Exempla antiqua

Classical and Medieval Latin examples for learners

Indirect question

qua veniat rogatus

quā veniat, causamque viae nōmenque rogātus
et patriam, “patria est clārae mihi” dīxit “Athēnae;
Triptolemus nōmen; venī nec puppe per undās,
nec pede per terrās: patuit mihi pervius aether.

Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.651-654
Purpose clause Subjunctive in temporal clauses

Canes famelici

Drawing of seven dogs, standing in a body of shallow water into which all but one is looking or reaching.

Illustration from: Aesop’s Fables, by George Fyler Townsend, with illustrations by Harrison Weir, 1867

Stultum consilium non modo effectu caret,
sed ad perniciem quoque mortalis devocat.
Corium depressum in fluvio viderunt canes,
id ut comesse extractum possent facilius,
aquam coepere ebibere: sed rupti prius
periere quam quod petierant contingerent.

Phaedrus 1.20

See Shelmerdine, ch. 26, 122.2 (p. 239) for the subjunctive with antequam (as prius … quam, here)

Comparative adj Indirect question

De rana et bove

Drawing of a cow and two frogs with Latin caption

Dē rānā et bove

Inops potentem dum vult imitari perit.

In prato quondam rana conspexit bovem,
et tacta invidia tantae magnitudinis
rugosam inflavit pellem; tum natos suos
interrogavit an bove esset latior.
illi negarunt. rursus intendit cutem
maiore nisu, et simili quaesivit modo,
quis maior esset. illi dixerunt bovem.
novissime indignata, dum vult validius
inflare sese, rupto iacuit corpore.

Phaedrus 1.24

Independent subjunc Subjunctive

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CIL 6.13696 / 6.34073 / 12.1202

Rectangular stone monument with inscription covering facing surface

Funerary monument from the Via Appia, ca. 140 BC. http://cil.bbaw.de/dateien/cil_view.php?KO=KO0001726

HOC EST FACTUM MONUMENTUM
MAARCO CAICILIO
HOSPES GRATUM EST QUOM APUD
MEAS RESTITISTEI SEEDES
BENE REM GERAS ET VALEAS
DORMIAS SINE QURA

Hoc est factum monumentum Marcō Caeciliō. Hospes, grātum est cum apud meās restitistī sēdēs. Bene rem gerās et valeās. Dormiās sine cūrā.

 

hospes, hospitis, m. guest
grātus, -ā, -um pleasing, welcome
apud at [Shelmerdine 28]
sedes, -is, f. (often plural with singular sense) abode, seat (sometimes, as here, in the sense of final resting place)