Part 5 — CHAPTER VII.—Word-order and Sentence-Structure.

A. WORD-ORDER.

348. In the normal arrangement of the Latin sentence the Subject stands at the beginning of the sentence, the Predicate at the end; as,—

Dārīus classem quīngentārum nāvium comparāvit, Darius got ready a fleet of five hundred ships.

349. But for the sake of emphasis the normal arrangement is often abandoned, and the emphatic word is put at the beginning, less frequently at the end of the sentence; as,—

magnus in hōc bellō Themistoclēs fuit, GREAT was Themistocles in this war;

aliud iter habēmus nūllum, other course we have NONE.

SPECIAL PRINCIPLES.

350. 1. Nouns. A Genitive or other oblique case regularly follows the word upon which it depends. Thus:—

a) Depending upon a Noun:—

tribūnus plēbis, tribune of the plebs;

fīlius rēgis, son of the king;

vir magnī animī, a man of noble spirit.

Yet always senātūs cōnsultum, plēbis scītum.

b) Depending upon an Adjective:—

ignārus rērum, ignorant of affairs;

dignī amīcitiā, worthy of friendship;

plūs aequō, more than (what is) fair.

2. Appositives. An Appositive regularly follows its Subject; as,—

Philippus, rēx Macedonum, Philip, king of the Macedonians;

adsentātiō, vitiōrum adjūtrīx, flattery, promoter of evils.

Yet flūmen Rhēnus, the River Rhine; and always in good prose urbs Rōma, the city Rome.

3. The Vocative usually follows one or more words; as,—

audī, Caesar, hear, Caesar!

4. Adjectives. No general law can be laid down for the position of Adjectives. On the whole they precede the noun oftener than they follow it.

a. Adjectives of quantity (including numerals) regularly precede their noun; as,—

omnēs hominēs, all men;

septingentae nāvēs, seven hundred vessels.

b. Note the force of position in the following:—

media urbs, the middle of the city;

urbs media, the middle city,

extrēmum bellum, the end of the war;

bellum extrēmum, the last war.

c. Rōmānus and Latīnus regularly follow; as,—

senātus populusque Rōmānus, the Roman Senate and People;

lūdī Rōmānī, the Roman games;

fēriae Latīnae, the Latin holidays.

d. When a Noun is modified both by an Adjective and by a Genitive, a favorite order is: Adjective, Genitive, Noun; as,—

summa omnium rērum abundantia, the greatest abundance of all things.

5. Pronouns.

a. The Demonstrative, Relative, and Interrogative Pronouns regularly precede the Noun; as,—

hīc homō, this man;

ille homō, that man;

erant duo itinera, quibus itineribus, etc., there were two routes, by which, etc.

quī homō? what sort of man?

b. But ille in the sense of 'that well known,' 'that famous,' usually stands after its Noun; as,—

testula illa, that well-known custom of ostracism;

Mēdēa illa, that famous Medea.

c. Possessive and Indefinite Pronouns usually follow their Noun; as,—

pater meus, my father;

homō quīdam, a certain man;

mulier aliqua, some woman.

But for purposes of contrast the Possessive often precedes its Noun; as,—

meus pater, MY father (i.e. as opposed to yours, his, etc.).

d. Where two or more Pronouns occur in the same sentence, the Latin is fond of putting them in close proximity; as,—

nisi forte ego vōbīs cessāre videor, unless perchance I seem to you to be doing nothing.

6. Adverbs and Adverbial phrases regularly precede the word they modify; as,—

valdē dīligēns, extremely diligent;

saepe dīxī, I have often said;

tē jam diū hortāmur, we have long been urging you;

paulō post, a little after.

7. Prepositions regularly precede the words they govern.

a. But limiting words often intervene between the Preposition and its case; as,—

dē commūnī hominum memoriā, concerning the common memory of men;

ad beātē vīvendum, for living happily.

b. When a noun is modified by an Adjective, the Adjective is often placed before the preposition; as,—

magnō in dolōre, in great grief;

summā cum laude, with the highest credit;

quā dē causā, for which cause;

hanc ob rem, on account of this thing.

c. For Anastrophe, by which a Preposition is put after its case, see § 144, 3.

8. Conjunctions. Autem, enim, and igitur regularly stand in the second place in the sentence, but when combined with est or sunt they often stand third; as,—

ita est enim, for so it is.

9. Words or Phrases referring to the preceding sentence or to some part of it, regularly stand first; as,—

id ut audīvit, Corcyram dēmigrāvit, when he heard that (referring to the contents of the preceding sentence), he moved to Corcyra;

eō cum Caesar vēnisset, timentēs cōnfirmat, when Caesar had come thither (i.e. to the place just mentioned), he encouraged the timid.

