placet: it pleases
displicet: it displeases
iuvat: it pleases; it delights
dēlectat: it pleases; it delights
vidētur: it seems
Like interest and rēfert discussed in the previous post, a number of other verbs are not inherently impersonal but can be used in impersonal constructions.
[1] placet: it pleases
Videāmus, sī placet. │ Let us see if (literally) it pleases [or, depending on context, if you like]
[i] As with other impersonal constructions, the person affected may be implied by context rather than directly stated:
Pergāmus igitur, quō placet (Cicero) │ Therefore, let us go to wherever it pleases [ = wherever we want]
[ii] The person affected is in the dative case:
placet ¦ mihi [dative]│ Literally: it is pleasing ¦ to me; English would most often rework the construction to make the person affected the subject of the sentence: I like it.
French still retains this construction in, for example, s’il vous plaît [literally: if it pleases you]
placuit ¦ eī (Cicero) │ it pleased ¦ him [was pleasing ¦ to him]
sī ¦ dīs ¦ placet │ if it pleases ¦ the gods [is pleasing ¦ to the gods]
senātuī ¦ placet │ it pleases ¦ the Senate [is pleasing ¦ to the Senate] = the Senate decrees
Placet hoc tibi? (Cicero) │ Does this please you? / Do you approve of this?
[iii] The verb does not always function impersonally: it may take an expressed subject, or an infinitive phrase functioning as the grammatical subject.
In arce Athēnīs statiō mea nunc placet (Cicero)
- I like my residence now on the Acropolis at Athens [literally: my residence is pleasing …]
Nōn placet M. Antōniō cōnsulātus meus. At placuit P. Servīliō, … (Cicero)
Literally: My consulship is not pleasing to Marcus Antonius. But it was pleasing to Publius Servilius, …
- Marcus Antonius disapproves of my consulship; but it was approved of by Publius Servilius …
Lūdōs Antī spectāre nōn placet (Cicero)
- I do not wish to see the games at Antium [literally: it does not please (me) to see…]
i.e. Seeing the games does not please (me): the infinitive phrase acts as the subject of placet.
[2] The opposite of placet is displicet: it displeases; again, the person affected is in the dative case.
Note this first example where the verb is not always used in the 3rd person:
Displiceō mihi nec sine summō scrībō dolōre (Cicero)
- I am displeased with myself nor am I writing without the utmost pain.
Mihi vērō, iūdicēs, nōn displicet (Cicero)
- But, judges, it does not displease me.
Varrōnī quidem displicet cōnsilium puerī (Cicero)
- Varro, for his part, dislikes the boy’s plan.
Placet Stōicīs omnia peccāta esse paria; at hoc Antiochō vehementissimē displicet (Cicero)
- It pleases the Stoics [ = the Stoics hold] that all sins are equal, but this strongly displeases Antiochus.
Quodne vōbīs placeat, displiceat mihi? (Plautus)
- Should that which pleases you, be displeasing to me? [ = Must I dislike what you like?]
Quoniam tibi nōn omnīnō displicet dēfīnīre (Cicero)
- Since it does not altogether displease you to define [ = As you do not entirely disapprove of definition]
[3]
iuvō, -āre [1]: [i] help, benefit, support; [ii] delight, please
dēlectō, -āre [1]: delight, charm, please
The verbs regularly take the accusative of the person or thing affected, whether used personally or impersonally.
(1) personal use
Audentīs Fortūna iuvat (Vergil)
- Fortune favours the brave.
Venātiō dūrīque piscēs et ex domesticīs animālibus assa carō maximē iuvant. (Celsus)
- Venison and hard fish and roasted meat of domestic animals are especially advantageous.
Nōn lapis hanc gemmaeque iuvant (Tibullus)
- Neither precious stone nor jewels delight her.
(2) impersonal use
Quod iuvat, id semper faciant (Sallust)
- Let them always do what pleases (them)
Quid autem mē iuvat? (Cicero)
- But how does it help me?
Neque umquam quicquam mē iuvat quod edō domī (Plautus)
- And nothing that I eat at home ever pleases me.
Et tē et mē iuvat fābulās Plautī spectāre.
- It pleases both you and me to watch the plays of Plautus [= Both you and I like to watch]
Ut iuvat castella contrā undās spūmiferās aedificāre!
- How pleasant it is to build little forts against the foaming waves!
