Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

2. I found the young man, whom you extolled with such extravagant praises, not at all advanced in his learning; he did not even know how to decline nouns or to conjugate verbs with any cor

rectness.

The connexion between two nouns, or subjects, conveying nearly the same idea, is elegantly made by the repetition of tum; as, odit tum virtutem, tum liberales artes: but if there is a difference between them, the first, which is the inferior idea, has generally cùm prefixed to it, and the more forcible is connected by tum; as,

We ought to love those who have deserved well of us, and chiefly our preceptors: Cùm omnes de nobis bene meritos, tum maximè præceptores nostros, amare debemus.

1. I know your mother, a pious and honest woman.

2. He was a young man of the best disposition, and of great erudition.

3. Good health, and frugality, which chiefly procures it, is both ne cessary in every kind of pursuit, and chiefly in this important study.

Words referring to the same subject, but whose meaning is so far opposite, that one of them may be taken away or denied, are connected by the repetition of aut, vel or sive, where the English would be satisfied with one; as,

To-morrow I shall write or come: Cras aut scribam aut

veniam.

1. I have asked my father that he would send me those books, or money to buy them.

2. Had I the perfidy which they possess, at least I should not have had the folly to betray either an open enmity, while I cherished a concealed and obscure hatred, or an inclination to hurt where I had not the power to do an injury.

Observe that when several words are to be joined by a conjunction copulative, the second is not inelegantly joined by the enclitic que, and the third by et or ac; as,

I desire friendship, honors, and general knowledge: Amicitiam honoresque, et rerum scientiam expeto.

1. Your elegant, learned and polite letters were delivered to me. 2. He did not suffer those, whom he did not think capable of becoming orators, to lose their time with him, and he dismissed them, and used to persuade them to betake themselves to that pursuit for which he thought them best fitted.

What we have said concerning these conjunctions is nearly applicable to the negative.

The Latins seldom use non followed by nec or neque, but repeat either of the two latter.

1. After this battle, Cæsar resolved not to give audience to their ambassadors, nor admit them to terms of peace, seeing they had treacherously applied for a truce, and afterwards wantonly broken it. 2. That part of your excuse in which you say, that your letters are always couched in the same words, from your poverty of expression, I do not understand, and do not approve.

The connexion is also often made by the repetition of the preceding negative; as,

No one loves or respects you: Nemo te amat, nemo te colit.

But in the glory which you have lately acquired, you have no associate, how great soever it is, and' surely nothing can be greater; it is all your own: No commander, captain, troop or battalion robs you here: nay, even Fortune, the goddess who presides over human af. fairs, claims no share of this honour; to you sho resigns it.

Sometimes the connexion is effected by ne quidem, followed by nedum, when what follows is of greater force than what goes before; and sometimes by non modò non, and non modò, followed by sed, ne quidem, when what follows is of less force than what precedes: but these are well-known forms.

1. He has learned neither to write nor read.

2. For indeed we cannot bear that man to stand forward as an ac

cuser, or a censurer, who himself is found guilty of that crime which he reproves in another.

It is scarcely necessary to observe, that the Latins generally use nec and neque for et non; for et nunquam always nec unquam; for et nemo, they use nec ulius, nec quisquam; for et nihil, nec quidquam; and for et nusquam, nec usquam.

In connecting divisions of sentences, the same rule nearly applies as in connecting single words, by the repetition of et, if they refer to the same subject; or, if one is negative, by neque, nec, for et non followed by et; if both are negative,

by a double nec and neque; or, where there is an opposition, by the repetition of aut vel; where the English would be often satisfied with one of the above conjunctions.

1. You therefore were not present at these transactions, and it has always been my chief care not to be present myself.

2. For I am deprived of a great number of my most intimate friends, of whom the hand of death has cruelly robbed me, or whom the hard necessity of flight has dispersed into various parts.

3. Certainly, if the mind had not a forethought of a hereafter, it would neither harass itself with so many toils, nor be tormented with so many cares and watchings, nor contend so often for life itself.

In connecting two clauses of a sentence, if the latter is the consequence or the effect of the former, they may be more closely joined by ut, instead of quare, igitur, hinc, &c., and by ita ut instead of the simple et; as,

You have never loved your brother: hence it is no wonder that he does not love you: Tu nunquam fratrem amâsti, ut non mirum sit, te ab eo non redamatum esse.

1. The citizens we lost fell in battle, not by the insolence of victory; whence there can be no doubt but that, if it were possible, Cæsar would recall many from the shades (ab inferis excitaret).

