a. For the verbs most frequently employed to introduce Indirect Discourse, see [§ 331].
MOODS IN INDIRECT DISCOURSE.
Declarative Sentences.
[314]. 1. Declarative Sentences upon becoming Indirect change their main clause to the Infinitive with Subject Accusative, while all subordinate clauses take the Subjunctive; as,—
Rēgulus dīxit quam diū jūre jūrandō hostium tenērētur nōn esse sē senātōrem, Regulus said that as long as he was held by his pledge to the enemy he was not a senator. (Direct: quam diū teneor nōn sum senātor.)
2. The verb of saying, thinking, etc., is sometimes to be inferred from the context; as,—
tum Rōmulus lēgātōs circā vīcīnās gentēs mīsit quī societātem cōnūbiumque peterent: urbēs quoque, ut cētera, ex īnfimō nāscī, then Romulus sent envoys around among the neighboring tribes, to ask for alliance and the right of intermarriage, (saying that) cities, like everything else, start from a modest beginning.
3. Subordinate clauses which contain an explanatory statement of the writer and so are not properly a part of the Indirect Discourse, or which emphasize the fact stated, take the Indicative; as,—
nūntiātum est Ariovistum ad occupandum Vesontiōnem, quod est oppidum maximum Sēquanōrum contendere, it was reported that Ariovistus was hastening to seize Vesontio, which is the largest town of the Sequani.
4. Sometimes a subordinate clause is such only in its external form, and in sense is principal. It then takes the Infinitive with Subject Accusative. This occurs especially in case of relative clauses, where quī is equivalent to et hīc, nam hīc, etc.; as,—