OF CONJUNCTIONS,

AND THE MODE OF CONNECTING WORDS AND

CLAUSES.

Conjunctions give a coherence and force to the sentence, and are necessary to elucidate the subject, which without them would be unintelligible. Their proper disposition is therefore of the greatest consequence. Such, indeed, is their utility, that the best writers often multiply them by the figure polysyndeton: and the few cases, where the connexion will not suffer by their absence, are chiefly in lofty subjects, that demand great vehemence of expression, and mark some sudden affection or agitation of the mind; when the gesture or action of the speaker may be supposed to supply their place; as in that well-known exclamation of Cicero, Abiit, excessit, evasit, erupit !

In the connexion of single words which have some difference in their meaning, though they agree closely with each other, with the same nominative, or the same verb, where the English would be content with one and, the Latins use two, or even more. This double et has the force of the double tum, non modò, sed etiam; as,

He favours, notices and loves me beyond the rest: Me præ ceteris et colit et observat et diligit.

1. I wish you to demand and expect every thing from me.

2. The day after, in the morning, the Germans, persisting in their treachery and dissimulation, came in great numbers (frequentes) to the

camp.

The repetition of the et is made for the sake of perspicuity, because the mind of the hearer naturally expects something more to follow, when it has been prepared for it by one of the conjunctions; as,

Liber tibi jam redditus est, aut brevi reddetur: It is not known whether the sentence is to end at redditus est, or not, as it stands; but when you add, liber tibi aut jam redditus est, aut brevi reddetur, that doubt vanishes from the beginning; but it must be observed, that if the words to be con

nected mark no difference with each other, there must be but one conjunction; as,

Not a single act of bravery could pass unobserved; for all the adjoining hills and eminences, which afforded a near prospect of the sea, were covered with our men.

The connexion, especially in grave and serious subjects, is often made by the repetition of the preceding word, instead of a conjunction; as,

I think that nothing is more sweet, more delightful, or more worthy the liberty of man, than friendship: Amicitia nihil dulcius, nihil suavius, nihil hominis libertate dignius esse puto.

1. Nor is the sound of the trumpet the same, when the army is marching to an engagement, or when it sounds a retreat.

2. They have chosen me as their refuge against oppression, as the avenger of their wrongs, the patron of their rights, and the sole manager of the present impeachment (actorem causæ totius).

3. God has provided for the wants, and the conveniences, and the preservation of man.

When the words denote similitude or comparison, instead of et, we may connect them by ut, followed by ita; as,

You have performed the greatest and the most useful actions: Res, ut maximas, ita utilissimas, gessisti.

1. The people of Tarsus, who are the very worst of allies, and the people of Laodicea, who surpass them in folly and perverseness, sent of their own accord for Dolabella; from both which cities he levied and formed the image of an army, having by their numbers the appearance of a Grecian army.

2. Your country will for ever love and revere your name, have performed the greatest and most useful exploits.

for you

When it is necessary to introduce a circumstance of greater weight than what precedes it, it is elegantly connected by quid? quod; as,

A wise man lives contented, and, indeed, the wiser a man is, the more resigned he is in his death: Sapiens contentus vivit: quid? quod sapientissimus quisque animo aquissimo moritur.

1. I have ever been ready to be of service to you in whatever things I could, with my assistance and my advice: nay, I have not even denied you my own garments and money.

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 necessary 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, cr 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 affairs, claims no share of this honour; to you she 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 accuser, 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 ullus, 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, is 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.

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.