01.10.25: Level 3; epistolary tenses; a brief note

Here again is the answer to the last question in the previous post:

https://adckl2.blogspot.com/2025/06/level-3-review-irregular-verbs-7-possum.html

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/06/011025-level-3-review-irregular-verbs-7.html

[i] Yesterday, [ii] to the best of my ability [= in whatever way I could] [iii] I myself wrote a letter containing predictions, which I hope may prove false.

Nam [i] prīdiē quidem, quōquō modō [ii] potueram, [iii] scrīpseram ipse eās litterās, quārum vāticinātiōnem falsam esse cupiō. (Cicero)

[Literally: [i] The day before [ii] in whatever way I had been able [iii] I myself had written … ]

Take a close look at both the Latin original and the translation

[i] Yesterday [ii] I myself wrote a letter │ [i] prīdiē quidem … [ii] scrīpseram ipse eās litterās

• The translation is ‘yesterday’; the original is prīdiē (the day before)
• The translation is ‘I wrote’; the original is scrīpseram (I had written)

in whatever way I could │ quōquō modō potueram

• The translation is ‘I could / was able to’; the original is potueram (I had been able)

These are examples of epistolary tenses i.e. used in letter writing. It is a feature to be aware of when, for example, reading Cicero’s letters.

Very few people nowadays write postcards, but here’s an example: “We’re in Majorca and the kids are having a lovely time.  I’m sitting by the pool as I write this, and yesterday we all went to the beach.”

The content is from the time perspective of the writer. On the basis that a reliable postal service will get the postcard to its recipient within a few days, the sequence of tenses presents an ‘ongoing’ situation where events are happening or have recently happened: We’re in Majorca; the kids are having a lovely time; I’m sitting by the pool as I write this; yesterday we all went to the beach.

One theory – which is reasonable enough – is that, given the length of time it would take in Ancient Rome for any correspondence to reach its recipient, a considerable time lapse would ensure that events described in a letter would be well and truly over by the time the recipient reads about them. Therefore, you will come across a shift in tenses where the writer describes the events from the time perspective of the recipient i.e. the content ‘moves back’ in time like a past tense narrative with no sense of ‘now’.  In other words, imagine that the postcard took several weeks to arrive: “We were in Majorca and the kids had a lovely time. I was sitting by the pool as I wrote this, and the day before we had all gone to the beach.”

Neque tamen, haec cum scrībēbam, eram nescius quantīs oneribus premerēre (Cicero) │ Nor while I write this am I ignorant under what burdens you are weighed down.

Cicero is writing the letter in his present time, but he shifts it to past tenses because, by the time the recipient reads it, the events have already happened. Therefore, what he literally writes is: “Nor while I was writing this was I ignorant …”

Similarly:

Nunc eram plānē in mediō marī. │ At present I am far out at sea. [i.e. by the time the recipient reads the letter, Cicero is no longer far out at sea, but that’s where he was at the time the letter was written]

Ā Brundisiō nūlla adhūc fāma vēnerat, et erat hic diēs VII Īdūs │ From Brundisium no news has come yet, and to-day is the 9^th of March. [i.e. he is writing the letter on March 9^th and, at the time of writing, no news has come, but, again, by the time the recipient read it, the day was March 9^th and no news had come]

Hīc nōs C. Mārcellum habēmus, eadem vērē cōgitantem aut bene simulantem; quamquam ipsum nōn vīderam, sed ex familiārissimō eius audiēbam.  │ Here I have C. Marcellus, who holds the same views as myself or makes a good pretence of doing so. Although I have not met him I hear it from one of his most intimate friends. 

Capuae Nōnīs Febr. esse volēbam, quia cōnsulēs iusserant. │ I want [literally: I was wanting] to be at Capua on the 5th of February, as the consuls have ordered [literally: had ordered].

Therefore:

[i] Yesterday [ii] I myself wrote a letter …│ [i] prīdiē quidem … [ii] scrīpseram [pluperfect] ipse eās litterās Literally: [i] the day before (I was writing this) [ii] I myself had written a letter …

in whatever way I could │ quōquō modō potueram [literally: in whatever way I had been able]

Further examples from Cicero, all of which use a pluperfect tense whereas English translates them as perfect or simple past tenses:

Dē Caesare vīcīnō scrīpseram ad tē │ I wrote to you about your neighbour Caesar

Ad Hirtium dederam epistulam ..., quam scrīpseram proximē in Tusculānō. │ I have given / sent a letter to Hirtius ... which I wrote lately at Tusculum.

Philotimō dederam ad tē litterās │ I gave Philotimus a letter to you.

Nūllās enim adhūc accēperam │ I’ve received no <letter> so far.

Ad tuās omnīs [epistulās] rescrīpseram ¦ prīdiē. │ I answered all your letters ¦ yesterday [literally: the day before].

This use of epistolary tense, however, is not consistent and tends to be used when referring to temporary situations i.e. events happening at the time the letter was written. It is not an aspect of the language that needs much focus, but simply awareness that it exists.