University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

The 'Quomodo' Manuscript: Historical Introduction, Translation, And Critical Apparatus

(USC Thesis Other)

The 'Quomodo' Manuscript: Historical Introduction, Translation, And Critical Apparatus

PDF

Download a page range

Download transcript

Copy asset link

Request this asset

Transcript (if available)

Content This dissertation has been
microfilmed exactly as received
69-19,414
ULRICH, U rsula Adda, 1919-
THE "QUOMODO" MANUSCRIPT: HISTORICAL
INTRODUCTION, TRANSLATION, AND CRITICAL
APPARATUS. [ P ortions of T ext in L a tin ],
U n iv ersity of Southern C alifornia, P h .D ., 1969
Language and L iteratu re, gen eral
University M icrofilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, M ichigan
© Copyright by
URSULA ADDA ULRICH
19 69
THE "QUOMODO" MANUSCRIPT: HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION,
TRANSLATION, AND CRITICAL APPARATUS
by
Ursula Adda Ulrich
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(German)
June 1969
UNIVERSITY O F SO U T H E R N CALIFORNIA
T H E GRADUATE SC H O O L
UNIVERSITY PARK
LOS A N G ELE S. C A LIFO R N IA 9 0 0 0 7
This dissertation, written by
...
under the direction of h.Dissertati on C o m
mittee, and approved by all its members, has
been presented to and accepted by the Graduate
School, in partial fulfillment of requirements
for the degree of
D O C T O R O F P H I L O S O P H Y
Date.........JUNE ....196?
DISSERTATIO N T COM MITTEE
Chairman
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I. ARISTOTLE'S PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE AS
REFLECTED IN THE MS. "QUOMODO"............. 1
II. LATIN GRAMMAR IN THE MIDDLE A G E S ............ 11
III. INTRODUCTION TO THE MANUSCRIPT.............. 24
IV. THE TRANSLATION............................... 32
BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................... 107
CHAPTER I
ARISTOTLE'S PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE AS
REFLECTED IN THE MS. "QUOMODO"
At the center of Aristotle's philosophy is found the
concept of enerqeia, of activity, which constitutes reality.
The purpose of his philosophy is to penetrate to the reality
of God. The starting point is the reality of sensible sub
stances which may occur in nature or be created by human
agency.^ In Metaphysics H, Chapter 2, Aristotle informs us
about the significance of these substances. His definition
also establishes the close relationship of his thinking to
language.
Reality is always a process, a becoming, which supposes
two elements: matter and form. Through their synthesis
comes into existence the process of reality. As we encounter
■^Ernst Hoffman, Die Sprache und die archaische Logik
(Tubingen, 1925), p. 67.
1
reality in its rich variety, we find one copula, viz., "is."
We read in Metaphysics H, 1042b 26, a book "is" that and
that] a threshold "is" that and that. What does this "is"
signify? It means that a certain matter is arranged in a
certain way. Were it arranged differently, it would take on
a different identity. The copula, then, does not tell us
about the essence of matter or of form, not even the essence
of the sum of both. The word "is" has as many meanings as
the number of arrangements which actually exist. In reality
there is no matter without form, no form without matter] nor
is there actual existence without the synthesis of form and
matter, nor synthesis without actuality. What does the
"state of being" mean which is signified by the copula "is"?
Aristotle says in Metaphysics H, 1043a 1-5:
Since its substance is the cause of each thing's being,
we must seek in these differentiae what is the cause of
the being of each of these things. Now none of these
differentiae is substance, even when coupled with mat
ter, yet it is what is analogous to substance in each
case.
The last part reads in Greek to analogon en hekasto, and I
would like to clarify this statement by examining the basic
meaning inherent in logos. The term logos is applied
widely but the essential meaning stays constant. The musi
cal logos is scale] the mathematical, proportion] the
spoken, speech; the statement before a judge, justification.
Logos is always homologia, i.e., "harmony." It may be har
mony of notes, of numerical relationships, of parts of
speech, of deeds. As form and matter interact to enter
actuality, all single moments of the synthesis are relative,
yet the relationship of the moments is a constant, namely,
a harmony. In each case of sensible substance the matter
may be different: clay or water or bronze; the form may
also be different: house or calm sea or statue; the process
of coming into being may also differ: building or local
2
movement or pouring; in spite of these differences the
relation of the moments which constitute the substance re
mains constant and harmonious. This fact is expressed in
the identical character of the copula. We can define and
recognize reality because the logos of our cognitive ability
is commensurate with the object of our recognition, actual-
3
ity, because this reality itself is logos, harmony.
We have briefly traced the path from Aristotle's meta
physics to his philosophy of language. It is possible to
^Aristotle, Metaphysica (Oxford, 1928), H, 1043a 12.
^Hoffmann, pp. 68-69.
travel it in reverse, approaching the metaphysical starting
point by working through the "Organon." The surviving
logical works of Aristotle were arranged by Andronicus
Rhodos (first century B.C.) into six books; this body was
later called "Organon" (i.e., "instrlament" ) by the Byzantine
logicians. There were: Categories, On Interpretation,
Prior Analytics, Posterior Analytics, Topics, On Sophistical
Refutation, Fourth Book of Metaphysics. The first two were
translated into Latin and commented on by Boethius. These
comments were turned into Old High German by Notker Labeo,
also known as Teutonicus, of St. Gall. The Latin texts he
used are still in existence.
Aristotle considered written words as symbols of spoken
words; these are symbols of mental experiences, and mental
experiences are again symbols of things; thus spoken words
4
are also symbols of things. Aristotle employed a technique
of analysis by distributing words into categories or "parts
of speech." Since he was primarily a philosopher and logi
cian, he did not so much classify language on the basis of
any observable characteristics of words as physical
^1. M. Bochenski, Ancient Formal Logic (Amsterdam,
1951), p. 29.
phenomena, but rather on the basis of "what they meant."
Proceeding along the lines of logic,, Aristotle defines the
structure which we call a sentence as the "expression of a
proposition." The sentence may be considered a logos, as
"scale," "proportion," and "speech" were considered logoi
respectively. The synthesis of form and matter is brought
about by the two ingredients of the sentence. They are
subject, or theme, and predicate, or statement concerning
the theme. These names are logical, not linguistic, in
origin, and are translations of these Aristotelian terms:
hypokeimenon, "underlying [part]" = Latin subiectum; kate-
5
gorema, "asserted [part]," "assertion" = Latin praedicatum.
The subiectum or onoma is the noun which carries meaning as
a subject in contrast to its letters and syllables, which
are not necessarily meaningful by themselves. The verb or
rhema has an additional function: it states time. Herein
lies its capacity for predication. Through predication it
becomes possible to state the modus essendi of substance in
time. Substance is the concrete, independent entity which
appears as the subject in the sentence and is the substratum
' ’Louis H. Gray, Foundations of Language {New York,
1939), p. 228.
of all predication, the material of individuation. The
predicates are represented by all other categories and each
one is witness for the particular mode of being which is
fixed in time through the copula. Thus the sentence as
logos establishes the moment of the synthesis where form and
matter interact to become actuality.
The "Quomodo" manuscript devotes a great deal of space
to the "mode" of introducing a sentence. The terminology
used by the anonymous author occurs not only in the Cate
gories but also in Topics, A9, 10 3b 22f. This book repre
sents an early but important stage in the development of
Aristotle's logic. His concern is the historically very
valuable classification of the copula "is." Two types of
classification resulted. The first is not so much a classi
fication of absolute terms as of relations between a subject
and a predicate in terms of the essential nature of the
subject and the accidental quality of the predicate, and
generic and specific differences. Out of the ensuing four
possible combinations grew the terms of a proposition, or
sentence, which included a noun in the nominative case as a
subject, and a verb as predicate. Logical and philosophical
preoccupation with the relative value of essence and acci
dent led to the grammarian's preference for the ordo
naturalis to which this MS. refers. The "natural order" in
which the carrier of the essence^ the subject, precedes the
predicate, is constantly at war with less instructed usage
or stylistic variety when "artificial word order" may pre
vail. Serious consequences may befall the uninformed writer
or reader who predicates nonessential qualities about deus.
The anonymous writer gives careful directions to the unwary
on how to avoid this error.
In the second type of classification Aristotle estab
lished comprehensive classes which served to classify the
modes of predication. These classes are called "categor
ies." The ten categories found in the Topics are:
A B
Essence what
Quantity how large
Quality of what quality
Relation in relation to something
Place where
Time when
Position to be situated
State to have
“Activity to act
Passivity to be acted upon
Column A represents the closest English term, B the literal
translation of the Greek words in the text of Topics, A 9
which is particularly difficult. In most other texts Aris
totle substitutes "Substance" for "Essence" and in all,
J
-fc.
8
except the Topics, he omits "Position" and "State."6
*
The logical function of the categories in classifying
modes of predication is replaced by purely grammatical and
stylistic considerations in the MS. The shadow of another
Aristotelian concept, further attenuated by the manipula
tions of later logicians and grammarians, hovers over the
anonymous author's admonitions concerning the placement of
adverbs and adverbial phrases. At one place he draws a
parallel between the relation of adverbs to verbs and ad
jectives to nouns and equates adverbs with adjectives in
their relative positions, that is, preposition of simple
adverb and adjective. The author offers no explanation why
adverbial phrases are banished after the verb. There is
present here a concern with position which ultimately goes
back to the metaphysician's emphasis on the position of
substance before predication. In Metaphysics ©, 1049a, we
find a discussion of the ontological relationship of the
substratum and its properties. "Wood" is earlier than
"wooden," "earth" earlier than "earthy." The adjectival
suffix proves grammatically the ontological derivation. It
seems to demonstrate to Aristotle that the symbols of
^Bochenski, p. 34.
language are in accord with reality. In many parts of the
MS. there is recognizable the influence that Aristotle began
to have on the scholastic period. His "categories," de
signed to explore ontology, are applied to the modus essendi
of speech and yield grammar. The connecting link is lan
guage .
It remains to gather the widely scattered grammatical
terms and to present them against the philosophical back
ground. Aristotle divided words into two classes: names—
onomata--nouns and rhemata— verbs. All other words were
grouped as syndesmoi— linking particles. Many of these
particles are peculiar to the Greek language, others would
fall into various modern definitions. His reasons for the
groupings are to be found in On Interpretation, 2, 2, where
nouns and verbs are declared as having meaning in isolation
as well as in a sentence. But he is careful to distinguish
between the parts of compound nouns which have no meaning
apart from the whole. In Rhetoric, III, 5, he derives the
lack of independent meaning for linking particles from the
fact that they have either grammatical function only or
depend on correlatives to be understood. Nouns are ana
lyzed as to their gender in Poetics, 21. Masculine, femi
nine, and neuter genders are distinguished by their
10
endings. He was the first to note that the verb or "predi
cate word" carries with it the meaning of time which is
absent in the names. With tenses he is, however, unwilling
to accept anything but the present tense in affirmative
sentences as he elaborates in On Interpretation, 10.
I said earlier that I wanted to present the grammatical
elements in Aristotle's writing. The facts set forth are
not explicitly grammatical because we cannot truly separate
them from their philosophico-logical matrix and must remain
aware of it.
CHAPTER II
LATIN GRAMMAR IN THE MIDDLE AGES
Donatus, who had taught grammar at Rome about A.D. 350,
and Priscian, who performed the same task at Constantinople
about A.D. 500, were the classical grammarians who formed a
bridge between antiquity and the Middle Ages. Both of them
provided a thorough method for the study of Latin based on
classical Latin literature. Parts of speech were identified
and defined, rules for the formation and inflection of words
were given. The detailed descriptions started with the
letters of the Latin alphabet and their sounds and ended
with the employment of words in syntactical constructions.
The last part received short shrift by both of them. No
additional explanation or justification was offered beyond
the descriptions. The work of Donatus, the Ars grammatica,
was a very concise grammar intended for elementary school
instruction. It existed in two editions, the complete Ars
maior and an excerpt, called Ars minor, which taught only
11
12
the eight parts of speech. It is the latter, arranged in
question-and-answer form, which enjoyed very wide distribu
tion. A similar partition was made of the eighteen books
of Priscian's Institutiones grammaticae. The first sixteen,
consisting of the letters and their sounds and the forms of
Latin, were very widely used under the name of Priscianus
maior. The two last books were entitled Priscianus minor
and had syntax as their subject.'*' Both grammarians enjoyed
a prestige which was rivaled only by that of the Bible.
Priscian and Donatus were commented upon and interpreted
like Scriptures and their word was not to be doubted.
Their teachings continued in changed form when Alexan
der of Villedieu used his lecture notes gathered at Paris
to write a grammar in verse form, the famous Doctrinale, in
1199. The author improved on Priscian in his chapters on
syntax. The book became very popular in an age partial to
poetic expression and tended to drive out the original
Priscian. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the
Doctrinale was widely accepted in Europe. A similar work
was the Graecismus of Eberhard of Bethune and it found an
•^Hans Arens, Sprachwissenschaft (Munchen, 1955), p.
30 .
13
equal welcome. Its name was derived, from the chapter about
Greek etymology. These hexameter verses appeared in 1212
and contain grammatical material like the parts of speech
2
and rules of metre. Both verse grammars gained in popu
larity over Donatus and Priscian in the thirteenth century,
but they advanced little in garnering new insights into lan
guage. Their intent was rather to prove the accuracy of the
prototypes. Nevertheless, some finer distinctions were
achieved in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries: the nomen
was divided into nomen substantivum and nomen adiectivum and
the logical terms of "subject1 1 and "predicate" were finally
accepted as necessary parts of grammar.^
The scholastic period is characterized by the logical
and philosophical penetration of the material which had been
received on authority alone. The study of grammar also
changed from one of classical traditions to the growth of
4
philosophically oriented speculative grammarians. The
9
Louis John Paetow, The Arts Course at Medieval Univer
sities with Special Reference to Grammar and Rhetoric (Ur-
bana, 111., 1910), pp. 36-39.
^Arens, pp. 32-34.
^Martin Grabmann, Mittelalterliches Geistesleben {Mun-
chen, 1926), I, 109.
scholastic attempt to look at language in a new way began
with Aristotle and was essentially a transfer of his logic
5
to grammar. The intermediary between the ancient world and
g
the Middle Ages was Boethius. He was a Roman, often called
"the last Roman," and lived from A.D. 480-525, serving some
years as Minister to Theodoric, King of the Italian Ostro
goths . His special qualification as one of the principal
links between the philosophies of antiquity and his own age
was his ability to study the literature of Greece in the
original languagej he was the first to interpret to the
Middle Ages the logical treatises of Aristotle. His ambi
tious plans had included a Latin translation of all the
works of Plato and Aristotle, with his own commentaries.
Unfortunately only a fragment of this project seems to have
been carried out and we have only a part of Aristotle1s
logical writings preserved in the translation of Boethius.
They are the books entitled Categories and Peri Hermeneias.
The Greek title was later rendered as De Interpretatione.
Boethius commented on the Categories in four books and even
^Arens, p. 35.
6John E. Sandys, A History of Classical Scholarship
(Cambridge, 1908-1921), I, 253.
made two different commentaries for De Interpretatione. The
first one* the editio prima, in two hooks., is quite elemen
tary, and the editio secunda, in six hooks, is considerably
more advanced and designed for the serious scholar. His
translation and commentaries were truly useful because
Boethius was himself an accomplished philosopher also
schooled in philology. His importance for all periods of
scholasticism is founded upon the triad of his Aristotelian
translations, the Consolatio philosophiae, and his theologi
cal writings. In the area of grammar his translations are
of particular interest. Until the first decades of the
twelfth century they were all that was available of Aris
totle in Europe. Even when the rest of the "Organon” became
available in the twelfth century through Arabic and Jewish
sources, Boethius' contributions still remained at the very
top because of his clear and incisive thinking. Through him
has come down to us the Aristotelian terminology in Latin
7
form. Boethius was so profound in his treatment of logical
problems that already in the twelfth century Peter Helias
attempted a reinterpretation of Priscian's grammar with the
^Martin Grabmann, Die Geschichte der scholastischen
Methode (Freiburg i. Br., 1909), I, 149-160.
16
help of Aristotelian logic. We may consider him the first
of the so-called "speculative" grammarians who were develop
ing their philosophical grammars on the basis of logic to
compete with the purely descriptive ones based on Donatus
and Priscian. The latter had been concerned essentially
with the study of literature, in particular classical Latin
literature, but with Peter Helias the study of language
began on a logical basis. Between his work and the flower
ing of the speculative grammarians there occurs a gap of
more than a hundred years in our knowledge of the develop-
g
ment of grammatical theory. The new directions along logi
cal lines in the study of grammar found their expression in
the "Battle of the Seven Arts" at the universities. The
arts course at medieval universities was named after the
traditional seven liberal arts which had been transmitted
from classical schools. Martianus Capella of Carthage
popularized the Trivium and the Quadrivium in his treatise
entitled De Nuptiis Mercurii et Philologiae (ca. A.D. 430).
Cassiodorus, trained in the school of Boethius, played an
important part in establishing the Trivium consisting of
Q
G. L. Bursill-Hall, "Mediaeval Grammatical Theories,"
Canadian Journal of Linguistics, IX (1963), 44.
17
the basic literary studies, and the Quadrivium leading to
scientific studies. The branches of the Quadrivium were:
arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. These studies
were concerned with the acquisition of knowledge, while the
Trivium with its separation into grammar, rhetoric, and
