Many correlatives make some form of comparison; note the use
of ‘as’ in the second part of the correlative in all the basic translations.
[viii] (nōn) tam … quam … | (not) as / so … as …
Tam saepe orābat quam poterat.
- He spoke as often as he could.
Sīmia nōn est tam perīculōsa quam serpēns.
- A monkey is not as dangerous as a snake.
Sed omnia
praeclāra tam difficilia, quam rāra sunt (Spinoza)
- But all things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.
quid est orātōrī tam necessārium quam vox?
(Cicero)
- What is so necessary for a public speaker as his voice?
nec tamen tam laeta erant in iīs litterīs, quam
ad mē Philotimus scrīpserat (Cicero)
- but in this letter things were not as grand as Philotimus had written to me.
… sed nōn tam magnō, quam tibi fortasse videor
(Cicero)
- … but not so much as I perhaps seem to you.
A Mediaeval toast from around 1250:
Tam prō pāpā quam prō rēge / Bibunt omnēs sine
lēge
- To the Pope as to the King / they all drink without restraint
[ix] tot … quot … | as many … as …
< tot (so many) + quot (how many)
quot: how many?
quot librī? | how many books?
tot: so many
Quid faciant paucī contrā tot mīlia fortēs?
(Ovid) | What can a few brave men do against so many thousands (of
soldiers)?
From Adler’s Practical Grammar of the Latin Language:
tot hominēs quot līberī | as many men as
children
A: Suntne tibi tot scyphī quot pocula? | Have
you as many (wine-) glasses as goblets?
B: Habeō tot ex ūnīs quot ex alterīs.
| I have as many of one as (I have) of the other.
A: Habēsne tot pileōs quot togās? | Have you as
many hats as coats?
B: Tot illōrum habeō quot hārum.
| I have as many of those as of these.
Note: totidem … quot … | just as many … as …
Sunt mihi totidem hōrum quot illōrum. | I have
just as many of these as of those.
From the authors:
vidē, quot cyathōs bibimus. / tot quot digitī
tibi sunt in manū (Plautus)
- Look how many cups we have drunk. / As many as the fingers you have on your hand.
quid enim hoc miserius, quam eum, quī tot annōs, quot
habet, dēsignātus cōnsul fuerit, fieri consulem non posse (Cicero)
- For what could be more miserable than for someone, who has been a consul-designate for as many years as he has lived, not to be able to become a consul?
The construction may be reversed:
quot hominēs tot sententiae (Terence)
- There are as many opinions as there are people.
