sī hoc fās est dictū, TD. 5, 38, if heaven allows us to say so. difficile dictū est dē singulīs, Fam. 1, 7, 2, it is hard to say in the case of individuals. quaerunt quod optimum factū sit, V. 1, 68, they ask what the best thing is to do. quid est tam iocundum cōgnitū atque audītū? DO. 1, 31, what pleasure is greater to mind and ear? palpebrae mollissimae tāctū, DN. 2, 142, the eyelids are very soft to the touch. With such adjectives the dative is commonly used ([1200]); or, particularly with facilis or difficilis, the gerundive construction with ad ([2252]); for the infinitive, see [2166]. The supine in -ū is found chiefly in Cicero and Livy. Very rare in old Latin, Sallust, Caesar (who has only factū and nātū), and the poets. From the elder Pliny and Tacitus on, it gets commoner.
[2275.] The supine in -ū sometimes introduces a subordinate sentence, but it is never used with an object in the accusative.
quoivīs facile scītū est quam fuerim miser, T. Hec. 296, anybody can easily understand how unhappy I was. incrēdibile memorātū est quam facile coaluerint, S. C. 6, 2, it is an incredible tale how readily they grew into one. vidētis nefās esse dictū miseram fuisse tālem senectūtem, CM. 13, you see that it were a sin to say that an old age like his was unhappy.
[2276.] The supine in -ū is found rarely with opus est ([1379]), dīgnus and indīgnus ([1392]): as,
ita dictū opus est, T. Hau. 941, thus thou must needs say. nihil dignum dictū āctum hīs cōnsulibus, L. 4, 30, 4, nothing worth mentioning was done this year. For dignus with quī and the subjunctive, see [1819]; for opus est with the infinitive, 2211.
[2277.] In Plautus and Cato, the supine in -ū is very rarely used like an ablative of separation ([1302]): as, nunc opsonātū redeō, Pl. Men. 288, I’m only just back from catering. prīmus cubitū surgat, postrēmus cubitum eat, Cato, RR. 5, 5, let him be first to get up from bed and last to go to bed. Statius imitates this use in Ach. 1, 119.
[THE PARTICIPLE.]
[2278.] The participle is a verbal adjective. Like the adjective, it is inflected to agree with its substantive. Like the verb, it may be modified by an adverb, it is active or passive, and it expresses action as continuing, completed, or future. It may also be followed by the same case as its verb.