In the Sequence of Tenses the following special points are to be noted:—
The Perfect Indicative is ordinarily a secondary tense, but allows the primary sequence when the present time is clearly in the writer's mind:—
-
ut satis
esset
praesidī
prōvīsum est
(Cat. 2.26)
,
provision has been made that there should be ample guard.
[Secondary sequence.]
-
addūxī
hominem in quō satisfacere exterīs nātiōnibus
possētis
(Verr. 1.2)
,
I have brought a man in whose person you can make satisfaction to foreign nations.
[Secondary sequence.]
-
est
enim rēs iam in eum locum
adducta
, ut quamquam multum intersit inter eōrum causās quī dīmicant, tamen inter victōriās nōn multum interfutūrum
putem
(Fam. 5.21.3)
,
for affairs have been brought to such a pass that
,
though there is a great difference between the causes of those who are fighting
,
still I do not think there will be much difference between their victories.
[Primary sequence.]
-
ea adhibita
doctrīna
est
quae vel vitiōsissimam nātūram excolere
possit
(Q. Fr. 1.1.7)
,
such instruction has been given as can train even the faultiest nature.
[Primary sequence.]
The Perfect Infinitive in exclamations follows the same rule:—
-
quemquamne
fuisse
tam scelerātum quī hōc
fingeret
(Phil. 14.14)
,
was any one so abandoned as to imagine this?
[Secondary.]
-
adeōn rem
redīsse
patrem ut
extimēscam
(Ter. Ph. 153)
,
to think that things have come to such a pass that I should dread my father!
[Primary.]
After a primary tense the Perfect Subjunctive is regularly used to denote
any past action.
This the Perfect Subjunctive may represent—
-
A Perfect Definite:—
-
nōn dubitō quīn omnēs tuī
scrīpserint
(Fam. 5.8)
,
I do not doubt that all your friends have written.
[Direct statement:
scrīpsērunt
.]
-
quā rē nōn īgnōrō quid accidat in ultimīs terrīs, cum
audierim
in Ītaliā querellās cīvium
(Q. Fr. 1.1.33)
,
therefore I know well what happens at the ends of the earth, when I have heard in Italy the complaints of citizens.
[Direct statement:
audīvī
.]
-
A Perfect Historical:—
-
mē autem hīc laudat quod
rettulerim
, nōn quod
patefēcerim
(Att. 12.21)
,
me he praises because I brought the matter
[before the senate],
not because I brought it to light.
[Direct statement:
rettulit
.]
-
An Imperfect:—
-
sī forte cecidērunt, tum intellegitur quam
fuerint
inopēs amīcōrum
(Lael. 53)
,
if perchance they fall
(have fallen),
then one can see how poor they were in friends.
[Direct question:
quam inopēs
erant
?]
-
quī status rērum
fuerit
cum hās litterās dedī, scīre poteris ex C. Titiō Strabōne
(Fam. 12.6)
,
what the condition of affairs was when I wrote this letter
,
you can learn from Strabo.
[Direct question:
quī
status
erat
?]
-
quam cīvitātī cārus
fuerit
maerōre fūneris indicātum est
(Lael. 11)
,
how dear he was to the state has been shown by the grief at his funeral.
[Direct question:
quam cārus
erat
?]
-
ex epistulīs intellegī licet quam frequēns
fuerit
Platōnis audītor
(Or. 15)
,
it may be understood from his letters how constant a hearer he was of Plato.
[Direct question:
quam frequēns
erat
?]
Thus the Perfect Subjunctive may represent, not only a Perfect Definite or a Perfect Historical of a direct statement or question, but an Imperfect as well. This comes from the want of any special tense of the subjunctive for continued past action after a primary tense. Thus,
mīror quid fēcerit
may mean (1)
I wonder what he has done
, (2)
I wonder what he did
(hist. perf.), or (3)
I wonder what he was doing.
In clauses of Result, the Perfect Subjunctive is regularly (the Present rarely) used after secondary tenses:—
-
Hortēnsius
ārdēbat
dīcendī cupiditāte sīc ut in nūllō umquam flagrantius studium
vīderim
(Brut. 302)
,
Hortensius was so hot with desire of speaking that I have never seen a more burning ardor in any man.
-
[Siciliam Verrēs] per triennium ita
vexāvit
ac
perdidit
ut ea restituī in antīquum statum nūllō modō
possit
(Verr. 1.12)
,
for three years Verres so racked and ruined Sicily that she can in no way be restored to her former state.
[Here the Present describes a state of things actually existing.]
-
videor
esse cōnsecūtus
ut nōn
possit
Dolābella in Ītaliam pervenīre
(Fam. 12.14.2)
,
I seem to have brought it about that Dolabella cannot come into Italy.
This construction emphasizes the result; the regular sequence of tenses would subordinate it.