Nec tibi mōbilitās minor est, sī forte volantem aut gemināre pilam iuvat aut revocāre cadentem (Laus Pisonis: author unknown)
- Nor is your nimbleness any less, if by chance it is your pleasure to return the flying ball or (to) recover it when falling to the ground.
dēlectō, -āre [1]: delight, charm, please
Ōtium tē dēlectat (Cicero)
- Leisure delights you.
Mē vērō nihil dēlectat aliud nisi cōnsilium et litterae tuae (Cicero)
- But nothing else indeed pleases me except your advice and your letters.
mēque … hoc ipsum nihil agere et plānē cessāre dēlectat (Cicero)
- And this very thing — to do nothing and to be completely idle — delights me.
Catullus 103:
aūt sōdēs mĭhĭ rēddĕ dĕcēm sēstērtĭă Sīlō│ If you don’t mind, Silo, either give me back the ten sesterces
deīnde ēstō quāmuīs saēvŭs ĕt īndŏmĭtŭs │ Then be as wild and unrestrained as you like
aūt sī tē nūmmī dēlēctānt dēsĭnĕ quaēsō │ Or, if money [literally; coins] delights you, please stop
lēno ēsse ātque īdēm saēvŭs ĕt īndŏmĭtŭs. │ being a pimp and at the same time wild and unrestrained.
(Catullus 103)
mē pedibus dēlectat claudere verba (Horace)
- It delights me to enclose words in feet [i.e. metrical feet / poetic metre].
[4] vidētur
[i] the passive form of videō, -ēre [2] see, like any other passive verb, can have a singular or plural subject and be used in any tense; its passive meaning is “is / are seen” but it frequently translates as “seem(s)”
(1) In these first examples, the passive verb has a distinct subject although note that, in translation, an impersonal construction using “it seems” can sometimes convey the same idea.
Dī immortālēs, iterum gnātus videor (Plautus)
- Great Heavens! I seem to have been born again. [It seems that I have been born again.]
Scelestus ¦ tibi [dative] ¦ vidētur Chrysalus? (Plautus)
- Does Chrysalus seem a criminal ¦ to you? [ = Do you think Chrysalus is a criminal?]
Ut videntur dērīdere nōs (Plautus)
- How they seem to be mocking us.
omnēs videntur ¦ scīre (Plautus)
- All seem / everybody seems ¦ to know [It seems that everybody knows.]
Ita mihi videntur omnia, mare terra caelum, cōnsequī.
Literally: Thus all things / everything, sea, land, and sky, seem / seems to me to be pursuing (me)
- So it seems to me that everything, sea, land and sky, is pursuing me.
Ac mihi vidētur mātrem valdē, ut dēbet, amāre tēque mīrificē (Cicero)
- But to me he seems to love [it seems to me that he loves] his mother greatly, as he should, and is extremely fond of you.
Cui vidēberis bella? (Catullus)
- To whom will you seem pretty?
Tertiā vigiliā, quā minimē arduus ad nostrās mūnītiōnēs ascēnsus vidēbātur, omnibus cōpiīs repente ex oppidō ēruptiōnem fēcērunt (Caesar)
- In the third watch, on the side where the ascent to our fieldworks seemed least steep, they made a sudden sally from the town in full force.
(2) vidētur can stand alone as an impersonal verb or be followed by an infinitive construction or refer to a previous statement:
Vix vidētur fierī posse (Plautus)
Literally: it scarcely seems to be able to happen
- It scarcely seems possible.
Hinc enim mihi dextra vōx aurīs, ut vidētur, verberat (Plautus)
- Yes, a voice from the right here, as it seems, strikes my ear.
Depending on context, there can be an implication that something seems right or fitting:
intereā, sī vidētur, concēdite istūc (Plautus)
- Meanwhile, if it seems right (to you), step aside over there
Hāc rē mihi placet, sī tibi vidētur, tē ad eum scrībere (Cicero)
- Under the circumstances I see no objection [literally: it is pleasing to me], if you think fit, to your writing to him …
Sum profectō et hīc et illīc. hoc cuivīs mīrārī licet, / neque tibi istuc mīrum magis vidētur quam mihi (Plautus)
- I am indeed both here and there. This may surprise anyone, nor does that seem any more surprising to you than to me.
Tū, sī tibi placuerit liber, cūrābis, ut et Athēnīs sit et in cēterīs oppidīs Graeciae ; vidētur enim posse aliquid nostrīs rēbus lūcis adferre (Cicero)
- If you like the book, you will see to that it is at Athens and in other Greek towns have it in stock; for I think it can add some lustre to my achievements.
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