[1654.] With adjectives and adverbs in the comparative degree, atque sometimes takes the place of quam than, when the first member of comparison is negative ([1895]): as, amīcior mihi nūllus vīvit atque is est, Pl. Mer. 897, I have no greater friend alive than that man is. So in Plautus, Terence, Lucretius, Catullus, Vergil, rarely in Cicero, and in Horace even when the first member is positive.
[1655.] A sentence is often introduced by et, -que, or atque, where but would be used in English, particularly so when a positive sentence follows a negative one: as,
Sōcratēs nec patrōnum quaesīvit nec iūdicibus supplex fuit adhibuitque līberam contumāciam, TD. 1, 71, Socrates did not try to find an advocate nor bow the knee to his judges, but he was plain-spoken and defiant. nostrōrum mīlitum impetum hostēs ferre nōn potuērunt ac terga vertērunt, 4, 35, 2, the enemy could not stand the dash of our people, but turned their backs. hominis nē Graecī quidem ac Mȳsī potius, QFr. 1, 1, 19, a creature who is not even a Greek, but more of a Mysian.
[1656.] Two sentences, one of which would ordinarily be introduced by a subordinating temporal conjunction, are sometimes, mostly in poetry, coordinated by et or -que: as, dīxit et in silvam pennīs ablāta refūgit, V. 3, 258, she spake, and on her pinions sweeping, vanished to the wood, i.e. simul atque dīxit, refūgit.
[1657.] (4.) neque or nec, neither, nor, and . . . not, but . . . not, is used as a negative copulative, sometimes as a negative adversative: as,
opīniōnibus volgī rapimur in errōrem nec vēra cernimus, Leg. 2, 43, we are swept into error by the delusions of the world and cannot make out the truth. nōn enim temere nec fortuī̆tō creātī sumus, TD. 1, 118, for we were not created at adventure nor by accident. subsidiō suīs iērunt collemque cēpērunt, neque nostrōrum mīlitum impetum sustinēre potuērunt, 7, 62, 8, they went to aid their people and carried the hill, but they could not stand the fiery onset of our soldiers. neque or nec is often repeated: as, nec meliōrēs nec beātiōrēs esse possumus, RP. 1, 32, we can neither be better nor wiser.
[1658.] nec is rarely used in the sense of nē . . . quidem, not even, not . . . either: as, nec nunc, H. S. 2, 3, 262, not even now, a free quotation of nē nunc quidem, T. Eu. 46. nec . . . quidem, and not even, is used once or twice for the common ac nē . . . quidem or et nē . . . quidem.
[1659.] Instead of neque or nec, and not, the copulatives et, atque, rarely -que, followed by a negative, nōn, nēmō, nihil, &c., are sometimes used in Cicero and Livy, less often in old Latin, and rarely in Caesar and Sallust: as, quid tū fēcissēs, sī tē Tarentum et nōn Samarobrīvam mīsissem? Fam. 7, 12, 1, what would you have done, if I had sent you to Tarentum, and not to Samarobriva? Particularly thus et nōn, or oftener ac nōn, in corrections. But ordinarily neque or nec is preferred to et nōn, and nec quisquam, &c., to et nēmō, &c. ([1445]).
[1660.] When neque is followed by another negative, the assertion is positive ([1452]): as,