17.12.25: Level 3: indirect statement; the accusative-infinitive [1]

The construction we will look at in this series of posts was first referred to here:

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/02/070225-speaking-latin-on-campus_30.html

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/05/310825-level-1-readings-18-damocles.html

[1] A ‘statement’ can be [i] direct or [ii] indirect:

[i] “I’m hungry,” says John. This is a direct statement i.e. quoting the actual words that John says, which, in English, are usually indicated by speech marks “_____ ” (also known as quotation marks or inverted commas).

The Latin term is orātiō recta: direct speech / direct discourse

[ii] John says ¦ that he is hungry. This is an indirect statement i.e. it reports what John says without using his actual words. It is also known as reported speech. In English, and in other languages, this often involves a change of tense: “I’m hungry,” said John > John said ¦ that he was hungry. However, as you will see, Latin deals with this in a different way.

The Latin term is orātiō oblīqua: indirect speech / indirect discourse

[2] Neither the term ‘statement’ nor ‘speech’ gives you the full picture because both imply something that is said or written. However, the terms ‘direct’ and ‘indirect’ also refer to thoughts and feelings.

[3] Verbs commonly used to introduce an indirect statement are:

clāmō, -āre [1]: shout

negō, -āre [1]: deny

nūntiō, -āre [1]: announce

putō, -āre [1]: think

spērō, -āre [1]: hope

videō, -ere [2]: see

cognōscō, -ere [3]: learn; get to know

crēdō, -ere [3]: believe

dīcō, -ere [3]: say

prōmittō, -ere [3]: promise

audiō, -īre [4]: hear

sciō, -īre [4]: know

[4] The indirect statement in English often omits the conjunction that but for the sake of clarity and comparison we will keep it in. If we take an example from each of the three biggest language groups in Europe, we can see that they all do the same i.e. they use a conjunction:

He said that + indirect statement

German: Er sagte, dass …

French: Il a dit que …

Russian: On skazal, chto … [Он сказал, что …]

Late and Mediaeval Latin have an equivalent using quod as a conjunction to introduce an indirect statement. Here are some examples for reference but, since we are dealing only with Classical Latin at this point, it must be emphasised that such a construction is not part of Classical Latin apart from a few restricted situations which we will look at later:

Gosem dīxit ¦ quod tū et Iūdaeī cōgitētis rebellāre (Vulgate)│ Gosem has said ¦ that you and the Jews are thinking of rebelling

Ergō vidētur, ¦ quod tū nōn possīs in eam cōnfīdere (Gesta Rōmānōrum; late 13^th / early 14^th century) │ Therefore, it seems ¦ that you cannot trust her

dīcis, ¦ quod ego dēcēpī patrem meum proprium (Gesta Rōmānōrum; late 13^th / early 14^th century) │ You say ¦ that I have deceived my own father

[ii] Quod dēficit ūnctiō ¦ [i] prīdem intellegitis. (Lūx optāta clāruit; 13^th century)│ [i] You long since understand ¦ [ii] that the anointing failed.

[5] Classical Latin does not use the construction in [3] above. It expresses the idea in a completely different way which is known as the accusative-infinitive. Since you will be reading a great deal of 3^rd person narrative recounting not only what people do / did but also what people say / said, it is a common construction with which you need to become familiar.