In
connected discourse
the word most prominent in the speaker's mind comes first, and so on in order of prominence.
This relative prominence corresponds to that indicated in English by a graduated stress of voice (usually called
emphasis
).
The difference in
emphasis
expressed by difference in order of words is illustrated in the following passages:—
-
apud Xenophōntem autem moriēns
Cȳrus
mâior haec dīcit
(Cat. M. 79)
, IN XENOPHON
too
,
on his
death-bed
Cyrus the elder utters these words.
-
Cȳrus
quidem haec moriēns; nōs
,
sī placet
,
nostra videāmus
(
id
. 82),
CYRUS
,
to be sure, utters these words on his death-bed; let
US
,
if you please, consider our own case.
-
Cȳrus
quidem apud Xenophōntem eō sermōne
,
quem moriēns habuit
(
id
. 30),
CYRUS
,
to be sure, in
Xenophon
,
in that speech which he uttered on his death-bed.
This stress or emphasis, however, in English does not necessarily show any violent contrast to the rest of the words in the sentence, but is infinitely varied, constantly increasing and diminishing, and often so subtle as to be unnoticed except in careful study. So, as a general rule, the precedence of words in a Latin sentence is not mechanical, but corresponds to the prominence which a good speaker would mark by skilfully managed stress of voice. A Latin
written
sentence, therefore, has all the clearness and expression which could be given to a
spoken
discourse by the best actor in English. Some exceptions to the rule will be treated later.
The first chapter of Cæsar's Gallic War, if rendered so as to bring out as far as possible the shades of emphasis, would run thus:—
|
GAUL,
GAUL: emphatic as the
subject of discourse
, as with a title or the like.
in the widest sense
, is
divided
Divided
: opposed to the false conception (implied in the use of
omnis
) that the country called
Gallia
by the Romans is one. This appears more clearly from the fact that Cæsar later speaks of the
Gallī
in a narrower sense as distinct from the other two tribes, who with them inhabit
Gallia
in the wider sense.
into three
parts
,
Parts:
continuing the emphasis begun in
dīvīsa
. Not
three
parts as opposed to any other number, but into
parts
at all.
which are
inhabited
Inhabited:
emphatic as the next subject, “
The inhabitants
of these parts are, etc.”
(as follows):
one
One
: given more prominence than it otherwise would have on accountof its close connection with
quārum
.
by the Belgians,
another
Another
, etc.: opposed to
one.
by the
Aquitani
,
the third
by a people called in
their own
Their own, ours:
strongly opposed to each other.
language Celts, in
ours
Gauls. THESE
THESE (tribes): the main subject of discourse again, collecting under one head the names previously mentioned.
in their
language
,
Language
, etc.: these are the most prominent ideas, as giving the striking points which distinguish the tribes. The emphasis becomes natural in English if we say “these have a different
language
, different
institutions
, different
laws.
”
institutions
, and
laws
are
all
of them
All
of them: the emphasis on
all
marks the distributive character of the adjective, as if it were “
every one
has its own, etc.”
different. The GAULS
GAULS: emphatic as referring to the Gauls proper in distinction from the other tribes.
(proper) are separated
Separated: though this word contains an indispensable idea in the connection, yet it has a subordinate position. It is not emphatic in Latin, as is seen from the fact that it cannot be made emphatic in English. The sense is: The
Gauls
lie between the
Aquitani
on the one side, and the
Belgians
on the other.
from the
Aquitani
by the river
Garonne
, from the
Belgians
by the
Marne and Seine.
Of THESE
Of THESE: the subject of discourse.
(TRIBES) the bravest of
all
All
: emphasizing the superlative idea in “bravest”; they, as Gauls, are assumed to be warlike, but the most so of
all
of them are the
Belgians.
are the
Belgians
, for the reason that they live
farthest
Farthest
away:
one might expect
absunt
(are away) to have
a
more emphatic place, but it is dwarfed in importance by the predominance of the main idea, the
effeminating influences
from which the Belgians are said to be free. It is not that they live
farthest off
that is insisted on, but that the
civilization of the Province
etc., which would
soften
them, comes less in their way. It is to be noticed also that
absunt
has already been anticipated by the construction of
cultū
and still more by
longissimē
, so that when it comes it amounts only to a formal part of the sentence. Thus,—“because the
civilization
etc. of the Province (which would soften them) is
farthest
from them
.”
