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Antecedent of the ReLative.
307.
The Antecedent Noun sometimes appears in both
clauses; but usually only in the one that precedes. Sometimes it is
wholly omitted.
a. The antecedent noun may be repeated in
the relative clause: -
locí nátúra erat haec quem locum
nostrí délégerant (B. G. ii. 18), the
nature of the ground which our men had chosen was this.
b. The antecedent noun may appear only in
the relative clause, agreeing with the relative in case: -
- quás rés in
cónsulátú nostró gessimus attigit híc
versibus (Arch. 28), he has touched in verse the things which
I
did in my consulship.
- quae príma innocentis mihi
défénsió est obláta
suscépí (Sull. 92), I undertook the first defence of
an innocent man that was offered me.
NOTE: In this case the relative clause usually comes first
(cf. §308. d) and a demonstrative
usually stands in the antecedent clause: -
- quae pars cívitátis calamitátem populó
Rómánó intulerat, ea prínceps
poenás persolvit (B. G. i. 12), that part of the state
which had brought disaster on the Roman people was the first to pay the
penalty.
- quae grátia currum fuit vívis, eadem sequitur
(Aen. vi. 653), the same pleasure that they took in chariots in their
lifetime follows them (after death).
- quí fit ut némó, quam sibi sortem ratió
dederit, illá contentus vívat (cf. Hor. S. i. 1. 1),
how does it happen that no one lives contented with the lot which
choice has assigned him?
c. The antecedent may be omitted,
especially if it is indefinite: -
- quí decimae legiónis
aquilam ferébat (B. G. iv. 25), [the man] who bore the
eagle of the tenth legion.
- quí cógnóscerent
mísit (id. i. 21), he sent [men] to
reconnoitre.
d. The phrase id
quod or quae rés may
be used (instead of quod alone) to
refer to a group of words or an idea: -
- [obtrectátum est]
Gabínió dícam anne Pompêió? an
utríque - id quod est verius? (Manil. 67), an
affront has been offered - shall I say to Gabinius or to Pompey? or -
which is truer - to both?
- multum sunt in
vénátiónibus, quae res vírés
alit (B. G. iv. 1), they spend much time in hunting, which
[practice] increases their strength.
NOTE: But quod alone often
occurs: as, - Cassius noster, quod mihi
mágnae voluptáti fuit, hostem rêiécerat
(Fam. ii. 10), our friend Cassius - which was a great satisfaction to
me - had driven back the enemy.
e. The antecedent noun, when in apposition
with the main clause, or with some word of it, is put in the relative
clause: -
- fírmí
[amící], cûius generis est mágna
pénúria (Lael. 62), steadfast friends, a class
of
which there is great lack (of which class there is, etc.).
f. A predicate adjective (especially a superlative) belonging to the antecedent may stand in the relative clause:
-
- vása ea quae pulcherrima
apud eum víderat (Verr. iv. 63), those most beautiful
vessels which he had seen at his house. [Nearly equivalent to the
vessels of which he had seen some very beautiful ones.]