dialectic was concerned with the ordering of experience and
the means of expressing this knowledge in writing and speak
ing. Grammar was the indispensable tool for accomplishing
9
this purpose. As the interest m classical Latin litera
ture palled and the arid grammars were restructured with the
aid of logic in the thirteenth century, the humanists study
ing the ancients, and the grammarians creating a philosophy
of language through logic, clashed in the "Battle of the
Seven Arts." This is the title of the famous French alle
gorical poem written about 12 50 by the trouvere Henri
d'Andeli. Grammar, the champion of Orleans, supported by
the humanists, the classic authors, and including the gram
marians Donatus and Priscian, goes out to battle against
Logic of Paris who has gathered under her banner Plato and
Aristotle with all the books and studies taught at that
university. After a brisk battle, Grammar is defeated and
^Bursill-Hall, p. 42.
18
the Muse of Poetry goes into hiding. The Aristotelians
10
begin their victorious march.
The path upon which Peter Helias had started in the
middle of the twelfth century was pursued 150 years later by
a group of men who used the method of stating all grammati
cal features and categories by means of modes of significa
tion (modi significandi). Their name of "Modistae" was
derived from this custom.^ Their written works were called
summae modorum significandi or tractatus de modis siqnifi-
candi. The name grammatica speculativa was probably coined
12
at a later date. They share in a rational discussion of
the various significative functions of terms and their
grammatical variations in the Latin language. All of the
summae modorum significandi have in common an introduction
concerned with the general significance of human speech and
a part which deals with the special significance of each
part of speech. The question is put: what is the function
of the noun, pronoun, verb, adjective etc. when each of
■^Paetow, pp. 19-20.
HBursill-Hall, p. 41.
■^Heinrich Roos, "Sprachdenken im Mittelalter," Clas
sics et Mediaevalia, IX (1948), 20.
these parts names the content of an entity of thought or
concrete existence? After the partes orationis have been
examined separately* they are again scrutinized in their
13
syntactical functions. The vocabulary of this procedure
is familiar because the Modistae kept the grammatical sys
tems of Donatus and Priscian but* because they were logi
cians as well as grammarians* they borrowed additional ter
minology from metaphysical and logical writings. This
philosophical approach is based on the conviction that there
is a universal grammar common to all languages* an a priori
grammar which depends upon the structure of the world of
reality and which finds its expression in the grammar of
14
Latin. An example of the changed thinking is provided by
Roger Bacon about 1245 in his Summa Grammatica. He recog
nized two types of difficulties which confront the student
of language. One set of problems is proper to the language
studied* another underlies all languages as* for example*
the classification of words. Only the second is worthy of
serious study because of the universality of the answers it
1 * 3
Grabmann* Mittelalterliches Geistesleben, p. 117.
l^Bursill-Hall* pp. 45-46.
20
15
offers. Of the thirteen Modistae discussed by Martin
Grabmann in his Mittelalterliches Geistesleben only two have
been edited: the incomplete Summa de modis significandi by
Siger de Courtrai (Les Philosophes Beiges, Tome VIII, 1913)
and the so-called Grammatica speculativa which had been
attributed to Duns Scotus until Martin Grabmann established
Thomas of Erfurt as the true author. Both works date from
16
the beginning of the fourteenth century. From these two
it is possible to extract the detailed process which under
lies the philosophical grammar.
Each entity composed of sounds (vox) becomes a word
(dictio) when the conscious intellect recognizes it as sig
nifying something (res) . Its function as a sign makes the
vox a word which is the linguistic expression of a concept.
Until now the word tells us only about the existence of a
thing; nothing is indicated concerning how it is, the prop
erties or modes of being of the thing. Only as the intel
lect recognizes the possible modi essendi, assigning the
individual mode of meaning (modus significandi) to each
word, does the latter become a part of speech, a member of
■^Bursill-Hall, pp. 4 3-44.
l^Roos, p . 202 .
21
17
a word class, and able to function as a grammatical unit
with the potentiality of consignification (ratio consignifi-
candi) in its syntactic setting. Everything— not only
material objects— possesses a mode of being (modus essendi)
which the mind can comprehend through the mode of under
standing (modus intelligendi). It is by virtue of being
understood by the mind, that parts of speech are considered
to signify the qualities of things; the parts represent the
18
modus significandi. It is this interaction between the
structure of language and the human mind which makes lan-
19
guage more than just a noise. The criterion which was to
prove the correctness of the sought-for harmony between
logic and language was the agreement of the parts of speech
with the ten most comprehensive classes established as cate-
• 20
gones by Aristotle.
As both Siger of Courtrai and Thomas of Erf\.rt examined
the system of classifications as accepted from Priscian in
the new light of philosophy, inconsistencies occurred which
1^Arens, p. 36. -^Bursill-Hall, pp. 48-49.
h . Robins, Ancient and Mediaeval Grammatical
Theory in Europe (London, 1951), p. 83.
^Arens, p. 36.
had to be dealt with quite forcefully at times. The parts
of speech became correlatives of things in the world of
external reality by virtue of signifying a certain mode of
being, and it happened that grammatical genders were without
a counterpart in reality. The noun and pronoun signified
substance, that is, the stability of things; verbs and par
ticiples shared in the quality of becoming and were thus a
21
dynamic element. The indeclinable partes orationis were
classed in a manner reminiscent of Aristotle's syndesmoi
under a general mode. In the De Modis Significandi by
Thomas of Erfurt there are some statements concerning the
place of words which recall faintly the position on word
order taken by Aristotle and the author of the MS. ”Quo-
modo." Thomas says that adverbs have meaning by being
attached to verbs, prepositions have meaning by being placed
before words with case endings, and conjunctions by joining
words one to another. These statements fall out of the
framework of philosophical consideration back into the
22
definitions of traditional grammar.
On the whole it seems that the Modistae were trying to
^^Bursill-Hall, p. 52.
22R0bins, pp. 84-85.
23
establish a theory of syntax rather than a normative gram
mar , although they succeeded in making Latin an idealized
language whose grammar was endowed with universal validity.
The large body of manuscripts awaits editing before the last
word may be said about their undertaking. Speculative gram
mar came to an end together with the scholastic movement
under the impact of the Renaissance. Nevertheless, it left
its mark on the method of grammatical studies conducted
23
under the guidance of the logical categories.
23Robins, pp. 89-90.
CHAPTER III
INTRODUCTION TO THE MANUSCRIPT
This MS., which begins "Quomodo VII circumstantie rerum
in legendo ordinande sint," is part of a collection of manu
scripts from Brussels. The same codex contains also a let
ter from Notker, the Rhetoric of St. Gall, and others. The
"Quomodo" is printed in Die Schriften Notkers und seiner
Schule (Freiburg, 1882), I, xiii-xlix, by Paul Piper. The
treatise was written around the year 1000 by an anonymous
author who derived from the Swiss monastery school of St.
Gal 1.
The changes of medieval Latin are primarily evident
here in the spelling. Almost without exception the vowel
combination "ae" appears either as simple "e" or as the
caudated These are a few examples: rome for romae,
^John T. Waterman, "Some Influences of Aristotelian
Logic on Late Medieval Grammatical Theory," The Modern Lan
guage Journal, XLIV (April 1960), 160-162.
24
celo for caelo, eternum for aeternum. The change in spell
ing may appear at any point in the word. The caudated form
occurred already in pre-Carolingian times but became cus
tomary from the tenth century on. Starting with the twelfth
century., the simple "e" replaced the caudated one. The
letters "v" and "u" are used indiscriminately and I have
changed them according to current usage. The letters "i"
and "y" were often interchanged in both Greek and Latin
words. We find, for example: hystoria for historia, para-
dyso and also paradiso, Syon for Sion, Hierosolimis for
Hierosolymis, Isydorus for Isidorus. Aspiration was omitted
or added arbitrarily: iram for Hiram, herundiendum for
erundiendum, heremo for eremo. The dative of the personal
pronoun, mihi, occurs once as michi. This usage was rare
until the eleventh century. The pronunciation of "t" before
"i" with a vowel following changed to "c" and was reflected
in spellings like these: pocius for potius; locucio for
locutio; tocius for totius; parcium for partium. The oppo
site spelling was less common: iuditia for iudicia; offi-
tium for officium. The spelling of words with "d" or "t"
was not clearly regulated and the MS. contains cathetra for
cathedra. The letter "p" was often put between "m" and ”t,"
"m" and "s," "m" and "n, " as, for instance, in dampnatio
26
for damnatio. Doubled consonants were sometimes simplified
as in litera for littera,, and at other times single conso
nants were doubled as in itteremus for iteremus, edifficatio
2
for aedificatio, diffinitio for definitio.
The syntax reflects less of a change to typical medie
val constructions than does the spelling. Only twice is the
conjunction quia used in a post-classical sense to replace
quod in introducing an object clause. Dum is used once with
the subjunctive sint to mean "while." Classical usage would
require the indicative. The author is very fond of the verb
construo with its special meaning "to connect grammati
cally." He may have adopted it from Priscian* who often
uses it in this sense. I have found some examples of the
synecdochical or Greek accusative which characterizes later
Latin. This accusative of specification denotes the part
to which an action or quality refers, as in celer pedes,
latus humeros.^
The author of the MS. is constantly torn between
theory and practice in his double function of prescribing
^Karl Strecker, Introduction to Medieval Latin, trans.
R. Palmer (Berlin,, 1957) , pp. 23-26.
^J. H. Allen and J. B. Greenough, New Latin Grammar
(New York, 1903) , p. 247.
27
rules and of furnishing examples from texts. His undertak
ing becomes especially confusing in the area of sentence
construction because the grammarians upon whom he draws
differ somewhat in their own interpretation and nomencla
ture. I would like to present a summary of definitions and
vocabulary from those grammatical works which seem perti
nent. The authors represented are Aristotle, Cicero, Deme
trius, and Quintilian.
On the subject of sentence members we deal with_two
types: colon and comma. In the Rhetoric Aristotle is not
primarily concerned with the division of sentences. His
main interest lies with the type of style into which sen
tences fall. In Ad Herennium, pp. 294-295, note, we are
told that the concept of colon originated in comparison with
the human body) it came into rhetoric from the art of music.
Quintilian defines colon in the Institutio Oratoria, IX, 4,
123, in this manner: A colon is the expression of a thought
which is rhythmically complete, but is meaningless if de
tached from the whole body of the sentence. Throughout the
MS. I have translated colon as Clause.
The term comma is defined by Demetrius in his work On
Style, I, 9, as a thing chopped or cut, a chip or segment.
Cicero carries out the same thought in De Qratore, 62, 21,
where he uses the translation incisum. Commata rather than
cola are required in the forcible style. In Ad Herennium,
pp. 294-295, the term incisum is replaced by articulus, or
part jointed-on, and it defines a situation in which single
words are set apart by pauses in staccato speech. Quin
tilian translates it in the Institutio Oratoria, IX, 4, 121-
122, also as incisum and defines it as the expression of a
thought lacking rhythmical completeness] on the other hand,
most writers regard it merely as a portion of the colon.
But a comma may also consist of a single word. Wherever
comma is implied or mentioned, I have translated it as
_Phrase.
The term membrum is not used exclusively for either
colon or comma, although at times membrum and colon appear
to be synonymous. Aristotle states simply in the Rhetoric,
III, 9, that a member is one of the two parts of a period.
He also allows the possibility that a member may be by it
self a simple period and calls it then monocolon. Deme
trius comments in On Style, I, 1-6, that prose style is
articulated and marked out by what are called members. But
the proper function of such members is to indicate the con
clusion of a thought. Sometimes a member is a complete
thought in itself] sometimes, however, the member consti
29
tutes not a complete thought, but a part of it, yet a com
plete part. Members should not be made very long, otherwise
the composition becomes unwieldy and hard to follow. Some
times a long member may be appropriate; at other times a
short one may be fitting, as when our subject is something
small. Short members should also be employed in forcible
passages, for there is greater force and intensity when much
meaning is conveyed in a few words. The reference to short
members in forcible passages seems to me to point to the
inclusion of the comma in the term membrum. I have trans
lated the term as Clause or Phrase, as the meaning dictated,
and have sometimes evaded the issue by calling it member or
a sentence member.
The ingredients of sentences may be combined to form
two styles of discourse: periodic or continuous. In the
Rhetoric, III, 9, Aristotle equated the periodic type with
the compact style which has in itself a beginning and an end
and can be taken in at a glance. The hearer is always
grasping what is said and reaches some definite conclusion
with the speaker. The period is not completed until the
sense is complete. The continuous type is described as
free-running, because it has no natural stopping places.
It goes on indefinitely and comes to a stop only when there
30
is no more to be said about the subject. It is unsatisfy
ing because the listener does not see the goal in sight.
Demetrius makes the comment in On Style, I, 8-13, that from
the union of a number of these members and phrases are
formed what are called periods. Now the period is a com
bination of members or phrases, arranged dexterously to fit
the thought to be expressed. The very use of the word per
iod implies that there has been a beginning at one point
and will be an ending at another, and that we are hastening
toward a definitive goal. In general terms, a period is
nothing more or less than a particular arrangement of words.
If its circular form should be destroyed and the arrangement
changed, the subject matter remains the same, but there will
be no period. The second style bears the name "disjointed,"
inasmuch as the members into which it is divided are not
closely united. They seem thrown upon one another in a heap
without binding or propping, and without the mutual support
which we find in periods.
The MS. calls the disjointed style continuum or con
tinuum genus locutionis. For the periodic style there ap
pear some of the terms which were supplied by Cicero in De
Oratore, 61, 204, namely, ambitus, circumscriptio, continu-
atio, and circuitus . Mention should be made of the
31
expression distinctum or oratio distincta which Quintilian
uses in the Institutio Oratoria, IX, 4, 124, to mean "prop
erly divided" and "periodic." In my translation I use the
terms Periodic and Continuous throughout to differentiate
the two styles.
In general, the style of the MS. might be called Late
Latin without many of the syntactical changes that make
later medieval Latin a more analytic form of the classical
language. The density and obscurity of the text seems to me
to be caused by the author's grappling with many sources and
rather complicated concepts. Although he borrows freely, as
will become clear through the text and notes, he applies his
own logic in choosing preferred sequences and by criticizing
the established grammarians. Some of the many and compli
cated ideas expressed about sentence structure may be quite
original because he exceeds his sources considerably. The
text is overloaded with the fillers so dear to a more prolix
age and I have cut them sharply. Otherwise, I have stayed
faithful to the wording chosen by the author and have in
serted my own interpretations only where I thought the mean
ing to be quite obscure or where irregular grammatical con
structions demanded clarification.
. ... ' ■ ^
CHAPTER IV
THE TRANSLATION
I. How the Seven Elements of
speech are to be arranged
There are five main types of discourse as Boethius
teaches in his commentaries entitled De Interpretations:
declarative, imperative, deprecative, interrogative, and
vocative.^ Of these the declarative alone signifies
"'"A. M. S. Boetius, Commentarii in Librum Aristotelis ;
Peri Hermeneias, recensuit Carolus Meiser (Leipzig, 1880),
editiones I et II, prima ed., Bk. I, par. 35, lines 7-30;
Bk. I, pars. 70-71; secunda ed., Bk. I, pars. 8-9. The ex
pressions for the five main types of discourse cited from
Boethius differ in their wording from the MS.
There are two problems: "invitatio," which must be consid
ered part of the quotation or only four types remain, does
not follow the adjectival form of the others; "vocativa—
invitatio, deprecativa— optativa" are not immediately appar
ent to be equivalents. Since Boethius is clearly cited,
there ought to be points of comparison. The vocative is the
Boethius
enunciativa
imperativa
interrogativa
vocativa
deprecativa
enunciativa
imperativa
interrogativa
invitatio
optativa
MS .
32
33
positive and negative assertion, whether it is true or
false, and this creates a great deal of construction diffi
culty in the continuous type speech, about which more will
be said later. But not many know which order is to be fol
lowed in writing and which is aptly put first or second or
last. For there are in this order Seven Elements which we
must distinguish, as the grammarians teach: Person, Thing,
Place, Cause, Time, Manner, Substance or Force. That is:
who did it, what, where, why, when, by what means or through
which substance. Of these Seven the chief parts of declara
tive discourse are: who and what, i.e., the subject and
predicate. "Quis fecerit” or who did it is submitted, and
"quid fecerit" or what happened revealed. The subjective
part contains the nominative, the predicate the indicative
form of direct address which seems closely allied to me to
"invitatio" and "vocatio," two nouns which share the meaning
of "invitation" or "bidding," just as the vocative address
may be expected to be followed by some kind of request.
Boethius illustrates the listing of his five types of dis
course with quotations. For the deprecative style he chose
some lines from Virgil's Aeneid, Bk. II, 689-691: "Juppiter
omnipotens, precibus si flecteris ullis, da deinde auxilium,
pater, atque haec omina firma." This deprecative address
does not appear inconsistent with the optative subjunctive
used to express a wish. Priscian, with whom the author of
the MS. is familiar, emphasizes that optative verbs express
a wish by themselves when he says in his Institutiones Gram-
maticae, Bk. XVIII, par. 76: "Optativa verba indicant per
se cum re et votum . . ."
verb. A sentence cannot exist with less than these two
parts of speech, except in impersonal sentences such as
2
"disputatur a Cicerone." A full statement is made from the
indicative verb and the ablative case. Similarly "penitet
3
Ciceronem" from the verb and the accusative case. It hap
pens also that in the subject part may be found the indica
tive verb, that in the predicate the nominative is encoun
tered because of the indefinite pronoun "qui, " as "qui dis-
4 ...
putat Cicero est, 1 1 "vir qui non abut in consilio impiorum
5
beatus est." Nevertheless, this "qui" alone is not in a
subject without a verb. When the remaining five parts of
