Immagini della pagina
PDF
ePub

i. Mox always has the meaning, usual in Silver Latin, of 'afterward':

47.

Mox et ipse. . . optinuit, Jul. 23. 1; nec mox occasio. . . fuit, Aug.

j. Neque is sometimes equivalent to neque vero, nec tamen, ne .. quidem :

[ocr errors]

Nec obtinuit, Jul. 11; Sed nec Tiberio parcit, Aug. 86. 2.

k. -Que is appended to prepositions:

deque, Jul. 11; exque, Aug. 52; perque, Jul. 1. 2.

1. Non nisi, priusquam, quamvis, quasi, quamquam and tamquam are freely used with the ablative absolute:

...

non nisi transversa charta, Jul. 56. 6; quanquam. morbo variante, Aug. 98.5; quamvis nullo querente, Jul. 48; quasi debita. . . dominatione, Aug. 19. 2.

m. These and other conjunctions are also used with adjectives and participles:

...

non nisi scriptos, Aug. 84. 2; neque . . . ante . . . quam paene obrutus, Jul. 58. 2; quanquam patricius, Aug. 10. 2 ; quamvis recusantem, Jul. 70 ; velut... exceptam, Jul. 14. 1.

n. Tamquam and (more often) quasi are used, as in Tacitus, to introduce a clause with the subjunctive where the infinitive with subject accusative might be expected:

tenet... opinio tamquam et natus ibi sit, Aug. 6; concepta opinione veteri quasi... obiciatur, Aug. 6; rumore . . . dilato quasi... necasset, Aug. 14; somnium . . . exponunt, quasi . . . demonstrasset, Aug. 94. 8.

...

§ 7. TENSES

a. The present indicative is frequently used in quoting authorities:

Idem Curio sed et M. Actorius Naso auctores sunt, Jul. 9. 3; ut scribit, Aug. 62. 2; Verba ipsius . . . sunt, Aug. 76. 1.

b. The historical present is very rarely used:

Igitur cum Bibulo consul creatur, Jul. 19. 2; aversum vulnerat, Jul. 82. 1.

c. The perfect indicative is found in the apodosis of a past general condition or its equivalent, where the imperfect would be more usual:

si qua posthac aut cogitarentur . . aut dicerentur, inhibere maluit, Jul. 75. 4; potestatem semper omnibus fecit quotiens vellent obsides recipiendi, Aug. 21. 2.

d. The present subjunctive is sometimes used where we should expect the imperfect:

elegit, cuius emolumento

sit, Jul. 22. 1; censuit

qui ...

edant, Aug. 55.

e. No other writer uses the perfect subjunctive more freely for the imperfect or pluperfect in subordinate clauses :

(1) After ut consecutive, in larger proportion, apparently, than the imperfect, even where there is no aoristic idea:

[merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

(2) When preceded by ut qui (= quippe qui):

dedit, ut qui . . . abstulerit, Jul. 54. 3.

(3) When preceded by some relative conjunction :

intolerabilius est visum quod ipse. . . indignatus sit, Jul. 78. 2; valuit, quanquam responderit, Jul. 79. 2.

[ocr errors]

(4) In indirect discourse:

Sullam nescisse litteras, qui dictaturam deposuerit, Jul. 77; nec prius venisse quam . . . fugatae sint, Aug. 16. 2.

More notable still is the union of imperfect and perfect tive in the same clause :

tantum undique confluxit hominum ut plerique saepe... elisi exanimatique sint, Jul. 39. 4.

[ocr errors][merged small]

g. On the contrary, the imperfect subjunctive occurs for the perfect in consecutive clauses to express a single act :

Eoque arrogantiae progressus est ut . . . diceret, Jul. 77; evenit ut inveniretur, Aug. 6; tam arto repente somno devinctus ut excitaretur, Aug. 16. 1; evenit ut . . . caderet supinus, Aug. 43. 5.

[ocr errors]

h. In the compound tenses of the passive Suetonius often uses fueram, fuissem, etc., for eram, essem, etc.:

fuerat occisus, Jul. 84. 1; fuerat usus, Aug. 18. 2; prosecutus fuisset, Aug. 66. 4.

