trānsfīgitur scūtum Puliōni et verūtum in balteō dēfīgitur. āvertit hīc cāsus vāgīnam, inpedītumque hostēs circumsistunt, 5, 44, 7, Pulio has his shield run through, and a javelin sticks fast in his sword belt. This mischance puts his scabbard out of reach, and the enemy encompass him in this hampered condition. This present often stands side by side with a past tense. It is common in subordinate sentences also.
[1591.] The present is sometimes used in brief historical or personal memoranda, to note incidents day by day or year by year as they occur. This is called the Annalistic Present: as,
Proca deinde rēgnat. is Numitōrem prōcreat. Numitōrī rēgnum vetustum Silviae gentis lēgat, L. 1, 3, 9, after this Proca is king; this man begets Numitor; to Numitor he bequeaths the ancient throne of the Silvian race. duplicātur cīvium numerus. Caelius additur urbī mōns, L. 1, 30, 1, number of citizens doubled; Mt. Caelius added to city. in Māmurrārum lassī deinde urbe manēmus, H. S. 1, 5, 37, in the Mamurras’ city then forspent we sleep. Particularly common with dates: as, A. Vergīnius inde et T. Vetusius cōnsulātum ineunt, L. 2, 28, 1, then Verginius and Vetusius enter on the consulship. M. Sīlānō L. Nōrbānō cōnsulibus Germānicus Aegyptum proficīscitur, Ta. 2, 59, in the consulship of Silanus and Norbanus, Germanicus leaves for Egypt.
[1592.] Verbs of hearing, seeing, and saying are often put in the present, even when they refer to action really past: as,
audiō Valerium Mārtiālem dēcessisse, Plin. Ep. 3, 21, 1, I hear that Martial is dead, i.e. the epigrammatist, 102 A.D. Particularly of things mentioned in books, or in quoting what an author says: as, Hercyniam silvam, quam Eratosthenī nōtam esse videō, 6, 24, 2, the Hercynian forest, which I see was known to Eratosthenes. Platō ‘ēscam malōrum’ appellat voluptātem, CM. 44, Plato calls pleasure the ‘bait of sin.’
[1593.] The present is sometimes loosely used of future action: as,
crās est mihī̆ iūdicium, T. Eu. 338, tomorrow I’ve a case in court. ego sȳcophantam iam condūcō dē forō, Pl. Tri. 815, for me, a sharper from the market place I’ll straight engage. quam mox inruimus? T. Eu. 788, how soon do we pitch in? This present is also used in subordinate sentences with antequam and priusquam ([1912], [1915]), with dum, until ([2006]), and sometimes with sī.
[1594.] The imperfect indicative represents action as going on in past time: as,