speech are present, they occur not in the subject but in the
predicate. Which of these two, because of the importance of
each, may occupy first place in a construction: subject or
predicate? Is it better■to say "Cicero disputat" or
Martianus Capella, De Nuptns Philologiae et Mercurii,
ed. Adolf Dick (Leipzig, 1925), Bk. IV, par. 390. "It is
argued by Cicero."
■^Capella, Bk. IV, par. 390. "It angers Cicero."
^Capella, Bk. IV, par. 394. "He who argues is Cicero."
5
Biblia Vulgata. Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, 3rd
ed. (Madrid, 1959), Psalm 1:1. All subsequent biblical
quotations are from this edition.
%
35
"disputat Cicero"^ in teaching the reading? This, a noun
alone., acts as the subject; for how else can the subjective
part be understood than as the subject, and the predicate
other than that which is built upon it. Put, therefore, the
Person as subject and state about it anything you will as a
built-up structure. For the character of this edifice is
anything to be heard about the Person, and about this very
same Person active or passive voice is stated, the subject
does not predicate them. From this, "Cicero disputat" is
clearly put in the correct order. But in other respects,
"disputat Cicero" has the same meaning. For as it is proper
7
to say "caput et pedes dextera et sinistra," also, after
changing the order, "pedes et caput sinistra et dextera"
indicates the same. Thus in Scriptures it is as acceptable
g
with respect to the meaning to read "dominus dixit" and
"dixit dominus," and equally true is "deus hominem" and
9
"hominem fecit deus." Martianus teaches this m his dia
lectics: "The complete proposition is 1omnis homo animal
^Martianus, Bk. IV, par. 388. "Cicero argues."
7"Head and feet, right and left."
®Cf. Genesis 1:3, et passim.
^Cf. Genesis 1:26, et passim.
36
est.' And although Nature demands it that the noun be said
first and the verb later, the proposition does not cease
being a true one, even if you put 'animal est omnis
homo.'"^0 What is this Nature? It is said in this way be
cause that which is predicated upon comes before the predi
cate, i.e., the subject is put earlier than the predicate.
It confuses the reader so much not to know this, that as a
result he may be unorthodox and begin to follow an inverted
word order in the Gospel where it is said "et deus erat
verbum."'*’’ * ' From a knowledge of the subject and the predi
cate it is necessary for the reader to make this distinction
so that he will say "et verbum deus erat." Nor does the
rule allow at any time that "deus" be put as the subject and
that "verbum" be predicated about it, so that he transposes
"deus" and predicates about it "erat verbum." In the Creed
12
where we confess our faith we say: "deus pater, deus
■^Martianus, Bk. IV, par. 392. "Every man is a living
being."
HJohn 1:1.
l^The MS. reads here; "dicit et in simbolo ubi fidem
confitemur dicentes ita . . ." The construction has a ser
ious anacoluthon. For the sake of meaning I had to disre
gard it.
37
13
filius, deus spiritus sanctus." The truth of these state
ments , which are made from the subjects of-the three Persons
and the predicate threefold repeated, should be carefully
stated in the following manner: "Ita pater deus est. Ita
14
filius deus est. Ita spiritus sanctus deus." Therefore
it is natural to say "sol splendet, 1,15 "Cicero disputat."
It is also true to say "splendet sol," "disputat Cicero."
The statement also may be made more extensive and Place may
be added to Person and to Thing, which is often done through
the noun, and the adverb is added also through the noun, for
example "Cicero disputat in tusculano." The Place is last
1
Cf. Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, ed. James
Hastings (New York, 1912), IV, 237-242, the Apostle's Creed.
"God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit." The
reference is too brief to make possible a decision on the
exact version of the Creed where the quote appears.
14"Thus the Father is God; thus the Son is God; thus
the Holy Spirit is God." Gustav Ehrismann, Geschichte der
deutschen Literatur bis zum Ausqanq des Mittelalters (Miin-
chen, 1S18), I, 412, note, makes a comment which may throw
additional light on this paragraph: "Notker arbeitet an
Boethius 1 Abhandlungen uber das Thema der Trinitat beson-
ders: 1. De Unitate Trinitatis. Quomodo Trinitas unus
deus ac non tres dii; 2. Utrum pater et filius ac spiritus
sanctus de divinitate substantialiter praedicentur; 3. Li
ber de persona et duabus naturis contra Entychen et Nes
tor ium. "
■^"The sun shines."
l^Martianus, Bk. IV, par. 391. "Cicero argues in his
Tusculan estate."
38
17
in this construction. But if we say "rome" by means of an
adverbial, the order will be changed; for example, "Cicero
18
rome disputat," becausd the adverbial is better put before
the verb. As adjectives are customarily placed before other
nouns, so adverbs are the adjectives of verbs and occupy the
same place. Also, if we add Time, it is to be expressed in
19
a like manner as "Cicero disputat longo tempore." But if
you put in an adverb, the order will be changed as "Cicero
20
diu disputat." If we gather these four m one statement,
21
it will be "Cicero disputat in tusculano multo tempore"
or, if you prefer, adverbially, "Cicero rome diu dispu-
22
tat." In the same way "deus regnat m celo orani tem-
2 3 24
pore" or "deus ubique semper regnat." Put Time first
17"At Rome."
18"cicero argues at Rome."
19"Cicero argues for a long time."
"cicero argues long."
21"Cicero argues in his Tusculan estate for a great
deal of time."
22,'Cicero argues long at Rome."
2 3"God rules in heaven for all time."
2^"God reigns everywhere always."
39
and you say "deus semper ubique regnat," "Cicero diu rome
disputat." Let us add Manner and we have "Cicero disputat
miro modo" or "mirum in modum" or, adverbially, "Cicero mire
disputat,” and let us combine "Cicero diu rome disputat
mirum in modum" or, adverbially, "Cicero diu rome mire dis-
25
putat." But so many adverbs are rarely found at the same
time. By adding Cause to this sentence it becomes "Cicero
2 6
disputat propter communem utilitatem." With the addition
. . 27
of Force "Cicero disputat magna excellentxa ingenii" re
sults . Gathering all of these into one place such a sen
tence will yield: "Cicero disputat in tusculano multo tem
pore mirum in modum propter communem utilitatem magna ex-
28
cellentia ingenii" or, adverbially: "Cicero rome diu mire
disputat propter communem utilitatem magna excellentia in
genii ." Each of these parts can grow to such a degree that
you would think there are not one, but two or more of them
as "Cicero disputat," the agent and the action; with each
"Cicero continuously argues marvelously at Rome."
26"cicero argues because of general usefulness."
27“cicero argues with a brilliant talent."
"Cicero argues in his Tusculan estate for a great
deal of time marvelously because of general usefulness with
brilliant talent."
word one thing is being predicated about the other.
Equally: "Cicero patre natus equite romano de regno genere
velscorum rhetor eximius et consulari dignitate preclarus
ipse disputat de natura deorum qu<= mirabilis et ignota mor-
29
talibus est." He expresses this with very many words.
30
Time also is expressed with one word as "quondam." An
other expression of time is "post., " as in "post exactos
reges iam consulibus cessantibus et imperatorum monarchiis
31
incipientibus." To the same extent Place also is ex
pressed with one word as "rome," but if you add "ubi caput
gentium, unde tocius orbis iura leges magistratus et imperia
32
suscipiebantur," it signifies the same thing. Likewise
with the other Circumstances or Elements. On the other
hand, the natural order of these parts, which we mentioned,
O Q
^ Source unknown. "Cicero, son of a father who was a
Roman of equestrian rank of the noble family of the Volsci,
a distinguished orator and famous for his claim to the con
sulship, himself expounds about the Nature of the Gods,
which is wonderful and unknown to mortal man."
30"At some time."
31source unknown. "After the kings were driven out,
with the consuls already ending and the monarchy of impera-
tors beginning."
■^source unknown. "Where the head of the nations, from
where the civil and military laws of the whole world began."
41
r
is all found by happenstance. We uphold it only in scho
lastic learning. But among writers and speakers it is per
mitted., each according to his (jwn arbitrary inclination, to
give precedence to one or the other of them, as is shown by
examples. This sentence begins with the subject: "Dominus
possedit me initio viarura suarum antequam faceret a prin-
33
cipio." With the predicate begins: "vidit lacob scalam
summitas eius celos tangebat et descendentes angelos et
34
d.v.l.v.s. est." With Time begins: "prius quam te for-
marem in utero novi te et antequam exires de vulva sancti-
35
ficavi te." With Place begins: "In celestibus regm
36
sanctorum habitatio est et in ^ternum requies eorura."
With Cause begins: "Propter syon non tacebo et propter
verbum non quiesquam . . . egrediatur ut splendor iustus
37
eius." With Manner begins: "In sudore vultus tui ves-
38
ceris pane dixit dominus ad adam." With Substance begins:
3 3 34-
Proverbs 8:22. Cf. Genesis 28:12.
Jeremiah 1:5.
2^Source unknown. "In the heavens is the dwelling of
the kingdom of the blessed and their respite in eternity."
2^lsaiah 62:1. 28QenesjLS 3;19.
42
39
"De quinque panes et duos pisces d.vm.h." To begin in
various ways sentences which state something■ , depends on the
writers' choice, at other times, however, on necessity, as
40
in the Hexaemeron "Dixit quoque deus." He cannot change
41
this order to "Deus quoque dixit." The author cannot be
confined to this rule, unless another might be regarded to
~ 42
have spoken before, because the conjunction "quoque" means
a repetition.
II. How many are the types of
styles and what are Clause
and Phrase?
Let us now endeavor earnestly to give a rule of con
struction. There are two kinds of discourse, one of which
is properly divided by Clauses and Phrases and does not
delay understanding, the other is Continuous and is not
■^Cf. Mark 6:38.
^St. Ambrose, Hexaemeron (Leipzig, 1840), IX, pars 2.
The work does not contain "God said also" in the exact Latin
wording of the MS. The closest approach occurs in Bk. IV,
ch. 4, 85, in these words: "nam et Dominus dixit."
^"God also spoke."
^The MS. reads "conciunctio." I believe this to be a
scribe's error. No such word exists according to the dic
tionaries and the meaning is quite clear enough to allow the
correction to "coniunctio."
43
understood until the end of the sentence. What are Clause
and Phrase? An explanation follows immediately, so that
from these definitions the styles may be better understood.
For they are parts of sentences of such a fashion that a
Clause may be called whole, finished,, and understood by it-
self, whether a finite or a non-finite sentence, but a
Phrase remains with its meaning still suspended. One Clause
43
fills up a sentence like "homo animal est"; "celum volvi-
44 4 S 46
tur"; "sol est super terram"; "terra inmobilis est";
47 48
"pudet me vivere"; "tedet me vite." Phrases, on the
49
other hand, are: "quando venit plenitudo temporis," "si
50 51
offers munus tuum ad altare, 1 1 "ex quo mundus factus est,"
^Martianus, Bk. IV, par. 390, "Man is a living
being."
44"Heaven is turned around."
45"iphe sun is above the earth."
46Martianus, Bk. VI, par. 599. "Earth is unmoving."
4?cf. Priscianus, Institutiones Grammaticae in Gramma-
tici Latini, ed. Heinrich Keil (Leipzig, 1855), III, Bk.
XVIII, par. 52. "It shames me to live."
4®Keil, Bk. XVIII, par. 52. "Life wearies me."
4^Galat. 4:4. ^Matthew 5:23.
^Source unknown. "Out of which the world has been
made."
44
52
"ille homo qui dicitur iesus," "si quis fecerit voluntatem
5 3 54
patris mei," "quid perfecti habent." They cannot make
sentences by themselves, for the reason that they are to be
55
read in a construction with the voice being kept up.
Clauses, by the lowering of the voice are recognized to
stand apart from Phrases, differing as much by their sense
as in their rhythmic"^ reading. There is close to a
52John 9:11. 53Cf. Matthew 7:21, 12:50.
^Source unknown. "What the perfect ones have."
5^The terms "suspensio" and "depositio" will occur fre
quently in this MS. At one point the Greek expressions
"arsis and thesis" are mentioned. Martianus, whose influ
ence is evident throughout the MS., equates "arsis" with
"elatio vocis" and "thesis" with "depositio vocis" in Bk.
IX, par. 974, in his work already cited. Book IX of the
same is entitled "De Harmonia" and analyzes the construction
of verses. I believe this conclusion may be drawn: "arsis
and thesis" in prosody compare to "suspensio and depositio"
in prose.
The MS. reads "metnca scansrone." I translate as
"rhythmic reading" because of the emphasis which Aristotle
places in Bk. Ill, ch. 8, 1408b, par. 30 of the Rhetoric on
the necessity of prose being rhythmical, but not metrical,
or it will become not prose but verse. Cicero also has some
revealing comments on the same topic in Bk. Ill, ch. 48,
par. 186 of De Oratore: "But in a continuous flow there is
no rhythm, rhythm is the product of a dividing up, that is,
of a beat marking equal and also frequently varying inter
vals— the rhythm that we can notice in falling drops of
water, because they are separated by intervals, but cannot
detect in a fast flowing river. But if this continuous ser
ies of words in prose is much neater and more pleasing if it
is divided up by joints and limbs than if it is carried
45
comparison, where part of a speech is finished in second or
57 .
third place with a verse foot, as Virgil does in his sixth
58
book, "ostendent terris hunc tantum." This arrangement is
something complete like "vellam ramum de arbore aut pedem de
59
victima," and is said to be a Clause. While, on the other
hand, the finished part of a speech does not conclude a foot
at the same time, but divides it at the middle as in "arma
6 0
virumque cano"; this cut-up part, just as if you cut off
from the sacrifice something wrongly and not limb by limb,
or you cut off from the vine the stock with the pruning
hook, is said to be a Phrase, and these are peculiar to
poetry, because they exist only in scanning. Those which
right on without a break, the limbs in question will need
management; and if they are shorter at the end, this makes
a break in the periodic structure of the words--for a 'per
iod' is the Greek name for these turning-points of speech.
Consequently the later clauses must either be equal to the
preceding ones, and the last ones to the first, or they
must be longer, which is even better and more pleasing."
57Cf. Aristotle, The Rhetoric (New York, 1954), Bk.
Ill, ch. 8.
^^Virgil, Aeneid, The Loeb Classical Library (Cam
bridge, Mass., 1932), Bk. VI, line 869.
59"i shall pluck the bough off the tree or the foot
off the sacrifice."
^^Aeneid, Bk. I, line 1.
have been described before, since they divide the sentence,
are common to all writing. This Phrase is found in either
the Periodic or properly divided, and the Continuous or
free-flowing kind of speech; however, it cannot be so, that
in properly divided speech the Phrase is without the Clause;
but the Clause is often without Phrases, as the first psalm
is properly divided with a Clause without Phrases; however,
in Continuous speech it attains a close union of Phrases to
be made without Clause, as will become clear by examples
later. There is another Phrase, expressing the same thing
which the Clause expresses too, but with fewer words, namely
with one or with two or, at the most, with three. If there
were more words, it might be mistaken for a Clause. And
constructions of that kind can be multiplied in one sen
tence, sometimes by themselves, sometimes interspersed with
those that are called Clauses, as is the case in the book of
the Maccabees: "Hec eadem scripta sunt demetrio regi, et
attalo, et arabe, et arsaci, et in omnes regiones; et sam-
same, et spartanis, et delo, et mido, et sucione, et cari^,
et samum, et pamphiliam, et liciam, et alicarnasum, et roh-
dum, et phaselida, et choo, et siden, et arado, et gortinam.
47
61
et obeudon, et cyprum, et cyrenen. " In this preceding
period, with one single Clause, that is, "hqc eadem scripta
6 2
sunt demetrio regi, 1 1 the remaining ones following, al
though they have a great deal of meaning by themselves, must
be called Phrases because of the scarcity of verbs, because
so many Clauses cannot be piled up in one sentence. In the
same manner, faults are enumerated in the Epistle with one
word each, "Ire, rixe, dissensiones, secte, invidi<=, " or, on
63
the other hand, the virtues, "gaudium, pax, longanimitas.1 1
They make a great deal of sense for all that they are
Phrases. In Isaiah also: "Lunulas, torques, et monilia, et
armillas, mitras, discriminalia, et periscelidas, et murenu-
las, et olfactoriola, et inaures, et anulos, et gemmas in
fronte pendentes, et mutatoria et pallia, et linteamina, et
64
acus, et speccula, et sindones, et vittas, et tenstra.”
Who may call them anything but Phrases? Perhaps there are
those who only wish a Phrase of this sort to be called what
Bede does in his work De Metrica Arte. He almost considers
61I Macc. 15 : 22-2 3.
The MS. reads "reliquasque sequuntur . . ." This
does not make sense in the context. I think that -it might
best be reinterpreted.
63Galat. 5:20-22. 64Isaiah 3:19-2 3.
Clause and Phrase one, giving such an example concerning
Phrases in the Epistle of Paul: "Sustinetis enim, si quis
vos in servitutem redigit, si quis devorat, si quis acci-
65
pit, si quis extollitur, si quis in faciem vos cedit."
Martianus gives a like description and example concerning
Phrases: "The phrase is a part of speech of two or more
words when we mean anything in an absolute way, although we
may say unjointed speech when separate words, carrying no
matter what meaning, are mentioned like this: 'Quis est
iste homo, qui sine ferro ne nunc quidem tecum est? quis est
iste locus? armiger catilinq, stipator sui corporis, conci-
66
tator tabernariorum, percussor, dilapidator curi<=?' and in
the orations of Cicero against Verres, 'Comites illi dilecti
manus erant tu<=, accersiti, medici, aruspices, scribq manus
67
erant tu^.'" He has withdrawn from us by these examples
what he may wish to be called Phrase, particularly single
words or a little bit more, meaning something by themselves.
Corinth. 11:20 in Bedae, De Arte Metrica in Keil,
ed., Grammatici Latini, III, 246, lines 19-26.
^Marcus Tullius Cicero, Oratio de domo sua, par. 5 in
Martianus, Bk. V, par. 528.
67
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Actio in Verrem, Bk. II, 2, 9,
par. 27 in Martianus, Bk. V, par. 528.
49
Thus a Phrase is called a brief sentence about which Lucan
says in the title of his book: "I have never arranged ver
ses in a continuous straight line which, as they move along
crawlingly little by little, please me more than a
»68
phrase.
III. About Periodic speech
Periodic type of speech can extend a sentence up to six
Clauses, as Martianus teaches. A sentence which is extended
by one more Clause is called a Period; what is contracted to
69
one Clause is called a simple Clause or monocolon. Of six
Clauses consists: "Omnes manus dissolventur, et omnia genua
fluent aquis et accingent se ciliciis et operiet eos forti-
tudo et in omni facie est confusio et in universis capitibus
70
eorum calvicium." Of one consists: "Deum nemo vidit um-
71
quam." Jerome testifies that he himself has interpreted
the prophet Isaiah completely in this kind of style in his
The only existing work of Lucan is the Pharsalia.
It does not contain this quotation in either the titles or
the text.
88Cf. Martianus, Bk. V, par. 529.
70Ezekiel 7:17-18. 71John 1:18.
72
introduction to the prophet, that he may be understood
more easily, after the example of Demosthenes and the orator
Cicero who, in their books also customarily refrained from
slipping over into the other style which is called Contin
uous. Cicero does the same in the Philippics, and in the
books of rhetoric De Senectute and De Officiis, also in Ad
Herennium and Actio in Verrem. To clarify: Lucan also tes
tifies to have chosen this kind of speech expressed above.
The whole Old and New Testament, for the sake of avoiding
difficulty, has the practice of Periodic writing, even about
the Trinity, by means of Clauses and Phrases. This is
called the Periodic, that is, circuitous] its parts make it
