A Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges

by George Martin Lane

[1630.] The future perfect often denotes action postponed to a more convenient season, or thrown upon another person.

Often thus with post, aliās, and particularly mox: as, vōbīs post nārrāverō, Pl. Ps. 721, I’ll tell you by and by, i.e. I won’t tell you now. ad frātrem mox īerō, Pl. Cap. 194, I’ll to my brother’s by and by, i.e. not yet. fuerit ista eius dēlīberātiō, L. 1, 23, 8, that is a question for him to settle, i.e. not me. Especially vīderō: as, quae fuerit causa, mox vīderō, Fin. 1, 35, what the reason was, I won’t consider now. rēctē secusne aliās vīderimus, Ac. 2, 135, whether right or not, we will consider some other time, i.e. never. vōs vīderitis, L. 1, 58, 10, that is a question for you, i.e. not me.

[1631.] The future perfect sometimes denotes action which will have occurred while something else takes place: as,

nōn erō vōbīs morae: tībīcen vōs intereā hīc dēlectāverit, Pl. Ps. 573^a, I will not keep you long; meantime the piper will have entertained you here. tū invītā mulierēs, ego accīverō puerōs, Att. 5, 1, 3, do you, sir, invite the ladies, and I will meantime have fetched the children.

[1632.] The future perfect is often not perceptibly different from the future, especially in the first person singular in old Latin: as,

ego mihī prōvīderō, Pl. Most. 526, I’ll look out for myself. erōs in obsidiōne linquet, inimīcūm animōs auxerit, Pl. As. 280, he’ll leave his owners in a state of siege, he’ll swell the courage of the enemy. Similarly Cicero, in the protases sī potuerō, sī voluerō, sī licuerit, sī placuerit.

[The Future Active Participle with sum.]

[1633.] The future active participle combined with the tenses of sum expresses action impending, resolved on, or destined, at the time indicated by the tense of the verb: as,

cum hōc equite pugnātūrī estis, L. 21, 40, 10, with this kind of cavalry are you going to fight. bellum scrīptūrus sum, quod populus Rōmānus cum Iugurthā gessit, Sall. I. 5, 1, I purpose to write the history of the war that the people of Rome carried on with Jugurtha. fīet illud, quod futūrum est, Div. 2, 21, whatever is destined to be, will be. Delphōs petiīt, ubī̆ columnās, quibus impositūrī statuās rēgis Perseī fuerant, suīs statuīs dēstināvit, L. 45, 27, 6, he went to Delphi, where he appropriated for his own statues the pillars on which they had intended to put statues of king Perses.