Anne Mahoney, Overview of Latin Syntax

Sentence Construction

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III. Periodic sentences

A periodic sentence (sometimes just called a period) is a highly structured sentence, usually rather long and including several subordinate clauses. Formal writing uses periodic sentences; informal writing generally does not. AG 600-601

• Gallos ab Aquitanis Garumna flumen, a Belgis Matrona et Sequana dividit. Caesar, BG 1.1 This sentence makes a nice example because it is not too long, but nonetheless has the characteristic features of a periodic sentence. The two clauses are parallel: object, prepositional phrase, subject, verb. This parallelism lets Caesar get away with only mentioning the object and the verb once. He could have written something more like this: Gallos ab Aquitanis Garumna flumen dividit, et Gallos a Belgis Matrona et Sequana flumina dividunt, but that would be flat and boring.
• Fuisti igitur apud Laecam illa nocte, Catilina, distribuisti partis Italiae, statuisti quo quemque proficisci placeret, delegisti quos Romae relinqueres, quos tecum educeres, discripsisti urbis partis ad incendia, confirmasti te ipsum iam esse exiturum, dixisti paulum tibi esse etiam nunc morae, quod ego viverem. Cicero, Catil. 1.9 Most of the main clauses in this series of parallel clauses (the second-person verbs) are augmented by subordinate clauses.
• Quem si nobis, si suis, si rei publicae conservatis, addictum, deditum, obstrictum vobis ac liberis vestris habebitis omniumque huius nervorum ac laborum vos potissimum, iudices, fructus uberes diuturnosque capietis. Cicero, Cael. 80 The parallel phrases with homoeoteleuton (matching word endings) lend weight to a very simple idea: si Caelium non condemnabitis, vobis omnibus per totam viam suam bene faciet.

In a true periodic sentence, often neither the meaning nor the grammar is complete until the very last word.

• Interea, ea legione quam secum habebat militibusque qui ex provincia convenerant, a lacu Lemanno, qui in flumen Rhodanum influit, ad montem Iuram, qui finis Sequanorum ab Helvetiis dividit, milia passuum decem novem murum in altitudinem pedum sedecim fossamque perducit. Caesar, BG 1.8 The skeleton of this sentence is: Interea legione militibusque murum fossamque perducit. Everything else, including the four subordinate clauses, simply qualifies either the legion and soldiers or the wall and ditch. The main verb is the last word, and the sentence is not complete until you get there.
• Tu, Iuppiter, qui isdem quibus haec urbs auspiciis a Romulo es constitutus, quem Statorem huius urbis atque imperi vere nominamus, hunc et huius socios a tuis ceterisque templis, a tectis urbis ac moenibus, a vita fortunisque civium omnium arcebis et homines bonorum inimicos, hostes patriae, latrones Italiae scelerum foedere inter se ac nefaria societate coniunctos aeternis suppliciis vivos mortuosque mactabis. Cicero, Catil. 1.33 Here the skeleton is Tu hunc [= Catilinam] a nobis arcebis, et inimicos suppliciis mactabis. Jupiter's name is qualified by the two relative clauses. Cicero expands the simple idea a nobis into three phrases, getting progressively longer and more complicated. The et joins the two main verbs arcebis and mactabis; the latter verb has a threefold direct object, once again in increasingly long phrases.
• Conservate parenti filium, parentem filio, ne aut senectutem iam prope desperatam contempsisse aut adulescentiam plenam spei maximae non modo non aluisse vos verum etiam perculisse atque adflixisse videamini. Cicero, Cael. 80 Although the main verb is the first word of the sentence, the verb of the purpose clause is the last word. The main clause has two parallel phrases, with the nouns in parallel order and the construction in chiastic order. The purpose clause is in two parts joined by aut … aut; the construction of each part is an infinitive, which we will ultimately find out is complementary to videamini, with a direct object. The second disjunct part is itself in two parts, joined by non modo … verum etiam, and the second part of that disjunction is also in two parts, joined by atque.