periodic, while separate parts by themselves show complete
sense and revert now to this, now to that meaning. A re
version of the Periodic is the quotation "et samsame et
spartanis," as has been mentioned, for the reason that a
sentence cannot be called Periodic that consists of only one
member of a sentence. It is plain in the kind of construc
tion below, because the separate parts of a line are joined
up by themselves and a smooth transposition of words is
72
St. Hieronymus, Commentariorum in Isaiam Prophetam,
Prologus, in Opera (Vienna, 1913).
51
made, as in the psalm, if we connect grammatically: "Vir
qui non abiit in consilio impiorum beatus est, qui non
stetit in via peccatorum beatus est, et qui non sedit in
7 3
cathetra pestilenciq beatus est." Equally without diffi
culty is construed the beginning of the Aeneid "arma virum-
que cano." It should be said "cano arma et virum"; there
the nominative is understood in the verb and it is made a
Phrase, because it is doubtful of which man he sings until
something else is added and it is told "qui profugis ab oris
74
troie fato primus venit ad italiam." In consequence, a
Phrase together with another produces a Clause.
IV. About Continuous speech
Continuous or free-flowing speech is what the Greeks
75
call epimone lexin, that is, a close union of words to a
degree that the sense always extends beyond what is being
said, and until it reaches the conclusion, it does not per
mit complete understanding. It is a more drawn-out mode of
expression and its sentence is occasionally spread out to
the extent of the entire page with continuous and closely
^Psalm 1:1. ^ Aeneid, Bk. I, 1.
7^"Repetition as to expression."
connected parts. One like it is: "Quo silvius eneas regna-
vit in italia, templum domino toto orbe famosissimum rex
Salomon, filius david, cui similis in sapientia nullus ante
eum vel post inventus est, quia tabernaculum in silo, ubi
erat archa angustum populo visum est, ad orandum et sacri-
ficandum hierosolimis loco quern ad hoc elegit dominus, ex
lapidibus preciosis, sectis et quadratis, et lignis cedrinis
ex libano monte per iram regem tyri administratis, prospere
plus quam credi potest construxit et ad perfectum elima-
76
vit." He made this sentence Continuous, the verb to be
held back until the end, because, if other verbs should
appear before the end, these would form a Clause or a
77
Phrase. They separate meaning in a like manner, as long
as they signify the same thing and are not made without a
verb or the understanding of a verb; equally that Phrase is
not made without a verb which is found in either kind of
speech and does not distinguish meaning, but the structure
of speech with respect to a likeness to the metrical phrase
where feet are separated by scansion, and parts of discourse
76Cf. Ill Kings.
77The MS. reads here: 1 1 . . .s. simili modo sensum
distinguunt ..." For the sake of meaning I chose "sive"
as the simple disjunctive.
53
are not so separated. A question can also be asked, if this
speech is Continuous : for which reason does Aristotle num
ber in his categories of speech quantities which have parts
78
distinct from each other? To which must be made the true
retort, that discourse has single words and separate sylla
bles and letters, and that he has not said anything about
the meaning of a sentence, which is often joined together by
sense and always separated by letters and sounds. Single
words or expressions, about which Aristotle has spoken, are
79
the smallest parts of discourse. Larger ones are the
Seven Elements mentioned above which can comprise many more
words. These are also separated and they themselves indi
cate in Continuous sentences the place of breathing for the
reader because, while they are contiguous affections —
actives .and-passives--which have been put forward, they are
indeed recognized by themselves and are not otherwise dis
tinguished. Whose they may be is not determined until the
last word is added.
^®Cf. Aristotle, The Rhetoric, Bk. II, 8, 1385b, 5j
Aristotle, The Categories, The Loeb Classical Library {Cam
bridge, Mass., 1938), Bk. VI, 4b, 23ff. Also Ehrismann,
Geschichte der deutschen Literatur, I, 426.
^ A r i s t o t l e , C a t e g o r i e s , Bk. IV, l b , 25 t o 2a, 1 0 .
54
V. We have an order of construc
tion such as: beginning with
the subject
"Rex Salomon filius david cui similis in sapientia nul-
lus ante eum vel post inventus" (This is the Person. The
action follows) "— contrucxit [sic] tsmplum domino toto orbe
famosissimum et ad perfectum elimavit" (Then the Manner fol
lows so that the adverb may not be far from the verb) "pros-
pere plus quam credi potest" (Where?) "Hierosolimis loco
quern ad hoc elegit dominus1 1 (From which Place? Out of which
Substance?) "ex lapidibus preciosis sectis et quadratis et
lignis cedrinis ex libano monte per yram regem tyri ad
ministratis" (When?) "tempore quo silvius eneas regnavit in
italia" (Why?) "quia tabernaculum in silo ubi erat archa
80
angustum visum est ad orandum et sacrificandum." This
discourse is called historical narrative and both arrange
ments have the same meaning, but the latter version has
®0"King Salomon, son of David, no equal to whom in
wisdom has been found before or after him--has built a tem
ple most renowned in the universe to the Lord and has fin
ished it to perfection— more marvelously than can be be
lieved— at the place of Jerusalem which God has chosen for
this purpose— out of precious stones cut and squared and
cedar wood from Mount Lebanon provided through King Hiram
of Tyre— at the time in which Silvius Aeneas reigned in
Italy— because the temple in Shilo, where the Arch of the
Covenant was, seemed too small for purposes of praying and
sacrificing."
reference to the purpose of instructing. There are in it ,
all those Seven Elements which are rarely found at the same
time in one sentence. However many things are found., it is
permitted after the main two, namely "quis et quid fecerit, 1 1
to choose concerning the others whatever may he convenient.
Let us construe one similarly which is Continuous speech:
"Christus assistens pontifex futurorum bonorum" is the sub
ject; "introivit semel in sancta" is the predicate. In what
Manner? "eterna redemcione inventa." In what order, in what
way? "per amplius et perfectius tabernaculum, i., non per
tabernaculum manu factum neque huius creationis neque per
81
sanguinem hyrcorum aut vittulorum sed proprium sanguinem."
The grammatical construction is particularly necessary in
these statements. Their use is therefore frequent, not so
much with secular writers, but with religious ones, namely,
Augustine, Cassianus, Orosius, Bede, and others. From among
all these, at any rate from Cassianus, will be brought forth
an example. In the second part of the Conlationes he him
self begins the introduction with these words: "Debitum,
quod beatissimo pape castori in eorum voluminum prefacione
promissum est, que de institutis cenobiorum et de octo
^Hebrews 9 :11-12 .
56
82
principalium vitiorum remediis XII libellis* domino ad-
iuvantej digesta sunt., in quo et tenuitas nostri sufficit
8 3
ingenii* utcumque sanctitum [sio_] * " and more below. "Nunc
autem quia derelinquens nos pontifex supradictus migravit ad
84
christurnj harum interlorum collationem summorum patrum,
i.* anachoretarum qui in heremo scithi morabantur, quas ille
incomparabili flagrans studio sanctitatis simili sibi iusse-
rat sermone conscribi, non expendens pre multitudine cari-
tatis quanto infirmas cervices pondere pregravaret, vobis
potissiinum, o beatissime papa leonti, et sancte frater ella-
8 5
di* credidi conservandas . Starting with the subject* let
O p
Iohannis Cassianus* De institutis coenobiorum et de
octo principalium vitiorum remediis, Libri XII (Vienna*
1888)* Bk. XVII.
®^Following the original text of Cassian "sanctitum"
should read "sarcitum."
®^The MS. reads "harum interiorum collationem" which is
almost impossible to translate. For my translation I follow
Cassian's wording of "has interim decern conlationes."
85
Iohannis Cassianus* Conlationes (Vienna* 1886)* pars
prima* 1. "An obligation that is promised to the most
blessed Bishop Castor in the preface of those boohs about
the regulations of the cloisters and about remedies of the
eight chief offenses. With the help of God they have been
divided into twelve books* wherein the insignificance of our
talent meets the need* however burdened it is. But now* be
cause the bishop mentioned above* leaving us behind* de
parted for Christ* the ten collations meanwhile of the high
est fathers* that is* of the hermits who dwelled in the
57
us construe thus: "Debitum quod promissum beato papae cas
tor! in prefacione eorum voluminum que digesta sunt XII
libellis, domino adiuvante, de institutis cenobiorum et de
remediis octo principalium vitiorum." This is the subject.
"Sarcitum sit*" is the predicate. "Utcumque" is the Manner
of action, "in quo tenuitas nostri sufficit ingenii" is of
the same part. Whatever is of the same part, ought not to
be severed from it. What has been said then, in what way it
is to be understood, with respect to what thing, namely,
"utcumque solvere debitum quod promissum est." Therefore,
the nominative "debitum" is accepted for "quis." "Sarcitum
est" is accepted for "quid," "utcumque" is accepted for
Manner. And below, starting from the subject now: "Cre-
didi, o beatissime papa leonti, et sancte frater elladi,
interim consecrandas esse vobis potissimum has X collationes
summorum patrum, i., anachoretarum qui raorabantur in heremo
schiti [sic] quas ille," — Castor is understood— "flagrans
incomparabili studio sanctitatis iusserat conscribi simili
Scythian wilderness which he, burning with unequalled zeal
of holiness had ordered to be put together for a discourse
similar to his own, not counting, because of the great num
ber of loved ones, by how much it might weigh down the weak
necks to ponder, to you I have entrusted above all, 0 bles
sed Bishop Leo and holy Brother Elias, that they be pre
served . "
58
sibi serinone, non expendens pre multitudine caritatis quanto
86
pondere pregravaret infirmas cervices meas." This far the
predicate part which is called "quid." The subject part is
the nominative which is understood in the verb "credidi
(quia supradictus pontifex derelinquens nos migravit ad
87
christum)." This is the Cause or Reason. Here are stated
at any rate: Who,, What,, Why. For in the earlier line the
subjective part has been expanded. But can anyone break up
in the following either the latter or the former, so that
the first part may have two or three? Thus the above-
mentioned Seven Elements must always be inquired into and
set in order, especially where a sentence is unusually long
and, as is commonly the case, this is of great benefit to
the readers. Not without great trouble may the middle be
connected with the first and the first part with the last,
Q C
I have entrusted to blessed Bishop Leo and holy
Brother Elias, to you above all in the meantime the ten
collations to be preserved of the most distinguished fa
thers, that is, the hermits who were dwelling in the Scyth
ian wilderness, which he— Castor is understood— burning with
unequalled zeal of holiness had ordered to be put together
for a discourse similar to his own, not counting, because
of the great number of loved ones, by how much it might
weigh down my weak neck."
on
I have entrusted (because the above-mentioned
bishop, leaving us behind, has passed on to Christ)."
59
and the widely separated run together so that meaning be
comes clear, and one is able to discern "quis et quid fece-
88
rit vel passus sit" with the remaining Elements without
which it is impossible for anyone to speak in reference to
89
the whole matter.
VI. From where one must begin
when it is not necessary to
start the construction with
the subject
It is unsuitable to put the nominative ahead at a time
when a line begins with the oblique cases of the pronouns,
as it is in the Gospel: "Quia, cum impleta esset, educen-
tes, et secus litus sedentes, elegerunt bonos in vasa sua,
90
malas autem foras miserunt." The relation of this pro-
91
noun, looking back to the noun mentioned earlier, namely
®8"Who or what has acted or been acted upon."
®^The MS. reads here : ". . . ut sensus pateat et ut
possit dinosci 'qui et quid fecerit vel passus sit' cum
ceteris circumstantiis sine quibus ad integrum res quemquam
dicere inpossibile est." The plural form of res does not
allow a literal translation and I have tried to render the
meaning as it seems to me.
^Matthew 13:48.
91-The term "pronoun" for "quia" is not very clear here
because "quia" is usually considered a conjunction in clas
sical Latin. The Vulgate has "quam" instead, referring to
"sagenam."
"sagenara," is not suited to transferring this particle,
which has been put in first place, and saying "educentes
quia cum impleta esset." Not without reason are "qui,"
“quae," and "quod" called relative pronouns because, wher
ever they occur in first place, it is necessary for them to
be unmoved. It is also thus when either the verb, or the
adverb, or the conjunction, or the case of the oblique are
put ahead by necessity, both by the writers and by the read
ers and by those who study the construction; for that reason
the beginning must be made either by a predicate part or by
the remaining Elements belonging to the same. It is neces
sary that we next set forth everything. Beginning with the
verb: in declarative speech the verb is put at the begin
ning like that which was previously mentioned: "dixit quo-
que deus . " Likewise Augustine says: "putaverunt etiam
92
philosophi non unum mundum esse sed plurimos." To con
strue sentences of this kind otherwise, is to weaken rather,
^Cf. St. Augustine, De Civitate Dei (Leipzig, 1900),
Bk. VIII, ch. 2. "Philosophers have thought too [in addi
tion to other things which they have pondered] that there is
not one world but several." This is not an exact quotation
from Augustine but refers to his mention of Anaximander1s
belief: Everything had its origin from its proper begin
nings, which singular beginnings he held to be infinite, and
that worlds without end were thus in existence, all of which
had their successive origin, continuance, and end.
61
because., if we put the nominative first, "philosophi
93
etiam," it is understood to mean what has previously been
set apart for others than concerning philosophers, and this
second meaning is of use for the nearby nominative and not
the verb. It is also better that the verb be put first in
94
an interrogative situation, as is the phrase "venit llle. "
And as Virgil says: "Heu vidit inquam quis tantum sce-
95
lus.1 1 Beginning with Time. Very often also we tie the
verb to the adverb to put before the nominative when,
through the adverb, the latter are connected to the former:
96
"interea medium eneas iam classe tenebat certus iter."
For the construction is "interea tenebat iam eneas classe
97
medium iter certus eundi." The verb cannot be separated
from the preceding adverb. Also "Non aliter, si parva licet
componere magnis, Cecropias innatus apes amor urget habendi
^"Philosophers also [in addition to other people]."
"Does he come?"
95Cf. Virgil, Eclogues, The Loeb Classical Library
(Cambridge, Mass., 1950), Bk. IX, line 17. ~~
9^Aeneid, Bk. V, 1.
97"Meanwhile was holding now Aeneas with his fleet
mid-sea course steadfast of going."
munere quaeque suo." The construction is, beginning with
Manner: "Non aliter innatus amor urget habendi quaeque suo
munere., si licet componere parva magnis." This construction
forces us to place the subject among the predicate part,
lest we say conjointly "urget apes," or unless we repeat the
99
verb asking "quem urget? Cecropeas aves [sic] ." Pre
cisely in the same manner is constructed "Hinc tibi, qu§
semper, vicino ab limite sepes Hibleis apibus florem depasta
salicti sepe levi somnum suadebit inire susurro; hinc alta
100
sub rupe canet frondator ad auras." Beginning with Place
it is construed: "Hinc a vicino limite semper est sepes que
depasta florem salicti ab hibleis apibus sepe suadebit tibi
levi susurro inire sonum hinc sub alta rupe canet frondator
ad auram." This construction is so frequent that it is
wanting in hardly any writing. Starting with the Substance.
The nominative is also construed by necessity at the end of
the other words which precede: "Necnon et vario noctem
^®Virgil, Georgies, The Loeb Classical Library (Cam
bridge, Mass., 1932), Bk. IV, lines 176-177.
^ 1 believe this is an error by a scribe who put
"aves" for "apes."
■^-^Eclogues, Bk. I, lines 53-55 .
sermone trahebat infelix Dido." This construction com
mences by means of the part which is called "materia" or
Substance^ and thus we speak while construing grammatically.
(For your language reveals you.) We cannot say like this
"necnon et Dido trahebat noctem vario sermone," because the
preceding two conjunctions, one having been put after and
subordinated, serve the ablative. The way goes more round
about from the ablative to the verb and from there to the
nominative in the last place. In like manner, in sentences
beginning with adverbs of time "cum, quando, postquam," as
in similar ones, one must guard against putting the nomina
tive case and the indicative verb first. Those which have
been treated earlier, or are to be treated later, we may
consider in disorder. These sentences are cut up, that is,
separated by no Clause or Phrase, but in a free-flowing or
Continuous sentence with meaning suspended. They undergo
102
suspension of the verb with a repetition of the preceding
adverb in which those adverbs that are first in time are
following one after another in order, suspending meaning
^•^•fleneid, Bk. I, lines 748-749.
102The MS. reads here : "censuram verbi patiuntur . . . "
The translation of "censuram" poses a great problem and I
have tried to gather the meaning.
64
beyond the voice in an extended sentence. We mark the final
verb with a lowering of the voice itself* as this example of
Virgil: "Postquam res Asi^ Priamque evertere gentem in-
meritam visum superis" (here, because the verb "visum est"
appears and meaning is yet uncertain, it is made a phrase
and the voice is to be held in suspense) "ceciditque super
bum Ilium" (here also) "et omnis humo fumat Neptunia Troia,"
(also here) "diversa exilia et desertas querere terras
103
auguriis agimur divum." Here, at last, the voice is to
be lowered so that the end of the sentence may be under
stood, and in this last part is made clear "quis quid fece-
rit" and from here must be made a beginning, unless the
order of things be brought into disorder. Why? Do such
sentences possess no grammatical connection? And in what
way do they possess that which is common to all sentences:
varied and precise construction of cases and words such as
104
Priscian distils after being remembered. Here it is
^Aeneid, Bk. Ill, lines 1-5.
104priscianus, Institutiones Grammaticae, in Keil,
Grammatici Latini, III. All subsequent references to Pris-
cianus are to this volume of the Keil series. It is here
after cited as Priscian. There may be a play on words in
tended here, for the MS. spelling of "precianus" may also
stand for "Praecianus," a celebrated kind of wine mentioned
by Pliny and Macrobius.
65
necessary to treat this briefly* whereas from its very na
ture it must be learned more fully.
VII. About the construction of
cases by themselves and of
words with cases
As has been said earlier: the nominative forms of all
10
cases are put before verbs* but at times before absolutes
106
as "homo vivens spirat*" "Socrates philosophatur*" at
times before transitive verbs as "mater diligit filium*"
107
"uxor odit pelicem.” The same transitive verbs* when
108
they are active or neuter or deponents* are put before
105
According to the definitions and examples which
Priscian provided* the term "verbum absolutum" may be under
stood in two ways:
1. Bk. XVII* par. 93. A verb is absolute when it has no
case with it. Examples: "spirans vivo* ambulans cogito*"
that is* "breathing I live* walking I think."
2. Bk. XVIII* par. 135. Verbs are absolute* whether active
or passive* when they have a complete nominative construc
tion as in "Plato vivit* Aristoteles deambulat* Socrates
philosophatur; ego esurio* tu dormis* ille volat*" that is*
"Plato lives, Aristoteles takes a walk* Socrates philoso
phizes; I am hungry* you sleep* he moves swiftly."
106Cf. Priscian* Bk. XVIII* par. 135. "Living man
breathes." "Socrates philosophizes."
107Cf. Priscian, Bk. XVIII* pars. 65 and 127-128. "The
