sī Vēīs incendium ortum sit, Fĭ̄dēnās inde quaesītūrī sumus? L. 5, 54, 1, if a fire break out at Vei, are we going to move from there to Fidenae?
(e.) Apodosis in the Imperfect Subjunctive.
sīquis hoc gnātō tuō tuos servos faxit, quālem habērēs grātiam? Pl. Cap. 711, suppose a slave of yours has done this for a son of yours, how grateful should you have been?
[2089.] An indeterminate subjunctive protasis is rarely thrown into the past, the present and perfect becoming respectively imperfect and pluperfect. In this case the form is the same as that of a protasis of action non-occurrent ([2091]), and the conversion occurs only when it is evident from the context that past action is supposed, which may or may not have occurred: as,
cūr igitur et Camillus dolēret, sī haec post trecentōs et quīnquāgintā ferē annōs ēventūra putāret, et ego doleam, sī ad decem mīlia annōrum gentem aliquam urbe nostrā potītūram putem? TD. 1, 90, why then would Camillus have fretted, if he thought this would occur after a lapse of some three hundred and fifty years, and why should I fret, if I think that some nation may seize Rome some ten thousand years hence? erat sōla illa nāvis cōnstrāta; quae sī in praedōnum pugnā versārētur, urbis īnstar habēre inter illōs pīrāticōs myoparōnēs vidērētur, V. 5, 89, this was the only vessel with a deck; and supposing she figured in the engagement with the corsairs, she would have loomed up like a town, surrounded by those pirate cock-boats. Sardus habēbat ille Tigellius hoc; Caesar sī peteret nōn quicquam prōficeret, H. S. 1, 3, 4, Tigellius the Sardian had this way; supposing Caesar asked him, naught had he availed.
Periods of Exemplification.
[2090.] The present subjunctive is particularly common in exemplification. The perfect is sometimes used in the protasis, rarely in the apodosis: as,
sī pater fāna expīlet, indicetne id magistrātibus fīlius? Off. 3, 90, if a father should plunder temples, would the son report it to the magistrates? sī quis pater familiās supplicium nōn sūmpserit, utrum is clēmēns an crūdēlissimus esse videātur? C. 4, 12, assume for the sake of argument that a householder have not inflicted punishment, would he seem merciful, or a monster of cruelty? sī scierīs aspidem occultē latēre uspiam, et velle aliquem imprūdentem super eam adsīdere, improbē fēcerīs, nisi monuerīs nē adsīdat, Fin. 2, 59, suppose a man should know, e.g. that there was a snake hiding somewhere, and that somebody was going to sit down on the snake unawares; he would do wrong, if he did not tell him he must not sit down there. In such periods the future is also used, but less frequently: see 2054.