10. The Latin has a fondness for putting side by side words which are etymologically related; as,—

ut ad senem senex dē senectūte, sīc hōc librō ad amīcum amīcissimus dē amīcitiā scrīpsī, as I, an old man, wrote to an old man, on old age, so in this book, as a fond friend, I have written to a friend, concerning friendship.

11. Special rhetorical devices for indicating emphasis are the following:—

a) Hypérbaton, which consists in the separation of words that regularly stand together; as,—

septimus mihi Orīginum liber est in manibus, the seventh book of my 'Origines' is under way;

receptō Caesar Ōricō proficīscitur, having recovered Oricus, Caesar set out.

b) Anáphora, which consists in the repetition of the same word or the same word-order in successive phrases; as,—

sed plēnī omnēs sunt librī, plēnae sapientium vōcēs, plēna exemplōrum vetustās, but all books are full of it, the voices of sages are full of it, antiquity is full of examples of it.

c) Chiásmus,^[59] which consists in changing the relative order of words in two antithetical phrases; as,—

multōs dēfendī, laesī nēminem, many have I defended, I have injured no one;

horribilem illum diem aliīs, nōbīs faustum, that day dreadful to others, for us fortunate.

d) Sýnchysis, or the interlocked arrangement. This is mostly confined to poetry, yet occurs in rhetorical prose, especially that of the Imperial Period; as,—

simulātam Pompejānārum grātiam partium, pretended interest in the Pompeian party.

12. Metrical Close. At the end of a sentence certain cadences were avoided; others were much employed. Thus:—

a) Cadences avoided.

as, esse vidētur (close of hexameter).

as, esse potest (close of pentameter).

b) Cadences frequently employed.

as, auxerant.

as, comprobāvit.

as, esse videātur.

as, rogātū tuō.

B. SENTENCE-STRUCTURE.

351. 1. Unity of Subject.—In complex sentences the Latin regularly holds to unity of Subject in the different members; as,—

Caesar prīmum suō, deinde omnium ex cōnspectū remōtīs equīs, ut aequātō perīculō spem fugae tolleret, cohortātus suōs proelium commīsit, Caesar having first removed his own horse from sight, then the horses of all, in order, by making the danger equal, to take away hope of flight, encouraged his men and joined battle.

2. A word serving as the common Subject or Object of the main clause and a subordinate one, stands before both; as,—

Haeduī cum sē dēfendere nōn possent, lēgātōs ad Caesarem mittunt, since the Haedui could not defend themselves, they sent envoys to Caesar;

ille etsī flagrābat bellandī cupiditāte, tamen pācī serviendum putāvit, although he was burning with a desire to fight, yet he thought he ought to aim at peace.

a. The same is true also

1) When the Subject of the main clause is Object (Direct or Indirect) of a subordinate clause; as,—

Caesar, cum hōc eī nūntiatum esset, mātūrat ab urbe proficīscī, when this had been reported to Caesar he hastened to set out from the city.

2) When the Subject of a subordinate clause is at the same time the Object (Direct or Indirect) of the main clause; as,—

L. Mānliō, cum dictātor fuisset, M. Pompōnius tribūnus plēbis diem dīxit, M. Pomponius, tribune of the people, instituted proceedings against Lucius Manlius, though he had been dictator.

3. Of subordinate clauses, temporal, conditional, and adversative clauses more commonly precede the main clause; indirect questions and clauses of purpose or result more commonly follow; as,—

postquam haec dīxit, profectus est, after he said this, he set out;

sī quis ita agat, imprūdēns sit, if any one should act so, he would be devoid of foresight;

accidit ut ūnā nocte omnēs Hermae dēicerentur, it happened that in a single night all the Hermae were thrown down.

4. Sometimes in Latin the main verb is placed within the subordinate clause; as,—

sī quid est in mē ingenī, quod sentiō quam sit exiguum, if there is any talent in me, and I know how little it is.

5. The Latin Period. The term Period, when strictly used, designates a compound sentence in which the subordinate clauses are inserted within the main clause; as,—

Caesar etsī intellegēbat quā dē causā ea dīcerentur, tamen, nē aestātem in Trēverīs cōnsūmere cōgerētur, Indutiomārum ad sē venīre jussit, though Caesar perceived why this was said, yet, lest he should be forced to spend the summer among the Treveri, he ordered Indutiomarus to come to him.

In the Periodic structure the thought is suspended until the end of the sentence is reached. Many Roman writers were extremely fond of this sentence-structure, and it was well adapted to the inflectional character of their language; in English we generally avoid it.

6. When there are several subordinate clauses in one Period, the Latin so arranges them as to avoid a succession of verbs. Thus:—

At hostēs cum mīsissent, quī, quae in castrīs gererentur, cognōscerent, ubi sē dēceptōs intellēxērunt, omnibus cōpiīs subsecūtī ad flūmen contendunt, but the enemy when they had sent men to learn what was going on in camp, after discovering that they had been outwitted, followed with all their forces and hurried to the river.