2. When I had fasted for two whole days, and had not even tasted a drop of water, overcome as I was with languor and famine, I certainly found that I needed your good offices more than I thought you could possibly require mine.

[ocr errors]

Ita, followed by ut, may also be used for quidem, followed by sed; as,

I love you indeed, but I cannot indulge your vices: Amo te ita, ut tamen tuis vitiis indulgere nequeam.

1. There is also another report concerning the captives, that the ten first came; and when it had been a subject of much doubt in the senate whether they should be admitted into the city or not, they were indeed admitted, but an audience was not granted them (ne tamen iis senatus daretur).

2. Preserve indeed a grave deportment, but do not fall into moroseness and melancholy. (This may be with the addition of tamen.)

Where both clauses express a doubt, the connexion is generally made by utrùm, or the enclitic ne, with the first, and an before the second.

Alexander was a long time very doubtful whether he should perse

vere or retreat.

[ocr errors]

The connexion of two clauses is also more elegantly made by is, followed by qui; by talis, followed by qualis; by tantus, followed by quantus; tot, followed by quot, than by is, talis, tantus, tot, &c., followed by ut.

1. Your father proved himself such a man, that, if you could show yourself the same, you would pass for a very great man, (Here talem....qualem will be much better than talem....ut.)

2. For what shows less, I do not say of an orator, but of a reasonable being (sed hominis), than to throw that kind of objection to an adversary, that, if he should deny it but upon his bare word, the objector could proceed no further.

3. My love for you is so great that I should be the happiest of mortals, if your affèction for me was equal to it.

The connexion of clauses may also be made by tantum abest ut, followed by another ut; as,

I not only have not forgotten you, but I think of you every day: Tantum abest, tui ut oblitus sim, ut nullus prætereat dies, quin mihi in mentem tui veniat.

1. My own private interests indeed I cannot have preferred in this, for I am sensible that I have drawn much hatred upon myself, partly secret, partly open, which I might have avoided, and by which you nay profit.

2. You not only are not a perfect master of the Greek language, but you have scarcely learned its first rudiments.

In connecting sentences which contain a more complete and absolute sense, but which, at the same time, have a reference to the subject mentioned before, qui, quæ, quod, as we have already seen, is often used instead of hic, is, et, verò, igitur, and sometimes enim, which are rejected; but it must be observed, that this relative must apply to what is immediately preceding.

As the use of the relative, and indeed this application of it in connecting sentences, merits the attention of those who study elegance, it will not be superfluous to advert to it again in this place.

1. I have always received the most gentle, and, at the same time, the most salutary advice from you; and if I had followed your wise directions, I should now be the happiest of men. (Here qui may agree either with advice, or with I.)

2. I went to his house (eum adivi), but when I could not find him, I returned home.

In the beginning of a sentence which has a reference to what goes before, the Latins more frequently make use of neque than of non before verò, enim, tamen.

1. But nothing, said he, seems to me of superior excellence, than for a speaker to have that irresistible hold upon the assemblies of men, as, by the charms of his eloquence, to bend their minds to his own purposes, to lead them to whatever direction he chooses, or dissuade them from whatever he pleases.

2. But the enjoyment of ease was not granted us to devote our time to these liberal arts, though we earnestly wished and desired it.

Thus, also, the ancients more frequently use neque verò quisquam, for nemo verò: neque verò quidquam, for nihil verò: and neque enim quisquam, neque tamen quisquam, for nemo enim, nemo tamen.

[ocr errors]

Nam cùm, etenim cùm, at the beginning of a sentence, are more frequently used than cùm enim.

For when he had left me no other alternative than to swear, I then, in a solemn and elevated voice, uttered that true and most gratifying oath; which the people, with an unanimous acclamation, swore that had most truly uttered.

After quid aliud, nihil aliud, it is more elegant to use nisi than quàm: as,

I ask nothing else in my own right, than that you write to me: Nihil aliud a te jure meo postulo, nisi ad me ut scribas.

1. What else is it not to answer the letters of a friend, than to neglect his friendship.

2. Nothing else is obtained by so obstinate and bloody a war, but defeat and disgrace.

Nisi should also be used instead of præter, præterquam, after a negation..

What the Pythian oracle declared, that no other cause except avarice should destroy Sparta, it seems to have predicted not only to the Lacedemonians, but to all other opulent nations.

Quòd si and quod nisi are often put for si, and for si non, at the beginning of a sentence, when the subject of both sentences has an immediate connexion; as,

If you have to do with this man, you will soon perceive that I complained justly of him: Quòd si tibi res cum isto sit, tum sentias, me jure de illo questum.

« ForrigeFortsett »