§571. Substantive Clauses of Result (Consecutive Clauses)

A substantive clause of result may serve as predicate nominative after mōs est and similar expressions:—

• est mōs hominum, ut nōlint eundem plūribus rēbus excellere (Brut. 84), it is the way of men to be unwilling for one man to excel in several things.

a. A result clause, with or without ut, frequently follows quam after a comparative (but see § 583. c):—

• Canachī sīgna rigidiōra sunt quam ut imitentur vēritātem (Brut. 70), the statues of Canachus are too stiff to represent nature (stiffer than that they should).
• perpessus est omnia potius quam indicāret (Tusc. 2.52), he endured all rather than betray, etc. [Regularly without ut except in Livy.]

b. The phrase tantum abest, it is so far [from being the case], regularly takes two clauses of result with ut: one is substantive, the subject of abest; the other is adverbial, correlative with tantum:—

• tantum abest ut nostra mīrēmur, ut ūsque eō difficilēs ac mōrōsī sīmus, ut nōbīs nōn satis faciat ipse Dēmosthenēs (Or. 104), so far from admiring my own works, I am difficult and captious to that degree that not Demosthenes himself satisfies me. [Here the first ut-clause is the subject of abest (§ 569. 2); the second, a result clause after tantum (§ 537); and the third, after ūsque eō.]

c. Rarely, a thought or an idea is considered as a result, and is expressed by the subjunctive with ut instead of the accusative and infinitive (§ 580). In this case a demonstrative usually precedes:

• praeclārum illud est, ut eōs ... amēmus (Tusc. 3.73), this is a noble thing, that we should love, etc.
• vērī simile nōn est ut ille antepōneret (Verr. 4.11), it is not likely that he preferred.

For Relative Clauses with quīn after verbs of hindering etc., see § 558.