mother loves the son." "The wife hates the concubine."
10^As the term "transitive" implies, there is a passing
over of the action by means of cases. Cf. Priscian* Bk.
XVII* par. 93. Active verbs designate transitive actions
66
the oblique cases, some before the genitive as "abstineo
irae, others before the dative as "benedico tibi,
"noceo illi,still others before the accusative as
112 113
"doceo te," "amo te, " and some before the ablative as
with respect to human beings and these verbs are capable of
being turned into the passive voice. Neuter verbs also ex
press action with a transfer to any kind of following ac
cusative as "eo iter, ardeo uxorem," when "amo" is accepted
to mean "ardeo." Cf. Priscian, Bj|. XVIII, pars. 127-128.
These examples clarify the special nature of neuter verbs
which are neither active nor passive. Priscian seems to
identify them as being akin to the Greek middle voice with
its strong shading into reflexive meaning. Since he does
not separate reflexive from reciprocal forms, this would
permit identification of those verbs which have a reflexive,
but not reciprocal sense. In Bk. XVIII, par. 129, Priscian
shows in his examples that deponent verbs can also assume
transitive character with following accusatives: "sequor
hominem, loquor fabulam, 1 1 etc.
109Cf. Priscian, Bk. XVIII, pars. 64, 192. "I abstain
from anger." Verb used in neuter voice here.
110priscian, Bk. XVII, par. 93; Bk. XVIII, pars. 64,
130, 138, 144. "I bless you." Verb in neuter voice. In
late and ecclesiastical Latin the verb is rarely used with
dative, but with accusative.
i;L1Cf. Priscian, Bk. XVII, pars. 83, 93, 106* Bk.
XVIII, pars. 64, 130, 138. "I do harm to him." Verb in
neuter voice.
112Cf. Priscian, Bk. XVII, pars. 93, 106; Bk. XVIII,
par. 64. "I teach you." Verb in active voice.
113Cf. Priscian, Bk. XVIII, pars. 127, 139, "I love
you." Verb in active voice.
67
114
"potior ilia re/' "fruor ratione, " "utor nummo. 1 1 If they
are passive, they are put only before the ablative as
"doceor a te," "amor ab illo.""^^ When the verb is put be
fore the nominative, as has been mentioned before, then the
nominatives, which are not capable of being understood by
themselves and therefore are invoked for anything, are put
before the various cases. Some before the genitive as
116
"heres patris," "uxor mariti," the dative as "carus deo,"
117
"utilis hominibus,” before accusative only figuratively
118
as "celer pedes," "latus humeros," before the ablative as
119
"dignus laude," "mactus virtute." Sometimes the verb is
-*-^Cf. Priscian, Bk. XVII, par. 93; Bk. XVIII, pars.
64, 163. "I take possession of this thing." "I delight in
reason." "I make use of money." Verbs are deponents.
• * ‘^~’ Cf. Priscian, Bk. XVII, par. 67; Bk. XVIII, pars.
127, 139. "I am taught by you." "I am loved by him."
l-^Cf. Priscian, Bk. XVIII, par. 13. "An heir of the
father." "The wife of the husband."
H 7 cf. Priscian, Bk. XVIII, par. 24. "Beloved by God."
"Useful to men."
H®Cf. Priscian, Bk. XVIII, par. 27. "Swift of foot."
"Wide of shoulders." Allen and Greenough, New Latin Gram
mar , par. 397b. "The so-called synecdochical or Greek ac
cusative, found in poetry and later Latin, is used to denote
the part affected."
^•■^Cf. Priscian, Bk. XVIII, pars. 28-29. "Worthy of
praise." "Honored in merit."
68
put before an oblique case., drawing after itself other ob-
120
lique cases as "fac te immemorem muri^ fratrum tuorum."
One and the same verb may be construed at one time with two
oblique cases without preposition, or with two other oblique
cases with a preposition, as "misereor tui; misereor
121
illi." (Genitive and dative.) "Misereor super ilium;
122
misereor super illo." (Accusative and ablative.) Nomi
natives also have a double construction with respect to ob
lique cases as "amicus illius; amicus illi," "socius illius;
12 3
socius illi." And because they are transitive verbs, we
can see the direction in which they move. It is plain from
the nominative to the oblique case, if it is a transitive
verb, that is, from the agent to the one receiving the ac-
124
tion, as "Varro docet Ciceronem." If the verb is
■*-^Source unknown. "Make yourself unmindful of the
affronts of your brothers."
121Martianus, Bk. Ill, par. 324. Cf. Priscianus, Bk.
XVII, pars. 93, 106; Bk. XVIII, par. 64. "I feel pity for
you." "I feel pity for him."
122Cf. Priscian, Bk. XVII, par. 174. "I have pity con
cerning him."
123Cf. priscian, Bk. XVII, par. 126; Bk. XVIII, pars.
10, 11. "A friend of his." "A friend to him." "A compan
ion of his." "A companion to him."
■^ 2^Cf. Priscian, Bk. XVII, par. 67; Bk. XVIII, par.
127. "Varro teaches Cicero."
69
passive., the transition is made from the oblique to the
125
nominative case, as "Cicero docetur a Varrone." And so,
unless it is a matter of discernment, as "dicit quoque
deus," which was mentioned before, it is a matter of either
the adverb, or the conjunction, or, at least, of any reason
whatever, be it stated or not stated, that the verb, which
by nature is posterior, cannot be construed before the nomi
native, nor after the same manner the oblique case before
the verb. For the nominative draws the verb after itself,
also the verb the oblique case and if that oblique case is
not understood by itself, it is necessary that the latter
draws other parts of speech until it reaches full compre
hension. An example is "omnis homo primum ponit vinum
bonum." Here, because the adverb, which is "primum," and
the adjective, which is "bonum," point beyond themselves,
there follows "et cum inebriati fuerint et id quod deterius
126
est." Verbs that are intransitives are named absolute
127
verbs, so-called idiopatha, that is, reciprocal. And if
l 7 5
Cf. Priscian, Bk. XVII, par. 67; Bk. XVIII, par.
127. "Cicero is taught by Varro."
126John 2 :10.
12^Cf. Priscian, Bk. XVIII, par. 135. Priscian states
that the reciprocal verb and its passive, which the Greeks
70
they are absolute, why are they absolute? It is in conse
quence of connection to oblique cases, as is "homo vivit; .
homo spirat." Reciprocal means, turning back an occurrence
12 8
from oneself to oneself. Why are they called reciprocals
if they are not made retrograde to the same from which they
are seen to extend to others, as "homo sudatur," "homo
129
febricitat." But for the rest see Priscianus. It is
necessary to know the method of construction to be heeded.
From whatever part they may begin, whether from the subjec
tive because of its merit, whether from any other part de
sired because of the order of things which are arranged in
call idiopatha, may also be referred to in an absolute sense
as in "rubeo, horreo, tepeo, ferveo," that is, "I blush, I
shudder, I am warm, I am heated."
^®At first glance this statement about the connection
of oblique cases and absolute verbs seems to contradict
Priscian's earlier opinion. He set forth that absolute
verbs are meaningful with no case or a nominative construc
tion. The explanation may perhaps be found in the continu
ation of the paragraph mentioned in note 126. It states
there that it is permitted to add an ablative to all verbs
when we thereby indicate the cause. He gives these exam
ples: "Plato vivit anima," that is, "per animam"; "Aristo
teles deambulat pedibus," that is, "per pedes"; "Socrates
philosophatur sapientia," that is, "per sapientiam." All of
these were earlier identified as absolutes. There appears
to be an overlapping of reflexive and reciprocal sense here,
but Priscian does not so distinguish.
■ * - 2^"Man sweats." "Man fevers."
71
the same order as they are to be read. "First is to destroy
130
Troy rather than exile her citizens." After the order of
things has been heeded in a construction, single words ar
ranged by the whim of the writer, by constructing a differ
ent order, may prove another principle of writers determined
in advance. But you say, by chance grammarians have taught
what in each case is to be joined and not to be placed
first. However much Donatus might say "the ablative serves
comparisons," he nevertheless did not say it must be placed
131 .
first. But who does not know that the nominative case,
which is uninflected, must be put before the inflected or
oblique? Or that the word which passes into the oblique is
to be put before the latter, because first is always a
transition, then it is reached, and the active is always the
prior and then the passive. In a verb it is active, in an
oblique case it becomes passive, and for that reason the
■*-^Source unknown. This may be the author's own coin
age to illuminate a grammatical principle of precedence by a
fanciful allusion to the Aeneid. The active meaning of "to
banish, exile a person" is late Latin usage for exsulare.
In classical use it is neuter and means "to be an exile or
banished person."
131^ayian(j Johnson Chase, "The Ars Minor of Donatus,"
University of Wisconsin Studies in the Social Sciences and
History, No. 11 (Madison, 1926), p. 29.
verb holds the spot midway between the nominative and the
oblique, because the nominative directs the verb into the
oblique. We may hold to this rule and return to arranging
the above example., beginning with Time: "Postquam visum est
superis evertere res Asiq et immeritam gentem Priami et
postquam superbum Ilium cecidit et omnis Neptunia Troia
fumavit humo agimur auguriis divum querere diversa exilia et
132
diversas terras." In this manner is made as the subjec
tive part of speech what is worthier than the predicate, or
rather it befits the latter that it ought not to have first
place in a selection to be construed, because we follow the
order of things better when the one is chosen to come after
the other. Consequently, the subject is by nature always
before the predicate, but the construction must not always
start with it. This twofold rule of construction is ob
served because, when items of syntax are alike and words are
to be transferred as in the above example, at some time one
will change place without the other as in this latest exam
ple. This is also the pattern of Priscian in his introduc
tion: "Cum omnis eloquentie doctrinam et omne studiorum
genus sapienti^ luce prefulgens a grecorum fontibus
1 3 2 Cf . Aeneid, Bk. Ill, lines 1 - 5 .
73
derivatum latinos invenio proprio sermone celebrasse" (here
comes the first pause) "et in omnibus illorum vestigia
liberalibus artibus consecutos video," (here the second)
"nec solum in his que emendate ab illis sunt scripta, sed
etiam quosdam errores eorum amore doctorum grecorum deceptos
imitari, 1 1 (here the third) "cuius auctores quanto sunt
iuniores, tanto perspicatiores, et ingeniis floruisse et
diligentia valuisse et omnium iuditio confirmantur erudi-
tissimorum" (here, because the reason has been inserted and
is to be accepted outside of this sentence, as it were, and
because it is a Clause rather than a Phrase, the voice is
not to pause, but is to be altered in some manner) "quid
133 134
enim herodiani artibus cercius, quid appollonii
scrupulosis questionibus enucleatius possit inveniri?"
(Interrogatives are to be read here.) "Cum igitur eos omnia
133
Wilhelm von Christ, Geschichte der griechischen
Literatur (Munchen, 1912-1924), VII, part 2, sec. 2, 887.
Herodianos, son and pupil of Apollonius, was born in Alex
andria but left early for Rome where he became a favorite of
the Emperor M. Aurelius. At his suggestion he wrote his
principal work, dealing with prosody.
•'•^von Christ, pp. 883-884. In the second century A.D.
Apollonius Dyskolos of Alexandria created in systematic form
the bases for phonology, morphology, and syntax. Priscian,
who followed him and Herodianos especially, called Apollo
nius maximus auctor artis grammaticae in his own Institu-
tiones Grammaticae, Bk. XI, par. 1.
fere vitia, quecumque antiquorum commentariis relicta artis
grammatice, expurgasse comperio" (the fourth pause here)
"certisque rationis legibus emendasse," (here the fifth)
"nostrorum autem neminem post illos immitatorem eorum ex-
titisse, quippe in neglegentia cadentibus studiis litterarum
propter inoppiam scriptorum, 1 1 (here the sixth) . What has
been said thus far is applicable to the part which is called.
the Cause for that which is done. It continues "quamvis
audacter, sed non impudenter ut puto, conatus sum pro viri-
bus rem arduam quidem, sed offitio professionis non indeb-
itam, supra nominatorum precepta virorum, qu$ congrua sunt
visa, in latinum transferre sermonem." Here are "quis quid
fecerit" and "qualiter fecerit," and here the voice is to be
lowered. In the verb, I venture, the nominative is under
stood which is the subjective part of this sentence from
which part a beginning must not be made, if this is to har
monize with the order of things. We therefore construe in
this manner, beginning with the Cause or Reason: "Cum in-
venio latinos celebrasse proprio sermone doctrinam omnis
eloquenti^ et omne genus studiorum prefulgens luce sapientie
derivatum a fontibus grecorum, et cum video eos consecutos
vestigia eorum in omnibus liberalibus artibus, nec solum
immutari in his que emendate scripta sunt ab illis, sed et
75
deceptos amore doctorum grecorum .imitari quosdam errores
eorum in quibus greca vetustissima grammatica ars maxime
arguitur peccassej cuius auctores confirmantur iudicio
omnium eruditissimorum, quanto iuniores sunt tanto perspi-
catiores floruisse ingeniis et valuisse diligentia. Quid
enim possit inveniri cercius artibus herodiani? Quid possit
inveniri enucleatius scrupulosis questionibus apollonii?
Cum igitur comperio eos expurgasse omnia fere vitia gramma
tics artis quecumque relicta sunt commentariis antiquorum
et emendasse certis legibus rationis neminem autem nostrorum
extitisse post illos imitatorem eorum, quippe cadentibus
studiis litterarum in neglegentiam propter inopiam scrip
torum, conatus sum quidem rem quamvis audacter, sed ut puto
non impudenter arduam pro viribus sed non indebitam officio
professionis. Quid est hoc? Transferre in latinum sermonem
precepta supra nominatorum virorum que congrua visa
135
sunt." A similar sentence may be taken out of Augustine,
135 > .
Priscianus, Institutiones Grammaticae m Keil,
Grammatici Latini, II, Bk. I, Introduction. "When I find
the Latins to have repeated with their own speech the teach
ing of all eloquence and the whole class of studies shining
with the light of wisdom derived from Greek sources, and
when I see them following their footsteps in all liberal
arts, not only to be changed in them which were in amended
form written down by them, but also misled by love of the
learned Greeks into imitating their own mistakes in which
76
with meaning pending* Continuous, and cut-up besides.
Speaking about the first man he said: "Quia ergo contemptus
est deus iubens qui creaverat," (here the first pause) "qui
ad suam imaginem fecerat," (here the second) "qui ceteris
animalibus preposuerat," (here the third) "qui in paradiso
constituerat," (here the fourth) "qui rerum omnium copia
[sic] salutisque prestiterat," (here the fifth) "qui pre-
ceptis nec pluribus nec grandibus nec difficilibus onera-
verat," (sixth) "sed uno brevissimo atque levissimo ad
obedientie salubritatem adminiculaverat quo earn creaturam
cui libera servitus expediret se esse dominum commonebat,"
(seventh). Thus far the Reason. Then follows the subject
the most ancient Greek grammatical learning is proved very
strongly to have erred, whose authors are demonstrated in
the judgement of all the most learned men, the younger they
are the more acute, to have abounded in clever thoughts and
to have been strong in attentiveness. What can possibly be
discovered closer to the learning of Herodianos? What can
be found clearer than the precise investigations of Apollo
nius? When I learn, therefore, that they have cleared for
the most part all errors of grammatical learning that were
left in the commentaries of the ancients and have amended
with particular laws of reason .no -one of ours, to have pro
duced after them their copyist, in fact, with the studies of
letters falling into neglect because of the lack of writers,
I have also undertaken the matter, boldly if you will, but
as I believe not imprudently, a difficult task in proportion
to my strength, but not one unduly so considering the func
tion of the profession. What is it? To transfer into Latin
speech the rules of the famous men above which appeared
suitable.
with the predicate. "Justa dampnatio subsecuta est."
Here the voice is lowered so that the end may be understood,
and because the reason of damnation is earlier than the dam
nation itself, it behooves us to hold to this order and to
begin the construction with the Reason or Cause which occurs
earlier. As the Phrases of this sentence are brief, they
also allow for an easy construction, beginning with the
Reason: "Quia ergo deus qui creaverat iubens contemptus est
qui fecerat ad imaginem suam, qui preposuerat ceteris ani-
malibus, qui constituerat in paradyso, qui prestiterat
copiam omnium rerum et salutis, quis nec oneraverat pluribus
preceptis nec grandibus nec difficilibus, sed adminicula-
verat ad salubritatem uno brevissimo atque levissimo pre-
cepto obediently, qui commonebat earn creaturam cui libera
sersuitus [sic] expediret esse se dominumj iusta dampnatio
subsecuta est." It must be noted in these three examples
that, after the particles have first been put ahead, later,
with them being removed from the examples because they were
Phrases, the result will be so many Clauses that the dis
course will be less Periodic or properly constructed. Fewer
words make a Clause, which is complete, rather than a
■^^Augustine, De Civitate Dei, Bk. XIV, ch. 15.
78
Phrase, which is incomplete- "Cicero disputat" is also com
plete ; it is a Clause, and it is an assertion. "Quia Cicero
137
disputat" is neither complete, nor a Clause, nor an as
sertion. Let us go to that sentence of Cassian which begins
thus in the second part of the Conlationes: "Cum in heremo
Scithi, ubi monachorum probatissimi patres et omnis commora-
batur perfectio, abbatem Moysen, qui vehementius inter illos
egregios flores non solum in actuali, verum etiam in theor-
ica virtute institutione eius fundari cupiens expetissem,"
(here an interruption of the first Phrase) "unS cum sancto
Germano cum quo mihi ab ipso tirocinio ac rudimentis mili-
cie spiritalis ita individuum deinceps contubernium tarn in
cenobio quam in heremo fuit, ut cuncti ad significandam
soliditatis ac propositi sensusque nostri parilitatem pro-
nunciarent unam mentem atque unam animam inesse duobus cor-
poribus," (second) "pariterque ab eodem abbate ediffica-
tionis sermonem fusis lacrimis ambiremus," (third) "quippe
cuius hunc animi rigorem manifestissime noveramus, ut nisi
fideliter desiderantibus et cum omni cordis contritione
querentibus nequaquam penitus adquiesceret perfectionis
aperire doctrinam, 1 1 (fourth) "ne seculorum si passim vel
137"Because cicero argues ..."
nolentibus earn vel tepide sicientibus earn exhiberet, res
necessarias et que solis perfectionem cupientibus debent
esse comperte, indignis et fastidiose suscipientibus pandens
aut iactanti^ vitium aut predicionis crimen videretur in-
currere," (fifth] these are all to be understood for When)
138
"tandem fatigatus precibus nostris ita exorsus est."
Here the end is joined with a lowering of the voice, and it
is also the subject with the predicate. These Phrases are
such that the second serves the first, the fourth the third,
139
and the fifth the fourth. For in the second one the
140
first is filled out because, while Phrases of this kind
are some groupings together of words which are ended in a
verb, that, however, does not conclude but interrupt the
comprehension. "Cum expetissem" provides the first break,
the second is made by repetition or with the understanding
1 3R
Iohannis Cassianus, Conlationes, pars I, p. 7.
•^^Max Jellinek, Geschichte der neuhochdeutschen Gram-
mat ik (Heidelberg, 1913-1914), I, 470. The author calls
attention to the "serving” phrase which we would consider a
dependent clause.
•*-^Allen and Greenough, New Latin Grammar, par. 556,
note. MS. reads "dum . . . sint." In later writers dum
sometimes takes the subjunctive when the classical usage
would require the indicative. Dum and subjunctive mean
"until." This does not fit here and I translate it as dum
and indicative which mean "while."
80
of the same verb in such a manner as "cum expetissem una
cum gerraano." The two Phrases could be drawn together into
one if it would say "cum expetissemus ego et gerraanus."
Then the first is completed in the second one. What is
