident you have long finished, and, though I earnestly requested it, nevertheless have not sent to me, is not even yet sent to me. The principal sentence is, the book is not even yet sent to me; of which the book is the subject: in this

another sentence is interposed, which you have long finished and nevertheless have not sent to me, in which there are two predicates and in this interposed sentence, two others are inserted. -It is of great importance that a learner should be aware of this: the construction of a sentence is easy, when he can thus decompose it, and distinguish the subject and predicate. Without this knowledge, he may labour mechanically for years in tracing the order of the words, and after all, with little advantage.

2.) In the following sections, it will be often remarked (according to the common language of schools) that a particular word or case precedes or follows or is joined to another. This must not be understood literally, as if in books the word actually stood before or followed, or was joined to the other. It often happens that this order is reversed, and that the word which is said to be joined to, stands far apart from the other: e. g. discendi per omne tempus fui cupidus: here discendi precedes and is separated from cupidus, and yet grammatically it is said to follow and be joined to it. We must, therefore, conceive a double order: 1.) the order of government, in which the words must follow one another, and by which we explain why one case, number &c. is preferred: so, pater amat te is the order of vernment, though the actual arrangement be, pater te amat: 2.) the actual order, as it is fixed by the author, and found in books this perpetually differs from the former, and will be separately considered in chapter 2.

go

When to a proper name, or noun substantive, or personal pronoun as ego, tu, nos, vos, &c.: also ille,

hic &c., another substantive is added, for the sake of explanation or definition, without et and the verb esse, so that both denote a single person or thing, the last is always in the same case as the first. This is called Apposition. Example 1.) of a proper name, with a substantive Cicero Consul, Ciceronis Consulis, Ciceroni Consuli &c.; as Cicero Consul hoc fecit, Cicero as Consul or the Consul Cicero did this: Ciceronis Consulis officium fuit, it was the duty of the Consul Cicero Ciceroni Consuli mandarunt, they intrusted to the Consul Cicero: Ciceronem Consulem laudabant, they praised the Consul Cicero. So Pompeius vir clarissimus; Etna mons, Roma urbs, Athenæ urbs, Rhenus flumen &c. In Latin the proper name may readily be placed before the appellative: the reverse is usual in English. Yet we at times find, of inanimate things, the proper name in the genitive, as urbs Patavii, Virg. Æn. 1. 247 (251.) for urbs Patavium : in oppido Antiochia, Cic. Att. 5. 18: urbs Buthroti, Virg. Æn. 3. 293: amnis Eridani, ibid. 6. 659: flumen Rheni: according to the rule that when two substantives come together the latter is put in the genitive in these latter cases, however, the proper noun stands after the other. We also find arbor fici, arbor palmæ, the figtree, palmtree: yet fici may denote the fig: arbor abietis; e. g. arbores abietis, i. e. abietes, as in English firtrees, Liv. 24. 3. 2.) of a substantive with another substantive, as socer tuus, vir egregius: aquila regina avium convocavit concilium: aquila reginæ &c. hoc me docuit usus, magister optimus : multa nos docere potest exercitatio, magistra optima. Liv. 3. 62, clamorem tollite hic, indicem voluntatis, virtutisque vestræ : 3.) of a pronoun substantive or per