Heavy Construction

CONJUNCTIONS.

[1][For the classification of conjunctions, see §§223, 224.]

323.

• scriptum senatum et populo (Cat. iii. 10), written to the senate and people.

  

• ut eas [partis] sanares et confirmares (Mil. 68), that you might cure and strengthen those parts.

  

• neque mea prudentia neque humanis consiliis fretus (Cat. ii. 29), relying neither on my own foresight nor on human wisdom.

a. Conjunctions of Comparison (as ut, quam, tamquam, quasi) also commonly connect similar constructions: -

• his igitur quam physicis potius credendum existimas (Div. ii. 3,), do you think these are more to be trusted than the natural philosophers?

  

• hominem calidiorem vidi neminem quam Phormionem (Ter. Ph. 591), a shrewder man I never saw than Phormio (cf. §407.)

  

• ut non omne vinum sic non omnis natura vetustate coacescit (Cat. M. 65), as every wine does not sour with age, so [does] not every nature.

  

• in me quasi in tyrannum (Phil. xiv. 15), against me as against a tyrant.

b. Two or more coordinate words, phrases, or sentences are often put together without the use of conjunctions (Asyndeton, §601. c):

• omnes di, homines, all gods and men.

  

• summi, medii, infimi, the highest, the middle class, and the lowest.

  

• iura, leges, agros, libertatem nobis reliquerunt (B. G. vii. 77), they have left us our rights, our laws, our fields, our liberty.

c. 1. Where there are more than two coordinate words etc., a conjunction, if used, is ordinarily used with all (or all except the first): -

• aut aere alieno aut magnitudine tributorum aut iniuria potentiorum (B. G. vi. 13), by debt, excessive taxation, or oppression on the part of the powerful.

  

• at sunt morosi et anxii et iracundi et difficiles senes (Cat. M. 65), but (you say) old men are capricious, solicitous, choleric, and fussy.

2. But words are often so divided into groups that the members of the groups omit the conjunction (or express it), while the groups themselves express the conjunction (or omit it): -

• propudium illud et portentum, L. Antonius msigne odium omnium hominum (Phil. xiv. 8), that wretch and monster, Lucius Antonius, the abomination of all men.

  

• utrumque egit graviter, auctaritate et offensione animi non acerba (Lael. 77), he acted in both cases with dignity, without loss of authority and with no bitterness of feeling.

3. The enclitic -que is sometimes used with the last member of a series, even when there is no grouping apparent: -

• voce voltu motuque (Brut. 110), by voice, expression, and gesture.

  

• curam consilium vigilantiamque (Phil. vii. 20), care, wisdom, and vigilance.

  

• quarum auctoritatem dignitatem voluntatemque defenderas (Fam. i. 7. 2), whose dignity, honor, and wishes you had defended.

d. Two adjectives belonging to the same noun are regularly con- nected by a conjunction: -

• multae et graves causae, many weighty reasons.

  

• vir liber ac fortis (Rep. ii. 34), a free and brave man.

e. Often the same conjunction is repeated in two coordinate clases:

• et ... et (-que . . . -que), both... and,.

  

• aut... aut, either...or.

  

• vel ... vel, either ... or. [Examples in §324. e.]

  

• sive (seu) ... sive (seu), whether ... or. Examples in §324.f.

f. Many adverbs are similarly used in pairs, as conjunctions, partly or wholly losing their adverbial force: -

• nunc ... nunc, tum...tum, iam ... iam, now... now.

  

• modo... modo, now... now.

  

• simul ... simul, at the same time ... at the same time.

  

• qua ... qua, now ... now, both . . and, alike [this] and [that].

  

• modo ait modo negat (Ter. Eun. 714), now he says yes, now no.

  

• simul gratias agit, simul gratulatur (Q. C. vi. 70 15), he thanks him and at the same time congratulates him.

  

• erumpunt saepe vitia amicorum tum in ipsos amicos tum in alienas (Lael. 76), the faults of friends sometimes break out, now against their friends themselves, now against strangers.

  

• qua maris qua feminas (Pl. Mil. 1113), both males and females.

g. Certain relative and demonstrative adverbs are used correlatively as conjunctions: -

• ut (rel.) ... ita, sic (dem.), as (while) ... so (yet).

  

• tam (dem.) ... quam (rel.), so (as) ... as.

  

• cum (rel.) ... tum (dem.), while ... so also; not only.... but also.