§ 8. MOODS

a. The potential subjunctive, especially in the perfect tense, is very often used in modest affirmations :

maiora etiam indicia fuerint, Jul. 63; satis certa probatione tradiderim, Aug. 7. 1; praebitam Antonio materiam putem, Aug. 16. 2.

b. The perfect indicative occurs in the apodosis of an unreal condition in past time:

penetravit, nisi. . . recusasset, Jul. 52. 1.

c. Tenses of the indicative are sometimes retained in subordinate clauses of indirect discourse, and where attraction to the subjunctive might be expected :

quia. . . responderat, Jul. 46; quos tenebat, Jul. 64; ut destinarat, Aug. 79. 1.

d. The imperfect subjunctive is used with antequam, priusquam and pridie quam in the statement of facts, where the earlier writers would have used the perfect indicative:

ante paucos quam nasceretur menses, Aug. 94. 3; prius quam pareret, Aug. 94. 4; pridie quam occideretur, Jul. 87.

e. Cum primum occurs with the subjunctive where the perfect indicative would be the regular construction :

Cum primum fari coepisset, Aug. 94. 7.

f. Dum, 'while', is regularly followed by the present indicative, but is found once with the imperfect subjunctive:

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

h. The subjunctive of iteration or generalization is frequently used in temporal and conditional clauses:

non cum obsiderentur modo sed et si ipsi alios obsiderent, Jul. 68. 2 ; Quidquid .. militum esset, Aug. 49. 2; prout libuisset, Aug. 35. 4; quotiensque opus esset, Aug. 37.

i. The subjunctive is used, as in Tacitus, in clauses introduced by tamquam and quasi to express the alleged or imagined reason of a charge or belief:

quasi Cornelius is esset, Jul. 85; quasi . . . indidisset, Aug. 11; quasi... iactassent, Aug. 12; tamquam educaretur, Aug. 94.8 (in indirect discourse).

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

j. The subjunctive in causal clauses after ut qui is used for the more common quippe qui and the subjunctive:

ut qui . . . sustinuerit, Aug. 66. 4; ut in quibus . . . essent, Aug. 72. 1.

k. Substantive clauses are frequently used without ut after verbs of asking, admonishing, commanding and the like:

.

[ocr errors]

.

egit. id potius ferrent, Jul. 26. 1; instituit . subsortitio a praetore fieret, Jul. 41. 3; hortatur et monet imitetur, Aug. 3. 2.

7. These substantive clauses are sometimes used where some other form of expression might be expected:

hoc quoque adiecit, ne . .

ne filias in sortem darent, Aug. 31. 3; rettulit.

adipisceretur, Aug. 40. 4; ambirent .

ut ei succederetur,

Jul. 28. 2; temptavit

[ocr errors]

ut sibi Aegyptus

[ocr errors]

daretur, Jul. 11.

m. Clauses introduced by ut, often preceded by ita and similar words, are used to express a restriction or proviso:

...

auderet,

ita magnos esse voluit ut tamen pari iure essent, Aug. 56. 2; sed ut . . . expergisceretur, Aug. 78. 1; non tamen ut Aug. 89. 1; sed ut

redierint, Jul. 69.

[ocr errors]

§ 9. PARTICIPLES, INFINITIVES, GERUNDS AND GERUNDIVES

a. No writer, probably, uses a larger number of participles than Suetonius, who employs them in a variety of constructions, often for the sake of greater brevity, but hardly with the admirable perspicuity of Livy. Eight, ten or more participles occur in a single period:

eight in a sentence of five lines in Jul. 62; ten in a somewhat longer sentence in Aug. 16. 1, Siculum bellum. . . effecit; fourteen in a single long period in Aug. 27. 3 f., Nam et Pinarium . . . insidiis perisse.

(1) The future active participle is often used to express purpose or design, as in Greek, as well as time and other relations:

successuri sibi, Jul. 21; quam primum transfretaturi, Jul. 34.1; vindicaturus si quid constitutum esset, Jul. 30. 1; Tiberium

dimissurus et Beneventum usque prosecuturus, Aug. 97. 3.

(2) The perfect participle is commonly used in the present sense after Livy's time:

[merged small][ocr errors]

evasit.. elata laeva.. trahens, Jul. 64; subsecutus,

(3) The present is sometimes used because of the lack of a perfect active participle:

Ac subinde . . . admonens, Jul. 65.

(4) The impersonal use of the participle in the ablative absolute occurs, often with the force of an adverb:

augurato, Aug. 7.2; consulto, Jul. 56. 4; sortito, Aug. 30. 1.

« IndietroContinua »