23.08.26; Level 3+; Subjunctive [90] dependent uses [15] reported / indirect reason: quod and quia

If a journalist in a UK newspaper writes …

“The manager resigned because he stole money”

…he may well be sued! If it was never proved, then the journalist – to protect himself – would write:

“The manager resigned because he allegedly stole money”

Now the journalist is safe: he is reporting what the reason may have been or what somebody else claimed rather than a factual statement that is the journalist’s personal opinion. In other words, it becomes an indirect reason.

Similarly:

He could not have been guilty because he was abroad at the time.

He could not have been guilty because, he said / he claimed, he was abroad at the time.

The inclusion of a parenthetical he said, or he claimed moves the statement from a factual reason to one that is alleged, one that somebody else said rather than what the speaker believes.

That ‘shift’ cannot be conveyed in English by means of a verb form. In Latin, however, a shift from the indicative to the subjunctive mood can do precisely that.

[i] The conjunctions quod and quia are – by far – most often found with the indicative mood:

Quia ego hanc amō et haec mē amat (Plautus)

• Because I love her and she loves me.

Cūr igitur pācem nōlō? Quia turpis est. (Cicero)

• Why then do I not wish for peace? Because it is disgraceful.

Hoc ad tē scrīpsī, quod is mē accūsāre dē tē solēbat (Cicero)

• I wrote this to you because he was in the habit of grumbling to me about you.

Ita fit ut adsint proptereā quod officium sequuntur, taceant autem quia periculum vītant (Cicero)

• So it happens that they attend because they follow duty but are silent because they are avoiding danger.

In these examples Cicero gives his own reasons.

[ii] However, when the speaker is not giving his own reason, but the reason of somebody else, quod and quia will be with a verb in the subjunctive:

Noctū ambulābat Themistoclēs quod somnum capere nōn posset [subjunctive] (Cicero)

• Themistocles used to walk about at night because he could not sleep.

i.e. the speaker is recounting the reason given by Themistocles; the speaker is not offering his own reason.

We can describe this as a reported reason or an indirect reason. It does not have to be an “allegedly” statement such as you would find in a newspaper!

Compare: Noctū ambulābam quod somnum capere nōn poteram [indicative].

• I used to walk about night because I could not sleep.

This example from Cicero shows both indicative and subjunctive, the subjunctive stating an alleged or unreal reason as oppposed to factual reason i.e. the reason he himself gives:

• Haec idcircō omittō quod nōn gravissima sint [subjunctive], sed quia nunc sine teste dīcō [indicative] (Cicero)

And I omit these matters not because they are not very serious, but because now I am declaring without any witness.

[iii] Further examples

(1) With indicative

[i] Sōla hic mihi nunc videor, quia ille hinc abest quem ego amō praeter omnēs (Plautus)

• I do seem so lonely here now, because the one I love best is gone. 

[ii] Cūr negās? / Quia vēra didicī dīcere (Plautus)

• Why do you deny it? / Because I’ve learned to tell the truth.

[iii] Quia diēī extrēmum erat, proelium nōn inceptum [est] (Sallust)

• As it was almost the end of the day, the battle did not  start.

[iv] Quem locum Marius, quod ibi rēgis thēsaurī erant, summā vī capere intendit (Sallust)

• Marius tried to take this place with all of his forces, because the king’s treasures were there.

[v] Quia id quod neque est neque fuit neque futūrum est mihi praedicās (Plautus)

• Because what you tell me is not so, nor has it been, nor will it be.

[vi] Sed senātūs cōnsulta duo iam facta sunt odiōsa, quod in cōnsulem facta putantur (Cicero)

• But two decrees of the Senate which have already been passed are unpopular because they are thought to be directed against the consul.

(2) With subjunctive; although far less common, the subjunctive is being used to refer to what somebody else ‘claimed’ or thought:

[i] Mea māter īrāta est quia nōn redierim (Plautus)

• My mother is angry because I did not return.

