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Alius and Alter.
315.
Alius means
simply other, another (of an indefinite number); alter, the other (of two), often the
second in a series; céterí and reliquí, all the rest, the
others; alteruter, one of the
two: -
- proptereá quod aliud iter
habérent núllum (B. G. i. 7), because (as they said) they had no other way.
- úní epistulae
respondí, venió ad alteram (Fam. ii. 17. 6),
one letter I have answered, I come to the other.
- alterum genus (Cat. ii. 19), the second class.
- iécissem ipse mé potius in
profundum ut céterós cónservárem
(Sest. 45), I should have rather thrown myself into the deep to save
the rest.
- Servílius cónsul,
reliquíque magistratús (B. C. iii. 21),
Servilius the consul and the rest of the magistrates.
- cum sit necesse alterum utrum
vincere (Fam. vi. 3), since it must be that one of the two
should prevail.
NOTE: Alter is often used,
especially with negatives, in reference to an indefinite number where one
is opposed to all the rest taken singly: -
- dum né sit té
dítior alter
(Hor. S. i. 1. 40), so long as another is not richer than you
(lit. the other, there being at the moment only two persons considered).
- nón ut magis alter,
amícus (id. i. 5. 33), a friend such that no other is
more so.
a. The expressions alter ... alter, the one ... the other,
alius ... alius, one ...
another, may be used in pairs to denote either division of a group or
reciprocity of action: -
- alterí dímicant, alterí victórem
timent (Fam. vi. 3), one party fights, the other fears the
victor.
- alteram alterí praesidió esse iusserat (B. C. iii 89),
he had ordered each (of the two legions) to support the
other.
- alií gladiís adoriuntur, alií fragmentís saeptórum (Sest. 79),
some make an attack with swords, others with fragments of the
railings.
- alius ex alió
causam quaerit (B. G. vi. 37), they ask
each other the reason.
- alius alium percontámur (Pl. Stich. 370), we keep
asking each other.
b. Alius and alter are often used to express one as
well as another (the other) of the objects referred to: -
- alter cónsulum, one of the [two]
consuls.
- aliud est maledícere, aliud accúsáre (Cael. 6), it is one
thing to slander, another to accuse.
c. Alius repeated in another case, or with an
adverb from the same stem, expresses briefly a double statement: -
- alius aliud petit, one man seeks one thing, another
another (another seeks another thing).
- iussit aliós alibí
fodere (Liv. xliv. 33), he ordered different persons to dig in
different places.
- alií alió locó resistébant (B. C. ii. 39),
some halted in one place, some in another.