[1729.] The indicative is kept in subordinate statements added or vouched for by the person reporting, and also in circumlocutions equivalent to a substantive: as,
nūntiātum est Ariovistum ad occupandum Vesontiōnem, quod est oppidum maximum Sēquanōrum, contendere, 1, 38, 1, it was reported that Ariovistus was pressing on to seize Vesontio, which is the most considerable town of the Sequans. prūdentissima cīvitās Athēniēnsium, dum ea rērum potīta est, fuisse trāditur, RA. 70, Athens is said to have been passing wise, as long as she held the hegemony. vīs, quae restant, mē loquī? T. Andr. 195, wilt have me tell the rest? i.e. relicua. fierī potest, ut id quod sentit polītē ēloquī nōn possit, TD. 1, 6, it may be that he cannot express his thought in polished style, i.e. sententiam suam.
[The Subjunctive of Repeated Action.]
[1730.] The subjunctive is sometimes used in relative, temporal, or conditional sentences, to express action repeated or occurring at no particular time: as,
([a.]) neque aliter sī faciat, ūllam inter suōs habet auctōritātem, 6, 11, 4, and if he does not do this, he never has any ascendancy at all over his people. With the present and perfect, however, this subjunctive is confined principally to the indefinite second person singular ([1030]): as, bonus sēgnior fit, ubī̆ neglegās, S. I. 31, 28, the good man always gets slacker, when you are neglectful. sīquoi mūtuom quid dederīs, fit prō propriō perditum, Pl. Tri. 1050, if you’ve lent anything to any man, ’tis not your own, but lost. (b.) The imperfect and pluperfect subjunctive begin with Catullus and Caesar, and get to be common with Livy and Tacitus: as, sī quis prehenderētur, cōnsēnsū mīlitum ēripiēbātur, Caes. C. 3, 110, 4, every time a man was taken up, he was rescued by the joint action of the rank and file. quemcumque līctor prēndisset, tribūnus mittī iubēbat, L. 3, 11, 2, every man the lictor arrested, a tribune would order released.
[The Subjunctive as in the Simple Sentence.]
[1731.] The subjunctive of wish, of action conceivable, or of interrogation, is sometimes used in a subordinate sentence exactly as in main sentences: as,
haec diē nātālī meō scrīpsī, quō utinam susceptus nōn essem, Att. 11, 9, 3, this I have written on my birthday, on which day I wish I had never been lifted from the ground ([1544]). ut videās, Lucr. 3, 348, so that you can see ([1556]). neque id faciō, ut forsitan quibusdam videar, simulātiōne, Fam. 1, 8, 2, nor do I do it, as perhaps I may seem to some to do, from hypocrisy ([1556]). etiamst paucīs vōs quod monitōs voluerim, Pl. Cap. 53, there’s one point more, on which I’d have you briefly warned ([1558]). erant eiusmodī sitūs oppidōrum, ut neque pedibus aditum habērent neque nāvibus, quod minuente aestū nāvēs in vadīs adflīctārentur, 3, 12, 1, the towns were so situated that there was no access to them by land, nor by boat either, because at ebb tide vessels would pound on the shoals ([1559]). vix erat hoc imperātum, cum illum spoliātum vidērēs, V. 4, 86, hardly was the order from his lips, when you might have seen the man stript ([1559]). quō mē vertam nesciō, Clu. 4, I don’t know which way to turn ([1563]).