Heavy Construction
The Allen and Greenough is still under construction;
so some links may not work quite the way you would expect.
312.
Quívís or quílibet (any one you will),
quisquam, and the corresponding
adjective ullus, any at all,
are general indefinites.
Quívís and quílibet are used chiefly in
affirmative clauses, quisquam
and ullus in clauses where a
universal negative is expressed or suggested: -
- nón cuivís
hominí contingit adíre Corinthum
(Hor. Ep. i. 17. 36), it is not every man's luck to go to Corinth.
[nón cuiquam would mean not
any man's.]
- quemlibet modo aliquem
(Acad. ii. 132), anybody you will, provided it be somebody.
- sí quisquam est timidus, is
ego sum (Fam. vi. 14.1), if any man is timorous, I am he.
- sí tempus est úllum
iúre hominis necandí (Mil. 9), if there is any
occasion whatever when homicide is justifiable.
NOTE: The use of the indefinites is very various, and must be
learned from the Lexicon and from practice. The choice among them may
depend merely on the point of view of the speaker, so that they are often
practically interchangeable. The differences are (with few exceptions)
those of logic, not of syntax.