away
from the CIVILIZATION and REFINEMENT of the
Province
, and because
they
are LEAST
LEAST: made emphatic here by a common Latin order, the
chiasmus
(§
598
.
f
).
of all of them subject to the visits of
traders
,
Traders:
the fourth member of the
chiasmus
, opposed to
cultū
and
hūmānitāte
.
and to the (consequent) importation of
such things
as
Such things
as: the importance of the
nature
of the importations overshadows the fact that they are
imported
, which fact is anticipated in
traders.
tend to
soften
Soften:
cf. what is said in note 15, p. 394. They are
brave
because they have less to
soften
them, their native barbarity being
taken for granted.
their warlike spirit; and are also
nearest
Nearest
: the same idiomatic prominence as in note 1 above, but varied by a special usage combining
chiasmus
and
anaphora
(§
598
.
f
).
to the
Germans
, who live
across the Rhine
,
Across the Rhine:
i.e. and so are perfect savages.
and with whom they are
incessantly
Incessantly:
the continuance of the warfare becomes the all-important idea, as if it were “and not a day passes in which they are not at war with them.”
at war. For
the same
reason the HELVETIANS, as well, are superior to all the
other
Gauls in valor, because they are engaged in
almost daily
battles with the Germans, either defending
their own
boundaries from
them
, or
themselves
making war on
those of the Germans.
Of ALL THIS country,
one
part—the one which,
as
has been said, the
Gauls
(proper) occupy—BEGINS at the river
Rhone
. Its
boundaries
are the
river Garonne
, the
ocean
, and the
confines
of the Belgians. It even REACHES on the side of the
Sequani
and
Helvetians
the river Rhine. Its
general direction
is towards the north. The BELGIANS begin at the
extreme
limits
of Gaul; they
reach
(on this side) as far as the lower part of the Rhine. They
spread
to the northward and eastward. AQUITANIA extends from the
Garonne
to the Pyrenees, and that part of the ocean that lies towards Spain. It
runs off
westward and northward.
|
Gallia est omnis dīvīsa in partīs trīs
,
quārum ūnam incolunt Belgae
,
aliam Aquītānī
,
tertiam quī ipsōrum linguā Celtae
,
nostrā Gallī appellantur
.
Hī omnēs linguā
,
īnstitūtīs
,
lēgibus inter sē differunt
.
Gallōs ab Aquītānīs Garumna flūmen, ā Belgīs Mātrona et Sēquana dīvidit
.
Hōrum omnium fortissimī sunt Belgae
,
proptereā quod ā cultū atque hūmānitāte prōvinciae longissimē absunt
,
minimēque ad eōs mercātōrēs saepe commeant atque ea quae ad effēminandōs animōs pertinent important, proximīque sunt Germānīs
,
quī trāns Rhēnum incolunt
,
quibuscum
continenter
bellum gerunt
.
Quā dē causā Helvētiī quoque reliquōs Gallōs virtūte praecēdunt
,
quod ferē cotīdiānīs proeliīs cum Germānīs contendunt
,
cum aut suīs fīnibus eōs prohibent
,
aut ipsī in eōrum fīnibus bellum gerunt
.
Eōrum ūna pars
,
quam Gallōs obtinēre dictum est
,
initium capit ā flūmine Rhodanō; continētur Garumnā flūmine
,
Ōceanō
,
fīnibus Belgārum; attingit etiam ab Sēquanīs et Helvētiīs flūmen Rhēnum; vergit ad septentriōnēs
.
Belgae ab
extrēmīs
Galliae fīnibus oriuntur
:
pertinent ad īnferiōrem partem flūminis Rhēnī; spectant
in septentriōnem
et orientem sōlem
.
Aquītānia ā Garumnā flūmine ad Pȳrēnaeōs montīs et eam partem Ōceanī quae est ad Hispāniam pertinet; spectat inter occāsum sōlis et septentriōnēs
.
|
The more important word is never placed last for emphasis. The apparent cases of this usage (when the emphasis is not misconceived) are cases where a word is added as an afterthought, either real or affected, and so has its position not in the sentence to which it is appended, but, as it were, in a new one.
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