[1902.] For quamquam appending a fresh main sentence, see [2153]; for its use with the infinitive, 2317.
[quam vīs or quamvīs.]
[1903.] quam vīs or quamvīs is used as an indefinite adverb ([712]), as much as you please, and is often joined with an adjective or other adverb to take the place of a superlative: as,
quam vīs rīdiculus est, ubī̆ uxor nōn adest, Pl. Men. 318, he’s as droll as you please when his wife isn’t by. quamveis īnsipiēns poterat persentīscere, Pl. Merc. 687, the veriest dullard could detect. quamvīs paucī adīre audent, 4, 2, 5, the merest handful dares attack. quamvīs callidē, V. 2, 134, ever so craftily. quamvīs is also sometimes used to strengthen a superlative ([1466]), though not in classical prose.
[1904.] (1.) The indefinite adverb quam vīs, as much as you please, is often used in subjunctive clauses of concession or permission; such subjunctives are sometimes coordinated with licet: as,
quod turpe est, id quam vīs occultētur, tamen honestum fierī nūllō modō potest, Off. 3, 78, if a thing is base, let it be hidden as much as you will, yet it cannot be made respectable ([1553]). locus hīc apud nōs, quam vīs subitō veniās, semper līber est, Pl. B. 82, our house is always open, come as sudden as you may ([1553]). praeter eōs quam vīs ēnumerēs multōs licet, nōnnūllōs reperiēs perniciōsōs tribūnōs, Leg. 3, 24, besides these you may tell off as many as you please, you will still find some dangerous tribunes ([1710]). The combination with licet occurs first in Lucretius, then in Cicero.
Instead of vīs, other forms are sometimes used: as, volumus, volent, velit, &c.: thus, quam volent facētī sint, Cael. 67, they may be as witty as they please ([1735]). quam volet Epicūrus iocētur et dīcat sē nōn posse intellegere, numquam mē movēbit, DN. 2, 46, Epicurus may joke and say he can’t understand it as much as he likes, he will never shake me. From an adverb, quam vīs became a conjunction, however much, even if.
[1905.] (2.) The subjunctive with the conjunction quamvīs, however much, even if, though, denotes action merely assumed; when the action is to be denoted as real, ut or sīcut or the like, with the indicative, usually follows in the best prose ([1943]): as,
([a.]) quamvīs sint hominēs quī Cn. Carbōnem ōderint, tamen hī dēbent quid metuendum sit cōgitāre, V. 1, 39, though there may be men who hate Carbo, still these men ought to consider what they have to fear. nōn enim possīs, quamvīs excellās, L. 73, you may not have the power, however eminent you may be. This use begins with Cicero and Varro, and gets common in late writers. Not in Livy. (b.) illa quamvīs rīdicula essent, sīcut erant, mihī̆ tamen rīsum nōn mōvērunt, Fam. 7, 32, 3, droll as this really was, it nevertheless did not make me laugh. quamvīs enim multīs locīs dīcat Epicūrus, sīcutī dīcit, satis fortiter dē dolōre, tamen nōn id spectandum est quid dīcat, Off. 3, 117, even though Epicurus really does speak in many places pretty heroically about pain, still we must not have an eye to what he says. In the Augustan poets rarely, and often in Tacitus, the younger Pliny, and late writers, the subjunctive, without a parenthetical phrase introduced by ut or the like, is used of an action denoted as real: as, expalluit notābiliter, quamvīs palleat semper, Plin. Ep. 1, 5, 13, he grew pale perceptibly, though he is always a pale man. maestus erat, quamvīs laetitiam simulāret, Ta. 15, 54, sad he was, though he pretended to be gay.