The terms Direct Discourse and Indirect Discourse denote the two distinct ways in which a writer may quote the statement or represent the thought of another person. If the writer gives the exact words in which the statement was made, or in which the thought was formulated (if put into words at all), he is said to use the direct discourse. If, on the other hand, he gives merely the substance or the gist of his own or another’s statements or thoughts, he is said to use the indirect discourse. In Latin, as in English, the indirect discourse is more common than the direct.
2. In passing from the direct discourse to the indirect, numerous changes become necessary. These may, however, be readily grouped under two heads: (a) those which occur in principal clauses, and (b) those which occur in subordinate clauses.
3. Changes in Principal Clauses.—
Principal clauses may be declarative, interrogative, or imperative; that is, they may make a statement, ask a question, or give expression to a command. We thus have to consider three forms of principal clauses: (a) Statements, (b) Questions, (c) Commands.
4. Statements in Indirect Discourse.
All Statements of the Direct Discourse, on passing into the Indirect, fall into the infinitive mood, because they become objects of verbs of saying:
adfīrmāns vīsum (sc. esse) ā sē Rōmulum . . eundemque praecipere, [II, 51] (direct form, vīsus est ā mē Rōmulus . . īdemque praecipit); prōclāmābat fīliam suam iūre caesam esse, [IV, 43] (direct form, fīlia mea iūre caesa est); minātur sē vī abstrāctūrum, [XII, 12] (direct form (ego) vī tē abstraham).
5. Questions in Indirect Discourse.
All Questions of the Direct Discourse, on passing into the Indirect, fall into the subjunctive mood, because they are in reality dependent on a verb of asking. No example of a question in formal indirect discourse occurs in the selections contained in this book. Indirect questions (cf. p. 3, n. 2), however, fall under this general head as giving some one’s thoughts without quoting his exact words.