The principles of Latin grammar; comprising the ... - Essan.org

——;;§ 144 SYNTAX.—MOODS. 277ab:>ve (3, 4, 7,) in which it is used, where a noun or pronoun would be putm the genitive, or dative, or ablative, are of rare occurrence, and in somecases may be otherwise explained. The infinitive as a noun, in the nominativeor accusative, is subject to the following Rules:660..Rule LVL One verb being the subjectof another, is put in the infinitive ;as,Facile est queri, To complain is easy.Me ntlri turpe est,To lie is base.661.—EXPLANATION.—In the first example the subject or thingspoken of is expressed by the infinitive queri, which is therefore the nominativeto the verb est. A noun used instead of queri would have to be in thenominative case. In such sentences, it is manifestly improper to say that estgoverns queri, just as it would be improper to say the verb governs its nominative.This rule applies also to the infinitive with a subject.662.— Obs. 1. A proper attention to this rule will show that manyverbs considered impersonal, or thought to be used impersonally, are notreally so, but have an infinitive or a clause of a sentence for theirsubjector nominative; thus, nee profuit Hydra crescere per damnum, "nor did itprofit the Hydra to grow by his wounds." Ovid. Here, instead of sayingthat profuit is used impersonally, and governs crescere in the infinitivethe true construction is, that profuit is used personally, and has crescerefor its nominative. So, the following, cadit in eundem misereri et invidere.Cic. Vacare culpa magnum est solatium; neque est te fallere quidquam,(fee, 307.663.Rule LVII. One verb governs another,as its object, in the infinitive ; as,Cupio disc ere, I desire to learn.664.—EXPLANATION.—The infinitive mood under this rule is equivalentto a noun in the case which the preceding verb usually governs :Thus,in the example, cupio is a transitive active verb and governs discere, as if itwere a noun in the accusative. The meaning is, that a verb, used as the objectof another, without a conjunction or connective word, must be put inthe infinitive.This Eule also applies to the infinitive with a subject.Note.—In all cases of the infinitive without a subject, under this rule,the infinitive expresses an act, or state, of the subject of the precedingverb.665. -Obs. 2. The infinitive without a subject, is used only after certainverbs, especially such as denote desire, ability, intention or endeavor ;Buch as, cupio, opto,volo, nolo, mcllo — possum,' queo, nequeo, valeo, coaiio,co n or, tendo, disco, doceo, debeo,