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.

_ v v _ v or _ ; as, esse vidētur (close of hexameter).

_ v v v or _ ; as, esse potest (close of pentameter).

b) Cadences frequently employed.

_ v _ ; as, auxerant.

_ v _ v ; as, comprobāvit.

_ v v v _ v ; as, esse videātur.

v _ _ v _ ; 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_.

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