There is a special fondness for the Perfect Subjunctive to represent a Perfect Indicative:—
-
Thorius erat ita nōn superstitiōsus ut illa plūrima in suā et sacrificia et fāna
contemneret
; ita nōn timidus ad mortem ut in aciē
sit
ob rem pūblicam
interfectus
(Fin. 2.63)
,
Thorius was so little superstitious that he despised
[
contemnēbat
]
the many sacrifices and shrines in his country; so little timorous about death that he was killed
[
interfectus est
]
in battle, in defence of the state.
A
general truth
after a past tense follows the sequence of tenses:
-
ex hīs quae tribuisset, sibi quam mūtābilis
esset
reputābat
(Q. C. 3.8.20)
,
from what she
(Fortune)
had bestowed on him, he reflected how inconstant she is.
[Direct:
mūtābilis est
.]
-
ibi quantam vim ad stimulandōs animōs īra
habēret
appāruit
(Liv. 33.37)
,
here it appeared what power anger has to goad the mind.
[Direct:
habet
.]
In English the original tense is more commonly kept.
The Historical Present (§
469
) is sometimes felt as a
primary
, ometimes as a
secondary
tense, and accordingly it takes either the primary or the secondary sequence:—
-
rogat
ut
cūret
quod
dīxisset
(Quinct. 18)
,
he asks him to attend to the thing he had spoken of.
[Both primary and secondary sequence.]
After the historical present, the subjunctive with
cum
temporal must follow the secondary sequence:—
-
quō cum
vēnisset cōgnōscit
(B. C. 1.34)
,
when he had come there he learns.
-
cum
esset pūgnātum
hōrīs quīnque, nostrīque gravius
premerentur
, impetum in cohortīs
faciunt
(
id
. 1.46),
when they had fought for five hours, and our men were pretty hard pressed, they make an attack on the cohorts.
The Historical Infinitive regularly takes the secondary sequence:—
-
interim
cotīdiē
Caesar
Haeduōs frūmentum
,
quod
essent pollicitī
,
flāgitāre
(B. G. 1.16)
.
meanwhile Cæsar demanded of the Hœdui every day the grain which they had promised.
The Imperfect and Pluperfect in conditions contrary to fact (§
517
) and in the Deliberative Subjunctive (§
444
) are not affected by the sequence of tenses:—
-
quia tāle sit, ut vel
sī īgnōrārent
id hominēs vel
sī obmutuissent
(Fin. 2.49)
,
because it is such that even if men
WERE
ignorant of it, or
HAD BEEN
silent about it.
-
quaerō ā tē cūr C. Cornēlium nōn
dēfenderem
(Vat. 5)
,
I ask you why I was not to defend Caius Cornelius?
[Direct:
cūr nōn dēfenderem
?]
The Imperfect Subjunctive in present conditions contrary to fact (§
517
) is regularly followed by the secondary sequence:—
-
sī aliī cōnsulēs essent, ad tē potissimum, Paule,
mitterem
, ut eōs mihi quam amīcissimōs
redderēs
(Fam. 15.13.3)
,
if there were other consuls
,
I should send to you
,
Paulus
,
in preference to all, that you might make them as friendly to me as possible.
-
sī
sōlōs
eōs
dīcerēs
miserōs quibus moriendum
esset
,
nēminem exciperēs
(Tusc. 1.9)
,
if you were to call only those wretched who must die, you would except no one.
The Present is sometimes followed by a secondary sequence, seemingly because the writer is thinking of past time:—
-
sed sī rēs cōget,
est
quiddam tertium, quod neque Seliciō nec mihi displicē bat: ut neque iacēre rem
paterēmur
, etc.
(
Fam. 1.5
A. 3),
but if the case shall demand, there is a third
[course]
which neither Selicius nor myself disapproved
,
that we should not allow
, etc. [Here Cicero is led by the time of
displicēbat
.]
-
sed tamen ut
scīrēs
, haec tibi
scrībō
(Fam. 13.47)
,
but yet that you may know
,
I write thus.
[As if he had used the epistolary imperfect
scrībēbam
(§
479
).]
-
cûius praeceptī tanta vīs
est
ut ea nōn hominī cuipiam sed Delphicō deō
tribuerētur
(Legg. 1.58)
,
such is the force of this precept, that it was ascribed not to any man, but to the Delphic god.
[The precept was an old one.]
When a clause depends upon one already dependent, its sequence may be secondary if the verb of that clause expresses past time, even if the main verb is in a primary tense:—
-
sed tamen quā rē
acciderit
ut ex meīs superiōribus litterīs id
suspicārēre
nesciō
;
(
Fam. 2.16
),
but yet how it happened that you suspected this from my previous letter
,
I don't know.
-
tantum
prōfēcisse
vidēmur ut ā Graecīs nē verbōrum quidem cōpiā
vincerēmur
(N. D. 1.8)
,
we seem to have advanced so far that even in abundance of words we
ARE
not surpassed by the Greeks.
So regularly after a Perfect Infinitive which depends on a primary tense (§
585
.
a
).
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