called in the third "fusis lacrimis" is given back its ref
erence in the fourth, because of the rigor of his passion
from which this severity, in fact, stems. In the fifth
there are revealed three Phrases in this manner. They serve
two. This also must be kept in mind, lest someone begin to
make mistakes in the number of Phrases, because of the many
verbs which sometimes are found in one Phrase. The first
Phrase of this sentence ends "cum expetissem." Two others
are interspersed, that is, "commorabatur" and "flagrabat"
which do not conclude the Phrase, but are said to have ref
erence. Reference is made to "Scithi" which is meant when
"commorabatur" appears. Reference is made to "Moysen" which
is intended for "qui flagrabat." Thus, and in other verbs,
a mistake must be guarded against. Next the order of con
struction. First is "ad abbatem in heremum venire," then
"volentem tacere ad sermonem excitari." Quickly we move on,
beginning with Time: "Cum expetissem abbatem Moysen in
heremo Scithi ubi probatissimi patres monachorum et omnis
perfectio commorabatur, qui Moyses vehementius flagrabat
81
inter illos egreios fsic] flores, non solum in actuali,
verum etiam in theorica virtute," (why "expetissem"?) "cu-
piens fundari institutione eius cum expetissem eum, una cum
sancto Germano, cum quo mihi contubernium fuit ab ipso
tyrocinio ac rudimentis spiritalis militiq tarn in cenobio
quam in heremo. Ita deinceps individuum ut cuncti pronunti-
arent unam mentem atque unam animam inesse duobus corpori-
buSj" (why?) "ad significandam parilitatem sodalitatis ac
propositi sensusque nostri et cum pariter ambirens [sic]
fusis lacrimis, sermonem edificationis ab eodem abbate."
Why "fusis lacrimis"? "Quippe, cuius animi hunc rigorem
manifestissime noveramus ut nequaquam penitus adquiesceret
aperire doctrinam perfectionis nisi fideliter desiderantibus
et querentibus cum omni contritione cordis, ne scilicet
videretur incurrere aut vitium iactantie aut crimen perdi-
cionis si passim exhiberet earn vel nolentibus vel tepide
sicientibus pandens res necessarias et qu<= debent comperte
esse solis cupientibus perfectionem," (for whom unfolding?)
"indignis et fastidiose suscipientibus. Tandem fatigatus
141
nostris precibus ita exorsus est." Note that the
141"when in the Scithian wilderness where the most ex
cellent fathers of the monks and all perfection abode, I
had eagerly longed for Abbot Moses, who blazed more ardently
82
pronouns in the oblique do not allow themselves to be put
before the verbj so we say "noveramus rigorem cuius animi,"
because a relative that refers to the preceding necessarily
takes the first place and has been mentioned earlier. Among
these constructions are also counted those which start from
an oblique case in which some temporal adverb is used.
Several of the above mentioned are understood to be "cum,"
"quando" or "postquam," as is beginning with Time: "Tran-
sito iordane filii israel," pause here, "venerunt in gal-
142
gala." And, "in exitu israel de egypto," pause, "domus
among these distinguished ornaments not only in active but,
in truth, in contemplative moral perfection, being anxious
to be instructed through his education, in company with St.
Germain (with whom I lived together in a tent from the first
campaign and in the initial attempts of spiritual warfare
and had become so inseparable thereafter in the monastery as
well as in the wilderness, that all would proclaim that one
mind and one soul dwelled within the two bodies for the pur
pose of indicating the equality of our brotherhood and reso
lution) we both at the same time, with streaming tears,
sought to gain an edifying speech from the abbot (whose in
flexibility of mind we most clearly knew and that he would
by no means be completely satisfied with laying bare the
Doctrine of Perfection except for those faithfully desiring
it and searching for it with heartfelt contrition, lest he
would seem to commit either the fault of boasting or the
offense of eternal damnation if he displayed the Doctrine
far and wide, either to those unwilling or lukewarmly
thirsting, unfolding the requisite matters, which ought to
be on good authority for those truly seeking perfection, for
the unworthy and those scornfully accepting); finally, being
vexed with our entreaties, he began."
. Joshua 3-5.
iacob de populo barbaro,” pause, "facta est iudea sanctifi-
143
catio eius." Lowering of the voice. "In exitu israel de
egypto, et in exitu domus iacob de populo barbaro," means,
when Israel and the house of Jacob went forth from Egypt and
from the foreign people, the sanctification of the Jews was
accomplished. In_like manner "in illo tempore: dixit iesus
144 145
discipulis suis." "In diebus illis : dixit esaias."
That is to say, in those days they have said this and that.
But construing differently, beginning from the nominative,
the order of time is turned backwards. An example like that
from Virgil: "Vere novo, gelidus canis cum montibus humor
liquitur et Zephero putris se gleba resolvit, depresso in-
146 .
cipiat iam turn mihi taurus aratro mgemere," is con
structed, beginning with Time: "Cum intrat vernum tempus,"
pause here, "et cum liquitur gelidus humor in canis montibus
et nic et cum putris gleba resolvit se zephiro et hie iam
143Psalm 113 :l-2.
144proprium Missarum de Tempore in Romisches Sonntags-
mebbuch, ed. Benediktiner der Erzabtei Beuron (Freiburg,
1962), passim. "At that time: Jesus spoke to his disci-
ples . "
145propriUm Missarum, cf. Lectio (Is. 7:10-15), March
25, Annunciation. "In those days: Isaias said ..."
146virgil, Georgies, Bk. I, lines 43-45.
turn incipiat mihi taurus gemere depresso aratro." Lowering
of voice. The verb is placed before the nominative because
of the adverb. Similar are the comparatives of a proposi
tion, which are to be read in like fashion, in which adverbs
of comparison "velud, quasi, ceu, sicut, " or relative pro
nouns "qualis, quantus" do not permit the order to change.
They have the characteristics of being placed first and
tending to a consequential sequence. Put first are "velud,
quasi, ceu, sicut" and "ita, sic” reply to them. Exactly
alike are "qualis, quantus" put first and "talis, tantus"
respond. In Virgil there are many comparisons of this kind,
also comparisons in the tenth book of the Aeneid: "Ac velud
ille canum morsu de montibus altis actus aper, multos Vesu-
lus quern pinifer annos defendit multos palus Laurentia,
silva pastus arundinea, postquam inter recia ventum est,
substitit infremuitque ferox et inhorruit armos nec cuiquam
irasci propiusque accedere virtus, sed iaculis tutisque
procul clamoribus instant, haut aliter, iuste quibus est
Mezentius ire. Nulli [sic} est animus stricto ocurrere
147
ferro." The phrases of this piece are to be construed
according to proper order, beginning with Manner; "Ac velud
^ ^ Aeneid, Bk. X, lines 707-715 .
ille aper quem pinifer Vesulus defendit multos annos et quem
Laurentia palus defendit multos annos pastum arundinea silva
actus morsu canum de montibus altis postquam ventum est
inter retia substitit" (first pause here) "et ferox in-
fremit" (second) "et inhorruit armos" (third) "nec virtus
est cuiquam irasci" (fourth) "vel propius accedere," (fifth)
"sed procul instant tutis iaculis et clamoribus," (sixth;
the final Clause follows with a lowering of the voice) "haut
aliter non est animus illicorum quibus Mezentius est iuste
ire concurrere stricto ferro." The natural order, there-
r
fore, is: "Velud aper haut aliter Mezentius ac velut nemo
audet concurrere apro haut aliter, nemo audent concurrere
Mezentio velud nemo audet concurrere apro.'1 The same mean
ing is expressed, but the order is disturbed by beginning
with Manner. The order must be recognized in all compari-
148
sons of this kind as "qualis Vergilius talis Homerus."
149
"Quantus Hector tantus Eneas." "Quod homines tot sen-
150
tentie." "Quotus in pnmo versu numeri senarius totus
^®Cf. Priscian, Bk. XVII, pars. 32, 38. "As Virgil so
Homer.
•^^Cf. ibid. "So great Hector as Aeneas."
150p_ Terentius Afer, Phormio (London, n.d.), II, 4,
14. Cf. Priscian, Bk. XVII, par. 121. "As many men as
opinions."
86
„151
m secundo sexagenarius.
VIII. How many constructions
are there?
There are as many constructions as there are beginnings
of them, and so many beginnings as also Elements with which
in turn every text and every construction is to be started.
Different is one that starts with the subject from one that
starts with the Place, or with Time, or with the Reason, or
with Manner, or with Substance, as has been made clear ear
lier by examples. There is added to these that which begins
with a relative pronoun that is not the first word, for the
reason that is must follow when something else precedes.
IX. What is common to these
constructions?
This common factor is that which is common to cases
among themselves, or common to verbs with cases, and to all
parts of speech, and to the nonessentials common to these
constructions. This is what compels us, according to a
certain law, to recall those that are separated and dis
persed a long way off, and to connect them with one another,
151Cf. Priscian, Bk. XVII, pars. 23, 32, 39. "As six
in number in the first line, so six hundred in the second."
as in Cassian where more than thirty words have been inter-
152
posed between "cum" and "expetissem." Thus in Priscian
15 3
"cum" and "inveniOj" and in Virgil with several words
which have been interspersed between "velut" and "substi-
154
tit," and yet who does not know how the adverb belongs
together with the verb? He who rejects this is willing to
speak and recite without rules.
X. What kind is more in use?
For the sake of avoiding difficulty, the pause of many
Phrases is scarcely found in all the sequences of the Old
and New Testament, unless the translator has no choice
through necessity, as in Jeremiah: "Et vir si fuerit ius-
tus," (first pause) "et fecerit iudicium et iusticiam"
(second) "in montibus non commederit" (third) "et oculos
suos non levaverit ad idola domus israel" (fourth) "et
uxorem proximi sui non violaverit" (fifth) "et ad mulierem
menstruatam non accesserit" (sixth) "et hominem non con-
tristaverit" (seventh) "pignus debitori reddiderit (eighth)
152
Cf. note 141. Iohannis Cassianus, Conlationes, pars
I, p. 7.
153priScian, Bk. I, Introduction. Cf. note 135.
-l^Aeneid, Bk. X, lines 707-715 .
"per vim nihil rapuerit" (ninth) "panem suum esurienti
dederit" (tenth) "et nudum operuerit vestimento" (eleventh)
"ad usuram non commodaverit" (twelfth) "et amplius non
acceperit" (thirteenth) "ab iniquitate manum suam aver-
terit" (fourteenth) "iudicium verum fecerit inter virum et
virum" (fifteenth) "in preceptis meis ambulaverit" (six-
155
teenth) "et iuditia mea custodierit ut faciat veritatem"
(seventeenth). Thus far this belongs to the subject. Then
follows the predicate with a lowering of the voice: he is
"iustus." (The predicate itself is not extended further,
but "iustus" is defined by heaping up virtues and the
Phrases could not be interrupted until they lengthened the
156
verses so greatly.) Because of the shortness of the
Phrases, there is no difficulty of construction here. It
happens also that in a long verse scarcely any word can be
transposed through the construction, as in the example of
155The author has mistaken his prophet. The passage is
to be found in Ezekiel 18:5-9.
156The first part, "que prolixio non studio facta est,"
proved very troublesome and obscure in literal translation,
viz., "this is not done by a more extended application." I
have attempted to extract the sense from this sentence and
express it.
89
157
Augustine concerning the philosopher Jamblichus: "1Igi-
tur homines' inquit 'ratione plaudentes, oratione pollentes,
immortalihus animis, moribundis membris, levibus et anxiis
mentibus, brutis et obnoxiis corporibus, dissimilibus mori-
busj similibus erroribus, permeati audatiam [sic], pertinaci
spe, casso labore, fortuna caduca, singillatim mortales,
cuncti tamen universo genere perpetui, vicissim sufficienda
prole, mutabiles volucri tempore, tarda sapientia, cita
158
morte, querula vita, terras incolunt.1" This whole line
is the subject up to the predicate with which it is con
cluded, "terras incolunt." And what must be changed here
out of care for the construction, unless you only reverse
"plaudentes ratione, pollentes oratione incolunt terras"?
Likewise in the psalm "Ignis, grando, nix, glacies, et spe
cies procellarum, qu^ faciunt verbum eius, montes et omnes
colles, ligna fructifera, et omnes cedri, bestie et universa
pecora, serpentes, et volucres pennat^, reges terr^, et
omnes populi, principes et omnes iudices terr^, iuvenes et
159
virgines, senes cum iunioribus laudent nomen domini,"
i C7
Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares, The Loeb Classical
Library (Cambridge, Mass., 1960), XV, 1.
l ^ A u g u s t i n e , pe Civitate Dei. Bk. IX, ch. 8.
159Psalm 148:8-12.
they have been put in a fixed order. But this discourse
with the prolonged subject and the compressed predicate is
not declarative;, but exhortative or rather imperative,, where
all creatures are bid to praise God. It seems also to have
the same immutable order which in the book of Daniel is the
imperative discourse of the king: "Nunc, ergo, si estis
parati, sydrac, misac, et abdenago, quacumque hora audieri-
tis sonitum tub^, fistule, et cithar^, sarabuce et psalterii,
et sinphoni^, procidentes adorate statuam quam feci."^0
Concerning declarative discourse, we may say, it alone ans
wers to truth and falsehood, drawing a parallel to impera
tive, deprecative, and other sentences because in them also
Clauses, and Phrases, and the Elements of speech are to be
distinguished, for example: "Sidrac, mysac, et abdenago,"
is the subject, "procidentes adorate statuam quam feci, " the
predicate, "quacumque hora audieritis musicam," tells When,
"si estis parati," is the Reason.
■^^Daniel 3:15.
91
XI. Inquiry. It is to be inves
tigated whether those Phrases
which are not ended with in
dividual verbs are to be read
with the voice held.
I cite as examples those that were mentioned before:
"volucri tempore," "tarda sapientia," "cita morte," "querula
161 162
vita," or "ignis, grando, nix," "ut tubq, fistul^,
163
cythar^, sambucq, et psalterii," where single or very few
words sound separately, which happens where many essentials
or nonessentials are accumulated which are properly called
asyndeta in discourse, because they are drawn forth piece
meal, or one by one, or even in heaps. These Phrases, to
which individually separate verbs are joined, are wont to
declare falsely the end of the not yet properly terminated
sentence. Often the less learned listener is deceived from
this, unless they are read with a holding of the voice. All
import has indeed been understood, nor is the sentence fin
ished without it. On the other hand, the verb hardly closes
the sentence at all, as long as placed near it are the in
definite particles "cum, quando, si, nisi, postquam," or
the indefinite or relative pronouns "qui, qualis, quantus,
■''Augustine, De Civitate Dei, Bk. IX, ch. 8.
162Psalm 148:8-12. 163Daniel 3:15.
92
quot, quotus," or the comparative adverbs "sicut, velud,
quemadmodum," and similar ones. For the purpose of discern
ing when verbs close or do not close a sentence, it is
necessary that the elevation and depression of the voice
resound in them. To be sure, if the verb does not sound in
a Phrase, yet is expected, as it is in "ignis, grando, nix,"
we can understand that it is not yet the end of the sen
tence. In Continuous discourse there is either no Phrase,
164
as in "Christus assistens pontifex futurorumbonorum, " or
such which is unable to bring out the complete meaning as
"et vir si fuerit iustus." Where such a Phrase is found
which can separate the sense, as in "et attalo et asar-
166
ci," this kind cannot be called Continuous. It is cut
off from the preceding verb. Yet if the verb does not pre-
16 V
cede, but is anticipated, as in "ignis, grando, nix," it
is called Continuous or free-flowing. This kind of writing
must indeed be known to the authors. The best to be pro
duced and especially used is what varies in Continuous and
Periodic or properly divided discourse, as in Augustine's
De Civitate Dei and in others of his different works, and
^^Hebrews 9:11-12. ^^Ezekiel 18:5-9.
166I Macc. 15:22-23. 167Psalm 148:8-12.
93
in Orosius, Cassianus3 and the rest.
XII. What certain authors have
said ambiguously concerning
these kinds.
Some scholars wished every Phrase to be made into a
Period, regardless. But if this is true, it is not Contin
uous discourse, save only when there is neither Clause nor
Phrase. Remigius has maintained this also in his short
treatise which he wrote on Martianus: "That kind of style
is lacking in connection with clauses, phrases, and per-
168
iods." It is uncertain, for all that, whether he has
said this concerning every Phrase, because there is a Phrase
which cuts the sentence apart, and there is a Phrase which
does not divide the sentence. Martianus certainly begins to
show what connected discourse is from Cicero's Oratio pro
Milone in these few words: "'Occidi non spurium melium quod
169
annone levande iacturis,1" and so forth. Although these
words do not suffice as an example for those who do not read
the book, Remigius, nevertheless, coming to this spot in
168
Cora Lutz, Remiqii Autissiodorensis Commentum in
Martianum (Leiden, 1962-1965), II, 102.
Ifc^Cicero, Oratio pro T. Annio Milone. XXVII, in Mar
tianus, Bk. V, par. 526.
94
Cicero from the better known Scriptures, has not given any
other example,, which he certainly should have. But Isidor,
as if there were no Continuous mode of expressing discourse,
has given such a definition: "Every discourse is composed
by means of words, phrases, clauses, and periods. A phrase
is made out of the joining of words, a clause out of phra-
170
ses, a period out of clauses." From it he has given so
171
many orders by means of pointing: the first to the
Phrase which is called a smaller order because of the point
set under the letter; the second to the Clause which is
called medium order because the point is placed at the mid
dle of the letter; the third order to the Clause which is
called the highest order because it terminates the whole
■^^Isidor of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Oriqinum
(London, 1911), Bk. II, 18, 1-2.
173-Cf. isidor, Bk. I, 20, 1-6. "Positura or pointing
is a manner of distinguishing meaning through clauses,
phrases, and periodic construction. It is called pointing
either because it is added by dots being placed, or because
the voice is lowered there for the sake of a distinctive
pause. The Greeks call them thesis, the Latins posituras.1 1
Of interest is also this comment in Ehrismann, Geschichte
der deutschen Literatur, I, 411: "Auch eine ziemlich regel-
maBige Interpunktion hat Notker angewendet. Er gebraucht
gewohnlich den Punkt, der im Inneren eines Satzgefuges die
Bedeutung unseres Kommas hat, aber noch haufiger gesetzt
wird, auch nach ganz kurzen Satzteilen, wo wir gar kein
Zeichen anbringen wurden. Am Ende des Satzes entspricht er
unserem Punkt."
sentence, the point having been placed at the top of the
letter. Let us inquire about these three interpunctions,
according to the mode in each discourse, in order that we
may see whether each discourse can be made Periodical. The
apostle said: "Quodsi spiritus eius qui suscitavit iesum
Christum a mortuis habitat in vobis." It is a Phrase with
a point having been marked under the letters. "Qui suscita
vit iesum christum a mortuis vivificavit et mortalia corpora
vestra," is a Clause, having a dot at the mid-point of the
17 2
letter, "propter inhabitantem spiritum eius in vobis," is
a Period and has been marked with a dot by the top of the
letter. Saint Augustine, writing about the City of God,
says: "Nunc vero quid a me expectetur agnoscens meique non
immemor debiti de duarum civitatum terren^ scilicet et
celesti fsic] quas in hoc interim seculo perplexas quodam-
modo diximus invicemque permixtas exortu et excursu et debi-
tis finibus quantum valuero disputare eius ipsius domini et
173
regis nostri ubique opitulatione fretur aggrediar." No
part of this sentence is by itself~intelligible, which must
be said of the members, and it is marked with a point having
1 ^Romans 8:11.
17Ipe Civitate Dei, Bk. XI, ch. 1.
been affixed "halfway up the letter. It also does not become
clearly visible whether they are to be called either Phrases
or groupings. They stand together only by means of cases of