[ii] Rediit quod sē oblītum nesciō quid dīceret (Cicero)

• He returned because he said he had forgotten something.

Note: nesciō quid; nesciō is not functioning here as a verb but as part of a set expression meaning ‘something’ [literally: I don’t know what]

[iii] Reprehendit, quia nōn semper quiērim (Cicero)

• He blames me because I have not always been able.

i.e. Cicero recounts somebody else’s reason for the blame; he is not saying that it is factual.

[iv] Sī quis requīrit, cūr Rōmae nōn sim … quia frequentiam illam nōn facile ferrem.

• If anyone asks why I am not in town … "because I could not put up with the crowd of visitors."

This is a nice example where the translator “quotes” what, in Cicero’s mind, other people might be ‘alleging’.

[v] What somebody saw in a dream:

Ego laeta vīsa sum quia soror vēnisset (Plautus)

• I seemed happy because my sister had come.

[vi] A two part statement from Cicero that describes allegations made against Manlius by Pomponius, a tribune of the plebs:

L. Mānliō … cum dictātor fuisset, M. Pompōnius tr(ibūnus). pl(ēbis). diem dīxit, (1) quod is paucōs sibi diēs ad dictātūram gerendam addidisset; crīminābātur etiam, (2) quod Titum fīlium … ab hominibus relēgāsset et rūrī habitāre iussisset.

L. Mānlīō … cum dictātor fuisset │ When L. Manlius … had been dictator, …

M. Pompōnius, tribūnus plēbis, diem dīxit │ M. Pomponius,  a tribune of the plebs named the day [i.e. for his trial = indicted him]

(1) quod is paucōs sibī diēs ad dictātūram gerendam addidisset;

• because he (Manlius) had added a few days for conducting his dictatorship [ = had extended his dictatorship beyond its expiration]

crīminābātur etiam │ he was also accused

(2) quod Titum fīlium … ab hominibus relēgāsset et rūrī habitāre iussisset.

• because he had banished his son Titus … from people [ = from having companionship with others] and had ordered him to live in the countryside.

[iv] Be careful not to misinterpret the use of quod in indirect statements. In certain circumstances quod can be translated as the conjunction ‘that’ but they are (1) referring to known facts or (2) offering reasons rather than reporting what, for example somebody said or thought:

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/11/170226-level-3-indirect-statement.html

(1) quod: (the fact) that …

quod rediit ¦ nōbīs mīrābile vidētur (Cicero)

• (the fact) that he returned ¦ seems marvellous to us

praetereō ¦ quod eam sibī domum dēlēgit (Cicero)

• I pass over ¦ the fact that he chose that house for himself

i.e. these two do not ‘report’ an event, but express a reaction to something already known

(2) verbs of emotion / feeling are followed by either quod or quia; a way of differentiating the use of quod (or quia) in this context is mostly to interpret the meaning as because rather than ‘that’.

Quod scrībis . . . gaudeō.

• I am glad ¦ that you write.

i.e. The writer is offering a reason why he is glad; “I am glad because you are writing”

Gaudēmus quod ad tempus adestis.

• We rejoice ¦ that you are here on time.

Faciō libenter quod eam nōn possum praeterīre.

• I am glad ¦ that I cannot pass it by.

Gaudet quod vivit.

• He rejoices ¦ that he is alive.

Opportūnissima rēs accidit quod Germānī vēnērunt.

• A very fortunate thing happened, ¦ (namely) that the Germans came.

Optimum, quod sustulistī.

• It is a very good thing ¦ that you have removed [him].

Dolet mihi quod tū nunc stomachāris (Cicero)

• I'm sorry ¦ that you're angry now.

… quī ¦ quia nōn habuit ā mē turmās equitum ¦ fortasse suscēnset (Cicero)

• … who perhaps feels angry ¦ that he did not receive squadrons of cavalry from me.