vir haud contemnendus, patria defendenda est, a man not to be despised. If the agent who must do anything, or by whom anything must be done, is added, it is always expressed by the dative—as hoc mihi faciendum est, I must do this, or this must be done by me. SUPINE. 374. The supine is a verbal substantive of the fourth declension, and has only two cases-the accusative (in um) and the ablative (in u.) It differs from an ordinary substantive, inasmuch as it governs the case of its verb-as legati venerunt res repetitum, ambassadors came to reclaim their property. 375. The supine in um has an active meaning, and is used after verbs of motion, to express the object of the motion—as legati in castra venerunt questum injurias, Fabius Pictor Delphos ad oraculum missus est sciscitatum, quibus precibus deos possent placare, deputies came into the camp to complain of the acts of injustice. Fabius Pictor was sent to Delphi to the oracle, to inquire by what prayers they could propitiate the gods. 376. The supine in u has a passive meaning, and is used with certain adjectives to denote that a quality is attributed to a subject with reference to the action expressed by the supine; e. g. pleraque dictu quam re sunt faciliora, honestum factu, turpe factu, most things are more easy to say than to do. honourable to do, disgraceful to do. The words most commonly used with this supine are-fas, nefas, opus, honestus, turpis, jucundus, facilis, difficilis, incredibilis, memorabilis, utilis, dignus, indignus. PARTICIPLES. 377. A participle is in form an adjective, but differs from other adjectives by the fact of its expressing time, and governing the case of the verb from which it is formed. In the active there are two participles: the one, called the present participle, represents an action or condition in progress, and accordingly, if present actions are spoken of, it may be regarded as a present participle as accusat me dicens me ad hostes transfugisse, he accuses me, saying (present) that I deserted to the enemy; if past actions are spoken of, it may be termed the participle of the imperfect as accusavit me dicens (imperfect) me ad hostes transfugisse, he accused me, saying (for he said) that I had deserted to the enemy. The future participle represents an action or condition as intended or as to take place in future time-as milites adversus urbem profecturi per totam noctem in castris se tenebant, the soldiers intending to march against the city kept themselves all night within the camp. The active voice has no participle for a completed action. The passive voice, if we except the gerundive, has only one participle, which expresses a completed action -as injuria illata, an injury which has been done. 378. A participle, when occurring in the same clause as the noun to which it refers, must agree with it in gender, number, and case, like an ordinary adjective-as risum saepe cupientes tenere nequi тив, Caesar victos hostes interfecit, often we cannot suppress laughter though we wish it. Caesar put the conquered enemies to death. 379. If the time when, cause, manner, or any accompanying circumstance of an action is expressed by a subordinate clause having a subject different from that of the leading one, that clause is put in the ablative—that is, the subject is put in the ablative, and the verb, being changed into a participle, is made to agree with the subject. A clause thus expressed is said to be in the ablative absolute (comp. No. 322)—as rege expulso consules creati sunt, hae res Tarquinio regnante gestae sunt, sole stante terra vertitur, after the king was expelled consuls were elected. these things were done in the reign of Tarquinius. the earth turns round while the sun is standing still. |