[2179.] (2.) With the first or second person the personal construction is rare: as, quod nōs bene ēmisse iūdicātī sumus, Att. 1, 13, 6, that we are thought to have made a good bargain. cum inveniāre improbissimā ratiōne esse praedātus, V. 4, 3, when you prove to have been robbing most abominably. But with videor, seem, the personal construction is the rule in all three persons, and in the perfect system as well as the present.
[2180.] (3.) In the perfect system, and also usually in the gerundive construction ([2246]), verbs of this class are commonly impersonal: as,
trāditum est Homērum caecum fuisse, TD. 5, 114, the tradition is that Homer was blind. ubī̆ tyrannus est, ibī̆ dīcendum est nūllam esse rem pūblicam, RP. 3, 43, wherever there is an absolute ruler, there we must maintain there is no commonwealth.
[2181.] (4.) With some verbs of this class, the impersonal construction is preferred even in the present system. Thus, commonly intellegitur, it is understood, as impersonal; regularly in classical Latin crēditur; with a dative in Cicero and Caesar dīcitur, nūntiātur. The impersonals cernitur, fertur, memorātur, prōditur, vidētur, are rare.
[2182.] The personal construction is sometimes extended to other verbs or verbal expressions, especially in poetry: as, colligor, O. A. 2, 6, 61, I am inferred, for colligitur. nōnnūllīs magistrātūs veniēbant in suspīciōnem nōs dēmorātī esse, Lentulus in Fam. 12, 15, 5, the magistrates were suspected by some of having delayed us ([1491]).
[2183.] With verbs of thinking and saying the subject accusative is sometimes omitted.
([a.]) Oftenest thus mē nōs, tē vōs, or sē: as, stultē fēcisse fateor, i.e. mē, Pl. B. 1013, I own I’ve acted like a fool. cōnfitēre vēnisse, i.e. tē, RA. 61, confess you came. quae imperārentur facere dīxērunt, i.e. sē, 2, 32, 3, they said they would do as ordered ([2221]). Often the future without esse: as, refrāctūrōs carcerem minābantur, i.e. sē, L. 6, 17, 6, they threatened to break the jail open, (b.) Less frequently an accusative of is: as, oblītum crēdidī, i.e. eum, Fam. 9, 2, 1, I imagined he had forgotten. Such omissions are common in old Latin, Cicero, Caesar, Livy, and in poetry.
[2184.] When the accusative is not expressed, a predicate noun is sometimes put in the nominative, chiefly in poetry, in imitation of a Greek idiom: as,
phasēlus ille quem vidētis, hospitēs, ait fuisse nāvium celerrimus, Cat. 4, 1, the clipper you see yonder, friends, says she was once the fleetest of the fleet. uxor invictī Iovis esse nescīs, H. 3, 27, 73, thou knowest not thou art the bride of the unconquerable Jove. Similarly with verbs of emotion ([2187]): as, gaudent esse rogātae, O. AA. 1, 345, they are glad to have been asked. gaudent perfūsī sanguine frātrum, V. G. 2, 510, they’re glad to have been imbued with brothers’ blood.