words, without the conclusion of a verb, as in "meique non
immemor debiti," and which follows, namely, "de duarum civi-
tatum terrene scilicet et celestis," and again "invicemque
permixtas," and once more "exortu et excursu." Also this
"debitis finibus" etc., at each one of which it is necessary
to take breath, and for that reason they have a point under
neath and yet are nothing by themselves on account of the
coherence of the whole sentence. What shall we call this
sentence if not Continuous, which cannot conclude a Period
without a Clause and Phrase and does not provide a place for
points, unless one before the end or at the top in the con
clusion. In a Period, now, there are as many Clauses or
Phrases as verbs also, and as many verbs as constructions
too, or for each one there are separate verbs, or one verb
which may be repeated and is common to all, either preceding
or following. "Aggrediar1 1 is here one verb alone which is
not repeated, in which the entire sentence is either ended
or continued, which will be clear from the construction.
Of this kind is "Nunc vero agnoscens quid expectatur [sic]
a me et non immemor mei debiti." This is the subject.
"Aggrediar disputare quantum valuero de exortu et excursu
et debitis finibus duarum civitatum terrene scilicet et
celestis quas diximus quadammodo perplexas interim in hoc
seculo." This is the predicate. Through which Force? With
which corroborative evidence? "Fretus ubique opitulatione
eius ipsius domini et regis nostri.” There are a thousand
such sentences in the same book, as there are in other com
mentaries or narratives of authors, which are linked to
gether and cannot be construed singly by Clauses or Phrases,
as for instance a Period. It is useful, nevertheless, that
everything which can be said concerning the two kinds of
discourse be more a subject of inquiry among the rhetori
cians than rashly to define anything, because among the
writers of grammars they are also almost inconsistently'"de-"
fined. The above-mentioned Martianus has later spoken too
briefly and obscurely about Connected discourse. By means
of this example he has demonstrated a Periodic construction
to us from the Oratio pro Caecina from Cicero: "Si quantum
in agris locisque desertis audatia potest tantum in foro
indiciisque [sic] impudentia valeret non minus nunc aulus
cecina cederet sexti ebutii inpudenti<= quam in vi faciunda
98
174
cessit audati^." Moreoverj he has demonstrated the part
of the Period which is called "membrorum" with this example:
"Etsi vereor iudices ne turpe sit pro fortissimo viro dicere
175
incipientem timere." Isidor, wishing to show what a
Clause is, following him has made use of the same example
and has said that this member is composed of two Phrases.
"Etsi vereor iudices" is one Phrase and another one "Ne
turpe sit pro fortissimo viro dicere incipientem timere,”
and a Clause is made which evinces meaning to thought. Yet
17 6
the discourse is still pending. The discourse is
■^^Cicero, Oratio pro Caecina, I in Martianus, Bk. V,
par. 527.
175cicero, Oratio pro Milone, I in_M_artianus, Bk. V,
par. 528.
•^■^^Xsidor, Etymologiarum sive Originum, I, Bk. II, 18,
2. A translation of Isidor's own words may help to throw
some light on the pertinent lines in the MS. "All discourse
is composed and constructed with words, phrases, clauses,
and periods. The phrase is a small part of a sentence. The
clause is a member. A period is round-about or circuitous.
A phrase is made out of the joining of words, a clause out
of phrases, and a periodic sentence out of clauses. A
phrase is part of a compound, as for instance in Cicero,
Oratio pro Milone, I: 'Etsi vereor, iudices,' is one
phrase; another one follows: 'ne turpe sit pro fortissimo
viro dicere,' and a clause is made, that is, a member which
evinces meaning to the mind; but the discourse is still
pending, and thus then is the period made of several mem
bers, that is, the extreme conclusion of the sentence: 'ita
veterem iudiciorum morem requirunt.' But a period should
not be longer than may be uttered in one breath."
pending, "he says. In what way is it therefore a Clause?
Let us hear again Martianus, whom he has followed: "In
fact, a Period consists of two members, and of three, also
of four, occasionally of six, although it is thought that
out of one member several can be filled out, which we call
177
'monocolon periodon,' when Clause is preferable." We are
shown in these words that the smallest Period consists of
two members and that which is a lesser discourse, that is,
of one member, is a Clause. An example of this may be
178
"omnis creatura dei bona est, 1 1 also "qui adheret deo unus
179
spiritus est," and "nulla est homxm causa phxlosophandx
180
nisi ut beatus sit." Clauses of this kind, because they
make a discourse by themselves, cannot have suspended mean
ing. In what way, then, is there in the pending part of the
discourse a Clause? At any rate, it is plain that he con
tradicts himself in that which he has said in the beginning
and later concerning a member of discourse. According to
Isidor's judgment, I do not question that the Period which
he has given consists of two members, so that the first, the
■^^Martianus, Bk. V,- par. 529.
178i Timothy 4:4. 179j Corinth. 6:17.
^^Source unknown. "There is no reason for man to
philosophize unless he may be blessed."
100
Phrasej Which is "si quantum in agris locisque desertis
audatia potest," and the second, "tantum in foro iudiciisque
£
inprudentia [sic] valeret," are completed as to a Clause.
In a like manner "nunc aulus cecina cederet sexti buti \sic!
181
impudentie" and "quam in vi faciunda cess it audatie" do
the two Phrases make a second Clause and finish the Period.
But the habit has prevailed that we call that which is
pending in discourse a Phrase, and that which can be under
stood by itself a Clause. As two Phrases, for example, are
"cum sublevasset occulos iesus et vidisset quia multitudo
182
maxima venit ad eum," which cannot make a Clause because
of the pending meaning unless something is added. In a
similar manner two Clauses are "Ite in castellum quod contra
vos est; et invenietis asinam alligatam et pullum cum
183
ea," because they are comprehensible by themselves, al
though nothing is added. Bede, when he was an investigator
184
of such things in his book De Metrica Arte, also declined
to set apart and define Clauses and Phrases, saying that
they were named indiscriminately and without order by the
” 1 p * 1
Cicero, Oratio pro Caecina (London, 1901), I.
^ J o h n 6:5. ^^Matthew 21:1.
184cf. note 65.
100
Phrase, which is "si quantum in agris locisque desertis
audatia potest," and the second, "tantum in foro iudiciisque
inprudentia [sic] valeret," are completed as to a Clause.
In a like manner "nunc aulus cecina cederet sexti buti [sic]
181
impudentie" and "quam m vi faciunda cessit audatie" do
the two Phrases make a second Clause and finish the Period.
But the habit has prevailed that we call that which is
pending in discourse a Phrase, and that which can be under
stood by itself a Clause. As two Phrases, for example, are
"cum sublevasset occulos iesus et vidisset quia multitudo
182
maxima venit ad eum," which cannot make a Clause because
of the pending meaning unless something is added. In a
similar manner two Clauses are "Ite in castellum quod contra
vos est; et invenietis asinam alligatam et pullum cum
18 3
ea," because they are comprehensible by themselves, al
though nothing is added. Bede, when he was an investigator
184
of such things in his book De Metrica Arte, also declined
to set apart and define Clauses and Phrases, saying that
they were named indiscriminately and without order by the
181
Cicero, Oratio pro Caecina (London, 1901), I.
■*-®2John 6:5. ^®2Matthew 21:1.
184Cf. note 65.
101
authorities. Perhaps because of Augustine whOj in the
fourth book of De Doctrina Christiana, gives so many exam
ples from the apostle of those which are called Clauses and
Phrases that, nevertheless, hardly any can be distinguished
by any method. But it cannot be denied that he calls those
Phrases, as it also suits Martianus, which are pronounced by
means of single or very few words, numbers, or cases, or an
ending as with a repeated beat. For an example these six in
questioning and three in replying: "Hebrei sunt, et ego:
185
hisrahelite sunt, et ego: semen abrahe sunt, et ego."
And elsewhere four which are: "in laboribus plurimum, in
careeribus habundantibus, plagis supra modum, in mortibus
186
sepius." And also fourteen, as he himself cites: "in
itineribus sepe, periculis fluminum, periculis latronum,
periculis ex genere, periculis ex gentibus, periculis in
civitate, periculis in deserto, periculis in mari, periculis
in falsis fratribus, in labore et erumpna, in vigiliis se
pius, in fame et siti, in ieiuniis sepius, in frigore et
■ j Qr
II Corinth. 11:22 in St. Augustine, De Doctrina
Christiana {Vienna, 1963), Bk. IV, par. 39.
186n corinth. 11:23 in De Doctrina Christiana, Bk. IV,
par. 40.
102
187
nuditate." He also calls Clauses those which are of
greater importance and cannot be poured forth so hastily.
Of them he says once that several are included in one Period
and not less than two. He gives this Period of two sentence
members: "Iterum dico, ne quis me existimet insipientem
esse." Likewise of three members: "Alioquin velud insipi-
188
entem suscipite me, ut ego modicum igitur glorier." Also
one having four members: "Quod loquor, non loquor secundum
deum, sed quasi in stultitia, in hac substanti§ [sic]
189
glori^." Cicero also defines a member m the Rhetorics
ad Herennium: "A speech member is called a part, brief and
absolute, without indication of the whole sentence, but is
in turn succeeded by another member in this manner 1Et
inimico proderas.1 That is one which is called a member;
afterwards it is followed by this (there is need for a sec
ond) , 'et amicum ledebas.' This discourse consists of two
members, but it is most appropriate for the purpose of
Corinth. 11:26-27 in De Doctrina Christiana, Bk.
IV, par. 41.
Corinth. 11:16 in De Doctrina Christiana, Bk. IV,
par. 35.
l^^II Corinth. 11:17 in De Doctrina Christiana, Bk. IV,
pars. 37-38.
103
embellishment and most complete when it is composed of three
in this manner: 'Et inimico proderas et amicum ledebas et
tibi non consulebas.' Also 'nec reipublice consuluisti nec
190
amicis profuisti nec inimicis restitisti.1" Calling a
Phrase by another name articulus [part joined on], Cicero
demonstrates in this manner: "It is called articulus when
single words are set apart by pauses in asyndetic speech:
'Acrimonia, voce3 vultu perterruisti.1 Again: 'inimicos
191
invidia, inuriis, potentia, perfidia sustulisti. 1 " Sub
joined is also what may lie between the Clause and the
Phrase: "There is a difference between the vehemence of
this kind of speech and the one preceding: the former moves
192
upon its object more slowly and less often, the latter
takes place more frequently. Accordingly, in the first kind
it seems that from a withdrawing of the arm and an exertion
of the hand the sword is brought forward to the body, while
in the second the body seems to be pierced with repeated and
190
[Cicero], Rhetorica ad C. Herennium, The Loeb Clas
sical Library (Cambridge, Mass., 1954), IV, 19, 26.
I91Ibid.
I QO
This part of the line was partially illegible m the
MS. because of an ink spot. It was possible to restore it
because of the availability of the quotation.
104
19 3
quick cuts." According to these examples and defini
tions , it seems by no means suitable to call those parts of
speech Phrases which consist of many words, like the example
in Cassian, "cum in heremo Scithi abbatem Moysen expetis-
sem." But where a long sentence is broken up by a verb, it
is customarily called a phrase to approach a resemblance to
the metrical phrase which is made while part of speech is
being scanned. It is cut in the middle. Concerning the
parts of a Period., we have heard what Cicero says. Let us
194
also hear what he calls Periodic. "A period is an ex
tended crowding together of words with a completeness of
thought like this: 'Ei non multum potest obesse fortuna qui
sibi firmius in virtute quam in casu presidium collocavit.'
Again: 'Nam si quis spei non multum collocarit in casu,
quid est quod ei magnopere casus obesse possit? 1 And:
'Quodsi in eos plurimam fortuna potest qui suas raciones
omnes in casum intulerit, non sunt omnia committenda for-
l g 3
Cicero, Rhetorics ad C. Herennium, IV, 19, 26.
194The MS. uses here the term continuum which is ap
plied throughout to describe 1 1 free-flowing" or the opposite
of "periodic." The following definition, however, is that
of a period.
tune, ne magnam nimis in nos habeat damnationem.1"
short Period combines these three for orators. For a
of history a Period is more extended.
105
A
writer
^^Cicero, Rhetorica ad C. Herennium, IV, 19, 27.
b i b l i o g r a p h y
106
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Allen, J. H. and J. B. Greenough. New Latin Grammar. New
York: Ginn & Co., 1903.
Ambrose, Saint. Hexaemeron. Leipzig, 1840.
Arens, Hans. Sprachwissenschaft. Munchen: Karl Alber,
1955 .
Aristotle. Categories. On Interpretation. Prior Ana
lytics . Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,
1938.
__________. Metaphysics. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1928.
__________. Rhetoric. New York: The Modern Library, 1954.
__________. Topics. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University
Press, 1938.
Augustine, Saint. De Civitate Dei. Leipzig: F. Tempsky,
1900.
_________________ . De Doctrina Christiana. Vienna: F.
Tempsky, 196 3.
Biblia Vulqata. 3rd ed. Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores
Cristianos, 1959.
Bochenski, I. M. Ancient Formal Logic. Amsterdam: North-
Holland Publishing Co., 1951.
Boetius. Commentarii in Librum Aristotelis : Peri Herme-
neias. 2 vols . Leipzig, 1880.
107
108
Bursill-Hall* G. L. "Mediaeval Grammatical Theories* "
Canadian Journal of Linguistics, IX (1963)* 39-54.
Cassianus* Iohannis. Conlationes. Vienna* 1886.
_. De Institutis Coenobiorum et de Octo
Principalium Vitiorum Remediis. Vienna* 1888.
Chase* Wayland Johnson. "The Ars Minor of Donatus*" Uni
versity of Wisconsin Studies in the Social Sciences and
History, No. 11 (Madison* 1926)* pp. 3-56.
Christ* Wilhelm von. Geschichte der griechischen Literatur.
Miinchen: C. H. Beck* 1912-1924.
Cicero* Marcus Tullius. Actio in Verrem. London: William
Heinemann Ltd.* 1938.
. De Oratore. London: Oxford Uni
versity Press, 1903.
_______________________ . Epistulae ad Familiares. The Loeb
Classical Library. Cambridge* Mass.: Harvard Univer
sity Press* 1960.
. Oratio de Domo Sua. London: Ox
ford University Press* n.d.
Oratio pro Caecina. London: Ox
ford University Press* 1901.
. Oratio pro T. Annio Milone. Lon
don: William_Heinemann Ltd.* 19 31.
[_____________________] . Rhetorica ad C. Herennium. The
Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge* Mass.: Harvard
University Press* 1954.
Demetrius. On Style. Cambridge* Mass.: Harvard University
Press* 1927.
A Dictionary of the Psalter, ed. Dom Matthew Britt* 0. S. B.
New York: Benziger Brothers* 1928.
109
Dinneen, Francis P. An Introduction to General Linguistics.
New York: Holt* Rinehart and Winston., Inc., 1967.
Du Cange, Charles. Glossarium mediae et infimae latinita-
tis. Paris, 1840-1850.
Dutripon, Frangois Pascal. Concordantiae Bibliorum sacrorum
Vulgatae editionis. Paris, 1844.
Ebert, Adolf. Allgemeine Geschichte der Literatur des
Mittelalters im Abendlande. 3 vols. Leipzig, 1880-
1889.
Ehrismann, Gustav. Geschichte der deutschen Literatur bis
zum Ausgang des Mittelalters. Erster Teil: Althoch-
deutsche Literatur. Miinchen: C. H. Beck, 1918.
Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, ed. James Hastings.
Vol. IV. New York: Scribner, 1912.
Eusebius Pamphili, Bishop of Caesarea. Opera. 8 vols.
Paris, 1830.
Grabmann, Martin. Die Geschichte der scholastischen
Methode. 2 vols. Freiburg i. Br.: Herder Verlag,
1909.
_. Mittelalterliches Geistesleben. 3 vols.
Miinchen: Max Hueber, 1926.
Gray, Louis H. Foundations of Language. New York: Mac
millan Co., 19 39.
Hagendahl, Harald. "Latin Fathers and the Classics," Acta
Universitatis Gothoburqensis, LXIV (1958), No. 2.
Hieronymus, Saint. Opera. 9 vols. Vienna: F. Tempsky,
1913.
Hoffmann, Ernst. Die Sprache und die archaische Logik.
Tubingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 192 5.
Hughes, John P. The Science of Language. New York: Random
House, 1962 .
110
Isidor of Seville. Etyraoloqiarum sive Oriqinum. 2 vols.
London: Oxford University Press, 1911.
Jellinek, Max. Geschichte der neuhochdeutschen Grammatik.
2 vols. Heidelberg: C. Winter, 1913-1914.
Keil, Heinrich, ed. Grammatici Latini. Vols. II, III, VII.
Leipzig, 1855-1858.
Lewis, Charlton T. and Charles Short. A Latin Dictionary.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1966.
Lutz, Cora. Remiqii Autissiodorensis Commentum in Marti-
anum. 2 vols. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1962-1965.
McGlynn, Patrick. Lexicon Terentianum. London: Blackie
and Sons, 196 3.
Manitius, Max. Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur im
Mittelalter. 3 vols. Miinchen: C. H. Beck, 1911-19 31.
Neudruck 1959. —
Martianus Capella. De Nuptiis Philoloqiae et Mercurii, ed.
Adolf Dick. Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 192 5.
Merguet, Hugo. Lexikon zu Vergilius. Hildesheim: “ Georg
Olms, 1960.
Migne, J.-P. Patrologiae Latinae. Vols. Cl, CXVII, CXXXI.
Paris, 1884.
Niermeyer, J. F. Mediae latinitatis lexicon minus. Leiden:
E. J. Brill, 1954-
Paetow, Louis John. The Arts Course at Mediaeval Universi
ties with Special Reference to Grammar and Rhetoric.
Urbana, 111.: W. C. Brown, 1910.
. "The Battle of the Seven Arts," Memoirs
of the University of California, IV, No. 1 (1914).
Pauly, Friedrich and G. Wissowa. Real-Encyclopadie der
classischen Altertumswissenschaft. 3rd ed. Stuttgart,
1894.
Ill
Piper , Paul. Die Schriften Notkers und se jtner Schule.
Vol. I. Freiburg, 1882.
Prantl, Carl. Geschichte der Logik im Abendlande. Leipzig,
1861.
Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria. New York: William
Heinemann Ltd., 1921.
Robins, R. H. Ancient and Mediaeval Grammatical Theory in
Europe. London: Bell, 1951.
Romisches Sonntagsmefibuch, ed. Benediktiner der Erzabtei
Beuron. Freiburg: Herder Verlag, 1962.
Roos, Heinrich. "Sprachdenken im Mittelalter," Classica et
Mediaevalia, IX (1948).
Sandys, John E. A History of Classical Scholarship. 2
vols. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press,
1908-1921.
Schanz, M. Geschichte der romischen Literatur. 5 vols.
Miinchen: C. H. Beck, 1914-1935. Nachdruck 1959.
Solmsen, Friedrich. "Boethius and the History of the Orga
non," American Journal of Philology, LXV (1944).
Die Entwicklung der Aristotelischen
Logik und Rhetorik. Berlin: Weidmann, 1929.
Souter, A. A Glossary of Later Latin. Oxford: The Claren
don Press, 1949.
Stahl, William H. "To a Better Understanding of Martianus
Capella," Speculum, XL (1965), 102-115.
Steinthal, H. Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaften bei den
Griechen und Rornern. Berlin: Diimmlers Verlag, 1890-
1891. Nachdruck 1961.
Strecker, Karl. Introduction to Medieval Latin, trans. by
R. Palmer. Berlin: Weidmann, 1957.
112
Terence. Comoedia. London: Oxford University Press, n.d.
Teuffel, W. S. and L. Schwabe. History of Roman Literature.
5 vols. Leipzig, 1892.
Thesaurus Linguae Latinae. Editus iussu et auctoritate con-
silii ab academiis societatibusque diversarum nationum
electi. 8 vols. Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1900-1956.
Thompson, Newton and Raymond Stock. Complete Concordance
to the Bible. St. Louis, Mo.: B. Herder Book Company,
1942.
Ueberweg, Friedrich. Grundrifi der Geschichte der Philoso
phic . 10th ed. 5 vols. Berlin: E. S. Mittler und
Sohn, 1915.
Virgil. Aeneid. The Loeb Classical Library. Rev. ed.
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1932.
_. Eclogues. The Loeb Classical Library. Rev. ed.
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1932.
_. Georgies. The Loeb Classical Library. Rev. ed.
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1932.
Waterman, John T. Perspectives in Linguistics. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1963.
_________________. "Some Influences of Aristotelian Logic on
Late Medieval Grammatical Theory," The Modern Language
Journal, XLIV {April 1960), 160-162.
de Wulf, Maurice. History of Medieval Philosophy, trans.
Ernest Messenger. London: Longmans, Green, 1926.

