Page:The New Latin Primer (Postgate).djvu/206

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192
The New Latin Primer.
(7) Mŏrĭăr pŏtĭŭs' quam nē quam vīvam!   Māllĕ sē mŏrī quam nēquam vīvĕrĕ.
(8) Nĭsĭ audĭrĕ vellem, nōn haec dixissem.   Nĕgāvit sē, nĭsĭ ĕum audīrĕ vellet,illă dictūrum fŭissĕ.
(9) Nĭsĭ nŭntiĭ dē Caesărĭs victōrĭā essent allātī, oppĭdum āmīssum essĕt Nĭsĭ nūntiī dē Caesărĭs victōriā essent allāati, fŭtūrum fŭissĕ ŭt oppĭdum āmītĕrētŭr.
(10) Aggrēsūs essĕt mē in concĭliō; dīlātăs est quŏd auctŏr cōnsĭlī āfŭit quam māxĭmē peteddt.[1]   (After nūntĭātŭr) Aggrēssūr-um fŭissĕ sē in concĭliō; dīlātam rem essĕ quod auctor cōnsĭlī āfŭĕrit quem māxĭmē pĕtŭrŭt.

§ 431. Observations on the Oratio Obliqua.

(1) The Ōrŭtiō oblīquă is sometimes introduced by Verbs which only imply saying; sometimes the idea of saying is only to be gathered from the context. Compare § 399.

{2) The Imperative is never used in Or. Obi. The Indicative is an irregularity very rarely found, and chiefly after dum whilst.

(3) The usage of the Pronouns sē, ĭs, illĕ, in Or. Obi. can only be fully learned from reading. It must not be forgotten that sē retains its usual reference to the subject of a sentence in Or. Obi.

{4) In graphic reports of speeches by historians, etc., the Primary Tenses are often not changed to Secondary Tenses, though the speech is a thing of the past. Compare the sequence of the Historic Present, § 389 (b).

Sometimes Primary and Secondary Tenses are found side by side, e.g., Caes. B. G. I. 14, admīrārētur......sint.

(5) More examples of the Ōrātiō Oblīqua may be found in Caes. B. G. I. 40, 44, 45 ; IV. 16 ; Livy, I. 9, 47, 50, 53 ; XXI. 30, 53, 63.


ARRANGEMENT OF WORDS.

§ 432. Owing to its greater wealth of inflexions, the order of words in Latin is not as rigidly fixed as it is in English, but it is never arbitrary.

Some kinds of words are limited to certain positions, and other kinds of words are generally found in certain positions. But beyond this, the arrangement of the words in a Latin sentence is determined first by the requirements

  1. He would have attacked me at the meeting, (but) his scheme was postponed because the promoter of the plan, at whom he chiefly aimed, was absent.