Information is often supplied in the order in which you need it, or in an order that makes logical or rhetorical sense.

• Cum esset Caesar in citeriore Gallia, ita ut supra demonstravimus, crebri ad eum rumores adferebantur, litterisque item Labieni certior fiebat omnis Belgas, quam tertiam esse Galliae partem dixeramus, contra populum Romanum coniurare obsidesque inter se dare. Caesar, BG 1.2 Here Caesar opens his second book with references back to the first: while Caesar was in Hither Gaul (as we explained above), rumors came to him thick and fast, and he also found out from a letter from Labienus that all the Belgians (one-third of Gaul, as we said above) were conspiring against the Roman people and cementing their alliance with hostages. Caesar tells you first when these new events were going on, then how he found out about them, first by rumors and then from a reliable source, then what they were.
• De te autem, Catilina, cum quiescunt, probant, cum patiuntur, decernunt, cum tacent, clamant, neque hi solum quorum tibi auctoritas est videlicet cara, vita vilissima, sed etiam illi equites Romani, honestissimi atque optimi viri, ceterique fortissimi cives qui circumstant senatum, quorum tu et frequentiam videre et studia perspicere et voces paulo ante exaudire potuisti. Cicero, Catil. 1.21 Cicero begins with the Senate, then adds the knights (neque hi solum … sed etiam illi), then the rest of Rome (ceterique). The classes are in this order because of their presumed importance to Catiline.
• Si quis, iudices, forte nunc adsit ignarus legum iudiciorum consuetudinisque nostrae, miretur profecto quae sit tanta atrocitas huiusce causae, quod diebus festis ludisque publicis, omnibus forensibus negotiis intermissis, unum hoc iudicium exerceatur, nec dubitet quin tanti facinoris reus arguatur ut eo neglecto civitas stare non possit. Cicero, Cael. 1 Cicero draws a picture for the jurors: a foreigner arrives; he wonders what could be so important that a court is in session on a holiday; clearly this case is so important that it cannot wait.

Conjunctions and adverbs make the structure clear.

• Id hoc facilius eis persuasit, quod undique loci natura Helvetii continentur: una ex parte flumine Rheno latissimo atque altissimo, qui agrum Helvetium a Germanis dividit; alter ex parte monte Iura altissimo, qui est inter Sequanos et Helvetios; tertia lacu Lemanno et flumine Rhodano, qui provinciam nostram ab Helvetiis dividit Caesar, BG 1.2 Here the main structure is a statement (Orgetorix easily persuaded the Helvetians), a reason introduced by quod (because they were hemmed in by natural obstacles), and three details in support of that reason, introduced by numerals (on one side, on the second side, and on the third side -- note that Caesar does not need to say tertia ex parte, and it would be monotonous if he did). The three reasons, moreover, are fleshed out by relative clauses: the structure of the end of the sentence is entirely symmetrical.
• Ut saepe homines aegri morbo gravi, cum aestu febrique iactantur, si aquam gelidam biberunt, primo relevari videntur, deinde multo gravius vehementiusque adflictantur, sic hic morbus qui est in re publica relevatus istius poena vehementius reliquis vivis ingravescet. Cicero, Catil. 1.31 Here we have a comparison: the sickness that now afflicts the republic is like a person's fever. The fever is described first: in certain circumstances (cum), if people do certain things (si), first they seem better and then they get worse (primo, deinde). Similarly (sic), the Republic now seems to be getting sicker.
• Illud tamen te esse admonitum volo, primum ut qualis es talem te omnes esse existiment, ut quantum a rerum turpitudine abes tantum te a verborum libertate seiungas; deinde ut ea in alterum ne dicas quae, cum tibi falso responsa sint, erubescas. Cicero, Cael. 8 Here primum and deinde mark off the two parts of the warning, so the listener does not get confused by the various ut-clauses.

This text is based on the following book(s):
Overview of Latin Syntax. Anne Mahoney. 2000. Text created electronically.