dīxit urbem Athēniēnsium prōpugnāculum oppositum esse barbarīs, apud quam jam bis classēs rēgiās fēcisse naufragium, he said the city of the Athenians had been set against the barbarians like a bulwark, near which (= and near it) the fleets of the King had twice met disaster.
5. The Subject Accusative of the Infinitive is sometimes omitted when it refers to the same person as the subject of the leading verb, or can easily be supplied from the context; as,—
cum id nescīre Māgō dīceret, when Mago said he did not know this (for sē nescīre).
Interrogative Sentences.
[315]. 1. Real questions of the Direct Discourse, upon becoming indirect, are regularly put in the Subjunctive; as,—
Ariovistus Caesarī respondit: sē prius in Galliam vēnisse quam populum Rōmānum. Quid sibi vellet? Cūr in suās possessiōnēs venīret, Ariovistus replied to Caesar that he had come into Gaul before the Roman people. What did he (Caesar) mean? Why did he come into his domain? (Direct: quid tibi vīs? cūr in meās possessiōnēs venīs?)
2. Rhetorical questions, on the other hand, being asked merely for effect, and being equivalent in force to emphatic statements, regularly stand in the Infinitive in Indirect Discourse. Thus :—
quid est levius (lit. what is more trivial, = nothing is more trivial) of the Direct Discourse becomes quid esse levius in the Indirect.
3. Deliberative Subjunctives of the Direct Discourse remain unchanged in mood in the Indirect: as,—
quid faceret, what was he to do? (Direct: quid faciat?)