§313. Indefinite Pronouns

The distributives quisque (every), uterque (each of two), and ūnus quisque (every single one) are used in general assertions:—

• bonus liber melior est quisque quō mâior (Plin. Ep. 1.20.4), the larger a good book is, the better (each good book is better in proportion, etc.).
• ambō exercitūs suās quisque abeunt domōs (Liv. 2.7.1), both armies go away, every man to his home.
• uterque utrīque erat exercitus in cōnspectū; (B. G. 7.35), each army was in sight of the other (each to each).
• pōnite ante oculōs ūnum quemque rēgum (Par. 1.11), set before your eyes each of the kings.

a. Quisque regularly stands in a dependent clause, if there is one:—

• quō quisque est sollertior, hōc docet īrācundius (Rosc. Com. 31), the keenerwitted a man is, the more impatiently he teaches.

¹: as, suum cuique, to every man his own.

b. Quisque is idiomatically used with superlatives and with ordinal numerals:—

• nōbilissimus quisque, all the noblest (one after the other in the order of their nobility).²
• prīmō quōque tempore (Rosc. Am. 36), at the very first opportunity.
• antīquissimum quodque tempus (B. G. 1.45), the most ancient times.
• decimus quisque (id. 5.52), one in ten.

• quotus enim quisque disertus? quotus quisque iūris perītus est (Planc. 62), for how few are eloquent! how few are learned in the law!
• quotus enim istud quisque fēcisset (Lig. 26), for how many would have done this? [i.e. scarcely anybody would have done it].