LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
Allen & Greenough · Part Second — Syntax › Syntax of the Verb

§462. Infinitive Mood

The Infinitive, with Subject Accusative,1 may be used in Exclamations (cf. § 397. d):—

  • tē in tantās aerumnās propter mē incidisse (Fam. 14.1), alas, that you should have fallen into such grief for me!
  • mēne inceptō dēsistere victam (Aen. 1.37), what! I beaten desist from my purpose?

a. A subjunctive clause, with or without ut, is often used elliptically in exclamatory questions. The question may be introduced by the interrogative -ne:—

  • quamquam quid loquor? tē ut ūlla rēs frangat (Cat. 1.22), yet why do I speak? [the idea] that anything should bend you!
  • egone ut tē interpellem (Tusc. 2.42), what, I interrupt you?
  • ego tibi īrāscerer (Q. Fr. 1.3), I angry with you?

Historical Infinitive

J. H. Allen and J. B. Greenough, New Latin Grammar (Boston: Ginn, 1903). Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.