Heavy Construction

Double or Collective Subject.

317.

• pater et avus mortui sunt, his father and grandfather are dead.

NOTE: So rarely (by synesis, §280. a) when to a singular subject is attached an ablative with cum: as, - dum cum aliquot principibus capiuntur (Liv. XVI. 60), the general and several leading men are taken.

a. When subjects are of different persons, the verb is usually in the first person rather than the second, and in the second rather than the third: -

• si tu et Tullia valetis ego et Cicero valemus (Fam. xiv. 5), if you and Tullia are well, Cicero and I are well. [Notice that the first person is also first in order, not last, as by courtesy in English.]

NOTE: In case of different genders a participle in a verb-form follows the rule for predicate adjectives (see §287. 2 4).

b. If the subjects are connected by disjunctives (§223. a), or if they are considered as a single whole, the verb is usually singular: -

• quem ueque fides ueque ius iurandum neque illum misericordia repressit (Ter. Ad. 306), not faith, nor oath, nay, nor mercy, checked him.

  

• senatus populusque Romanus intellegit (Fam. v. 8), the Roman senate and people understand. [But, neque Caesar neque ego habiti essemus (id. xi. 20), neither Caesar nor I should have been considered.]

  

• fama et vlta innocentis defenditur (Rosc. Am. 10), the reputation and life of an innocent man are defended.

  

• est in eo virtus et probitas et summum officium summaque observantia (Fam. xiii. 28 A. 2), in him are to be found worth, uprightness, the highest sense of duty, and the greatest devotion.

NOTE: So almost always when the subjects are abstract nouns.

c. When a verb belongs to two or more subjects separately, it often agrees with one and is understood with the others: -

• intercedit M. Antonius Q. Cassius tribum plebis (B. C. i. 2) Mark Antony and Quintus Cassius, tribunes of the people, interpose.

  

• hoc mihi et Peripatetici et vetus Academia concedit (Acad. ii. 113), this both the Peripatetic philosophers and the Old Academy grant me.

d. A collective noun commonly takes a verb in the singular; but, the plural is often found with collective nouns when individuals are thought of (§280. a): -

• (1) senatus haec intellegit (Cat. i. 2),the Senate is aware of this.

  

• ad hiberna exercitus redit (Liv. xxi. 22), the army returns to winter-quarters.

  

• plebes a patribus secessit (Sall.Cat.33), the plebs seceded from the patricians.

  

• (2) pars praedas agebant (Iug. 32), a part brought in booty.

  

• cum tanta multitado lapides conicerent (B. G. ii. 6), when such a crowd were throwing stones.

NOTE 1: The point of view may change in the course of a sentence: as, - equitatum omnem ... quem habebat praemittit, qui videant (B. G. i. 15), he sent ahead all the cavalry he had, to see (who should see).

NOTE 2: The singular of a noun regularly denoting an individual is sometimes used collectively to denote a group: as, Poenus, the Carthaginians; miles, the soldiery; eques, the cavalry.

e. Quisque, each, and unus quisque, every single one, have very often a plural verb, but may be considered as in partitive apposition with a plural subject implied (cf. §282. a): -

• sibi quisque habeant quod suum est (Pl. Curc. 180), let every one keep his own (let them keep every man his own).

NOTE: So also uterque, each (of two), and the reciprocal phrases alius ... alium, alter ... alterum (§315. a).