Linked assets

University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Conceptually similar

PDF

The "Quomodo" manuscript: Historical introduction, translation, and critical apparatus

PDF

'Seinsarten': An Introduction To Jean Paul'S 'Titan'

PDF

The Authenticity Of David Of Augsburg'S German Works, With Particular Reference To His 'Paternoster'

PDF

Frank Wedekind And The Search For Morality

PDF

The Image Of The Artist In The Works Of Frank Wedekind

PDF

Das Sozialkritische In Den Werken Leonhard Franks. (German Text)

PDF

Educational Theories In The Works Of Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

PDF

Heimito Von Doderer'S Concept Of The Novel: Theory And Practice

PDF

G. W. Leibniz' 'Collectanea Etymologica': Ein Beitrag Zur Geschichte Deretymologie' (German Text)

PDF

A Syntactic Analysis Of Luther'S 'Adventspostille'

PDF

Pater Abraham A Sancta Clara And The Literary Mirror: Reflections Of Reality And Deception

PDF

Formen Der Elegie: Ausgewaehlte Interpretationen Von Goethe Bis Celan. (German Text)

PDF

A Selected Bibliography Of German Literature In English In Translation, 1956-1960

PDF

Die Roman-Technik Bei Lion Feuchtwangers 'Jefta Und Seine Tochter' (German Text)

PDF

Strukturstudien Und Werkdeutungen Zur Kunstprosa Moritz Hartmanns. (German Text)

PDF

'Sassanidischer Koenig': Hans Henny Jahnn'S 'Perrudja' In Microcosm

PDF

The Demise Of The 'New Man': An Analysis Of Late German Expressionism

PDF

Stilistische Untersuchungen Zum Fruehen Romanwerk Alfred Doeblins Im Lichte Seiner Kritischen Schriften (1910-1929). (German Text)

PDF

The Patriot In Exile: A Study Of Heinrich Mann'S Political Journalistic Activity 1933-1950

PDF

Paul Gerhardts Morgenlieder In Englischen Und Amerikanischen Uebertragungen. (German Text)

Asset Metadata

Creator Ulrich, Ursula Adda (author)

Core Title The 'Quomodo' Manuscript: Historical Introduction, Translation, And Critical Apparatus

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Program German

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Literature, General,OAI-PMH Harvest

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor Waterman, John T. (committee chair), O'Neil, Edward N. (committee member), Spalek, John M. (committee member), Von Hofe, Harold (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c18-375297

Unique identifier UC11361103

Identifier 6919414.pdf (filename),usctheses-c18-375297 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier 6919414.pdf

Dmrecord 375297

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Ulrich, Ursula Adda

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA