LIBRARY 
 
 University of California. 
 
 Class 
 
 lit 
 
 V 
 

 THE SENTENCE STRUCTURE 
 OF VIRGIL 
 
 BY 
 
 ALBERT R. CRITTENDEN 
 
 ANN ARBOR. MICHIGAN 
 1911 
 

 ■t^"::. 
 
 
 
THE SENTENCE STRUCTURE 
 OF VIRGIL 
 
 A THESIS 
 SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF 
 
 THE DEPARTMENT OF LITERATURE. SCIENCE 
 AND THE ARTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 
 FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 
 
 BY 
 
 ALBERT R. CRITTENDEN 
 
 ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN 
 1911 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The work which follows is based upon the proposition that 
 since language is the result of psychological forces, 
 any comprehensive or searching study of its phenom- 
 ena must rest upon psychological principles and employ psy- 
 chological methods. Functional or dynamic methods of classi- 
 fication have accordingly been preferred. To the possible ob- 
 jection that such a classification is apt to be fluctuating and 
 variable, the reply must be made that the phenomena of lan- 
 guage are fluctuating and variable, and a true method of in- 
 vestigation must conform in its nature to the nature of the 
 subject-matter to be investigated. The starting-point of the 
 work is found in the views of the nature of discourse set forth 
 by the newer school of German linguists, more particularly 
 those of Professor Wilhelm Wundt, regarding the nature of the 
 sentence, enunciated in his Voelkerpsychologie. As the litera- 
 ture of the subject is not yet accessible in English, it has seemed 
 best to the present writer to state the fundamental principles 
 upon which the paper is based in a somewhat detailed intro- 
 duction. For most of the facts and theories stated in the In- 
 troduction, no originality is claimed. 
 
 In his own work, the writer seeks first to determine whether 
 the peculiar character of an author's temperament manifests 
 itself in the manner in which his thought unfolds, and whether 
 in the case of a writer of strongly marked personal 
 characteristics, like Virgil, these distinctive traits appear 
 even amid the exigencies of conventional methods of expres- 
 sion. In the case of writers of weak literary personality, such 
 as some of the later epic poets, and of writers whose end and 
 
 223079 
 
aim is mechanical imitation of the forms of expression of some 
 great master, such personal traits may be difficult, or even im- 
 possible, to trace. 
 
 In the illustrative passages cited from various authors, 
 and especially in those cited from Virgil, the aim has been to 
 select such as conform to the author's habitual style, rather 
 than those which illustrate particular points. In the last sec- 
 tion of the paper, the endeavor has been made to apply the 
 facts discovered with respect to Virgil's style as a test of au- 
 thorship in the case of the most important of the minor works 
 which have been at various times ascribed to Virgil. 
 
 The writer has been directly indebted to bat few works 
 in the development of this investigation. Acknowledgment has 
 been made to these in footnotes in connection with the por- 
 tions of the work concerned. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Pagb 
 
 I. Introduction - - - - - 11-22 
 
 1. Definition of the Sentence - - 11 
 
 2. Nature of the Thought Processes which result 
 
 in Language - - - - 12 
 
 3. Historical or Genetic Development of the 
 
 Sentence - . . . 15 
 
 4. General Types of Sentence Structure - - 17 
 
 {a) The apperceptive type - - 17 
 
 (6) The associative type - - 20 
 
 II. Variations in Sentence Structure - 23-39 
 
 1. Relation to Literary Form - - - 23 
 
 2. Relation to Subject Matter .V . 32 
 
 3. Relation to Temperament - - - 37 
 
 III. Characteristics of Virgil's Sentence Struc- 
 
 ture - - - - 40-59 
 
 1. Predominance of Associative Elements - 40 
 
 a Types of Associative Sentences - 40 
 
 ( 1 ) The Double Sentence - - 40 
 (a) Its Psychological Function 41 
 
 (2) Longer Associative Series - 43 
 
 2. Absence of Complex Analysis - - 44 
 
 a Ascending and Descending Structure in 
 
 Complex Sentences - - 45 
 
 (1) Organization of Ascending and 
 
 Descending Members - 45 
 
 (2) Relation of Function to Position - 45 
 
 (a) In Virgil - - 45 
 
 (d) In Prose - - - 46 
 
 (3) Virgil's Tendency toward De- 
 
 scending Structure - 46 
 
 (4) Difference in Psychological Func- 
 tion between Ascending and De- 
 scending Structure - - 47 
 
(5) Relation to Other Historical Tenden- 
 cies in the Latin Lang^uage - 49 
 
 3. Connectives in Virgil - - - - 50 
 
 4. Participial Constructions - - - 54 
 
 5. Effect of Emotional Content upon Virgil's 
 
 Sentence Structure - - - 54 
 
 6. Summary of Virgilian Characteristics - 56 
 
 IV. Sentence Structure of Ovid and the Epic 
 
 Writers of the First Century A. D., 
 
 COMPARED WITH ViRGIL - - 59-62 
 
 1. Ovid - - - - - - 59 
 
 2. Ivucan - - - - - 60 
 
 3. The Epic Writers of the Flavian Period 
 
 a. Valerius Flaccus - - - 61 
 
 b. Silius Italicus . . - 61 
 
 c. Papinius Statins - - - 62 
 
 V. The Authenticity of the Minor Works 
 
 Ascribed to Virgil - - 63-72 
 
 1. The Ciris - - - - - 63 
 
 2. The Culex .... 69 
 
 3. The Moretum - - - - 69 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 A. TEXTS CITED. 
 
 Incerti Auctoris De Ratione Dicendi Ad Gaium 
 
 Herennium Libri IV, Ed. F. Marx. 
 
 Leipzig, 1894. 
 D. Magni Ausonii Opera Omnia. 
 
 Delphine Edition, Vol. II, London, 1823. 
 
 C. Julii Caesaris Belli Galliei Libri VII 
 
 A. Hirtii Liber VIII, Ed. H. Meusel, Berlin, 1894. 
 
 M. TuUii Ciceronis Quae Supersunt Omnia. 
 Ed. J. G. Baiter, C. L. Kayser. 
 Vol. IV, Leipzig, 1861. 
 
 Eunianae Poesis Reliquiae. 
 
 Ed. J. Vahlen, (2nd edition) Leipzig, 1903. 
 
 Quinti Horatii Flaeei Opera Omnia. 
 
 Ed. A. J. Macleane, (4th edition) London, 1881. 
 
 M. Annaei Lucani Pharsalia. 
 
 Ed. P. Lemaire, (2 vols.) Paris, 1830. 
 T. Luereti Cari De Rerum Natura Libri Sex. 
 
 Ed. H. A. J. Munro, London, 1900. 
 P. Ovidius Naso. 
 
 (Ex Rudolphi Merkelii Reeognitione) 
 Ed. R. Ehwald, Vol. II, Metamorphoses, 
 
 Teubner, Leipzig, 1897. . 
 Seriptorum Rei Rusticae. 
 
 Tomus I (Cato : De Re Rustica) ; 
 Toraus II (Columella) ; Leipzig, 1794. 
 
 L. Annaei Senecae Opera Quae Supersunt. 
 
 Ed. F. Haase, Teubner, Leipzig, 1881. 
 
 L. Annaei Senecae Tragoediae. 
 
 Ed. F. Leo, Berlin, 1878. 
 Sili Italici Punica. 
 
 Ed. L. Bauer (2 vols.) Teubner, Leipzig, 1890. 
 
 Thebais P. Papinii Statii. 
 
 Ed. J. A. Amar and N. E. Lemaire, 
 
 (2 vols.) Paris, 1825. 
 
 P. Cornelii Taciti Opera Quae Supersunt. 
 
 Ed. J. Mueller, Leipzig and Vienna, 1902. 
 
C. Valeri Flacei Setini Balbi Argonauticon. 
 
 Ed. A. Baehrens, Teubner, Leipzig, 1875. 
 
 P. Vergili Maronis Opera. 
 
 Ed. 0. Ribbeck (4 vols.) Teubner, Leipzig, 1894. 
 
 GENERAL WORKS CONSULTED. 
 
 Franz Boaz : Chinook Texts. 
 
 Pub. U. S. Bureau of Ethnology, 
 
 Government Printing Office, Washington, 1894. 
 
 E. A. Boucke : Associative and Apperceptive Types of 
 Sentence Structure. 
 
 Jour. Germanic Philology, Vol. IV, p. 389. 
 
 E. A. Boucke : Goethes AVeltanschauung. Stuttgart, 1907. 
 
 William James : Principles of Psychology. 
 
 New York, 1904. 
 
 C. L. Meader : T'ypes of Sentence Structure in Latin Prose 
 Writers. 
 
 Trans. Am. Phil. Assoc. VoL XXXVI, (1905) p. 32. 
 
 E. P. Morris: On Principles and Methods in Syntax. 
 
 New York, 1901. 
 
 F. N. Scott : The Genesis of Speech ; Pub. Mod. Lang. Assoc. 
 
 of America, Vol. XXXIII, p. 4. 
 
 Herbert Spencer : First Principles. New York, 1900, 
 
 Henri Weil: De L'Ordre des Mots dans les Langages Mo- 
 dernes. Paris, 1869. 
 
 E. Weissenborn : Untersuchungen ueber den Satz — 
 und Periodenbau in Virgi) s Aeneide. 1879. 
 
 Wilhelm Wundt : Voelkerpsychologie. 
 
 (2nd ed.) Leipzig, 1904. 
 
SENTENCE STRUCTURE IN VIRGIL 
 
 I. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 1. DEFINITION OF THE SENTENCE. 
 
 Recent years have brought a marked change in the attitude 
 of the student of syntax toward the facts of language, and a 
 corresponding change in the descriptions and definitions by 
 which these facts have been set forth. A good illustration of this 
 changed attitude is found in the definition of the sentence. 
 Many of the older grammarians were accustomed to define the 
 sentence as a combination of words expressing a thought. The 
 words were thought of as units, and the emphasis was put upon 
 the supposed synthetic nature of the process; i. e., one was con- 
 ceived to put words together to build up the fabric of a sen- 
 tence, somewhat as a man might put bricks and stones together 
 in building a house. This conception of the sentence is due in 
 part to certain very natural but superficial analogies, and in 
 part to the fact that the earlier stages of any science are very 
 properly occupied for the most part with the statement and 
 classification of the external facts of that science, before any 
 deeper investigation of the forces which have brought about 
 those facts is possible. The earlier method of treatment might 
 be called the analytic or static method ; the later, the functional 
 or dynamic method. With the increasing prominence of the 
 biological sciences, and the dominance of the law of evolution, 
 and more especially with the great attention now given to psy- 
 chology and psychological methods of investigation, our defini- 
 tion of the sentence has had to be revised. We now think of 
 the sentence as the linguistic express'on of a process of thought 
 whereby a certain thought-whole, or "unit of thought," more 
 or less clearly present in consciousness, is developed or "organ- 
 ized" until its component parts with their different functions, 
 and the relations existing between these parts, are present to 
 consciousness. The parts of the thought-whole and some of the 
 relations existing between them are represented by words. The 
 original thought-whole is represented by the sentence. Per- 
 haps the best formulation of this view 'of the later syntax is 
 
12 Sentence Structure in Virgil 
 
 contained in Wundt's definition of the sentence.* Such a con- 
 ception of the sentence affords the basis of a new method of 
 approach to many linguistic problems, and cannot fail, if right- 
 ly applied, to throw much light upon phenomena of language 
 which hitherto have been but very partially understood. 
 
 2. NATURE OP THE THOUGHT PROCESSES WHICH RESULT IN 
 
 LANGUAGE. 
 
 Language must be regarded as an external and more or 
 less inadequate symbolism or means of expression of certain in- 
 ner processes of consciousness. It may be expected then to 
 correspond, in the broad lines of its development, to these inner 
 thought processes, but, like any other form of symbolism, it 
 will be inexact in some respects. The general nature of 
 thought processes has been well described by Professor James 
 in his Principles of Psychology, in the suggestive chapter on 
 the "Stream of Thought." The most salient characteristics of 
 the thought process, as there described, are its continuity and 
 its constant change. Perhaps a concrete illustration may make 
 the matter clearer. Suppose a camera obscura standing upon 
 the bank of a stream, focused upon the surface of the water^ 
 down which many objects of various sorts are floating. There 
 will be two chief factors at work in the representations pic- 
 tured upon the screen: first, a certain number of objects upon 
 the surface of the stream will fall within the field of the lens 
 at any given moment, and so will be represented upon the screen 
 in certain spatial relations to each other. Of these objects, 
 some may fall nearer the center of the field of the lens, and 
 so may find sharper definition upon the screen, while others, 
 which fall near the outer boundary of the field of the lens, will 
 be less clearly represented, but all are within the field of the 
 lens at the same time, and the whole group is represented upon 
 the screen at once as a result of a combination of simultaneous 
 processes. On the other hand, the contents of the field of the lens 
 are constantly changing with the progress of the current. Some 
 objects, which have been occupying the center of the field, now 
 pass toward the circumference and are less and less clearly 
 represented, until they pass wholly without the field and are 
 
 ♦Wiiiidt: Voelkerpsyphologie Vol. I, Die Sprache, Part II; p. 239 follow- 
 ing:, especially p. 245, (second edition). "Hlernach koennen wir den Satz nach 
 selnen objektlven wie subjecktlven merkmalen deflnieren als den sprachlichen 
 .\nsdruck fner die willknerliche Gliedening einer Gesamtvorstellung in Ihre in 
 logl.sche Beziehungen zueinander getsetzten Bestandteile." 
 
Sentence Structure in Virgil 13 
 
 succeeded by others which are now just entering the field. 
 These are more and more clearly represented until they pass the 
 center of the field. Others never reach the center of the field, 
 but pass through it near its outer boundary, and consequently 
 receive only a dim representation on the screen. We have thus 
 a series of successive pictures, — or rather a continually chang- 
 ing picture, — which is the result of both simultaneous and suc- 
 cessive factors. 
 
 Now language results from a somewhat similar process or 
 combination of processes. There is a sort of field of conscious- 
 ness; those objects which lie near its circumference — in the 
 "fringe of consciousness," as Professor James puts it — are 
 dimly present to the mind's eye, while those which are in the 
 focus of attention are most sharply apprehended. The sen- 
 tence, as the unit of discourse, is the representation of what 
 lies within the field of thought at a given moment. The focus 
 of consciousness may be occupied successively by one and an- 
 other element of the group, but the whole group is present in 
 consciousness at the same time, and its elements are appre- 
 hended in their relations to one another and to the whole. The 
 degree of complexity to which the sentence may attain is de- 
 termined by the number of elements which the mind 's able to 
 apprehend in their relations at one and the same time. Few 
 persons can read Kant without the most strenuous exercise of 
 the voluntary attention, for the simple reason that Kant's ex- 
 cessively long and complex sentences involve more elements 
 and more relations than the average mind can grasp at once. 
 This capacity of the individual mind, of course, varies greatly 
 with experience and education. The language of primitive 
 men and the natural language of children consist chiefly of sim- 
 ple sentences, but the average adult in cultured communities 
 is prone to speak — and still more to write — in complex sen- 
 tences which would mean little or nothing to the child or the 
 savage. 
 
 But we have thus far considered only the simultaneous fac- 
 tors m the mental process. To account for the single sentence, 
 however, is not to account for the whole of discourse, and not 
 all the phenomena even of some single sentences can be account- 
 ed for by simultaneous factors alone. The contents of the 
 field of consciousness, like those of the field of the camera, are 
 constantly changing. It is this quality of flux which finds ex- 
 pression in the term "stream of thought," or the more common 
 
f 
 
 14 Sentence Structure in Virgil 
 
 one, "a train of thought." Both terms imply continuity. It is. 
 therefore impossible to draw any line of demarcation between 
 those elements of conscious experience which find expression in 
 one sentence and those which find expression in another. Even 
 in spoken or written discourse, where of necessity the tendency 
 to isolation is more marked than in the original which they 
 represent, it is often difficult and sometimes impossible to de- 
 termine where one sentence leaves off and the next one begins. 
 Subtle impulses of association are forever leading the mind 
 from one bit of psychic experience to another, — associations 
 which now appeal to the voluntary attention and now exercise 
 their power below the threshold of consciousness. Sometimes 
 these associations are so strongly felt that they find expression 
 in discourse in "connecting words," sometimes they are unex- 
 pressed, but whether expressed or not we may be sure that the 
 thought process which lies behind speech is uninterrupted. 
 We may now supplement our illustration of the camera obscura 
 by adding an operator, who focuses the instrument now upon 
 this group of floating objects, now upon that. We have now 
 successive factors of several different kinds entering into the 
 formation of our changing picture. Of these, the will of the 
 operator corresponds to the voluntary attention in the thought 
 process, the surface currents, winds, etc., to the factors which 
 appeal to the involuntary attention, and the various impulses 
 which come from the invisible depths below are analogous to 
 those mysterious but powerful forces in the soul which operate 
 below the threshold of consciousness or are derived from the 
 forgotten past. In a certain very real sense, every sentence 
 is influenced by the content and the form of all the sentences 
 that have preceded it. In the course then of those processes 
 which result in speech, the mind is busied with two sorts of 
 activities : first, it endeavors to develop the thought whole 
 which is present before it at any given instant, to differentiate 
 its parts and set them in their proper relation to one another^ 
 and second, it moves forward from one thought-whole to an- 
 other, under the influence of various forces of association. 
 There is continual interplay of analytic and synthetic activi- 
 ties. Relatively speaking, however, the exercise of the analytic 
 function implies a pause, or at least a slackening, in the for- 
 ward movement of the thought. To use a bold aqd possibly not 
 altogether accurate metaphor, in analytic thojv^^j^t we busy 
 ourselves with a vertical cross-section of the streari? f conscious 
 
Sentence Structure in Virgil 15 
 
 experience, while associative thought corresponds to the on- 
 ward flow of the current. 
 
 3. THE HISTORICAL OR GENETIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE SEN- 
 TENCE. 
 
 Many indications point to the conclusion that the earliest 
 form of language developed by the race was the immediate re- 
 flex of those stimuli which appeal directly to the feelings. In 
 all probability, the cry of pain, the shout of triumph, the ex- 
 clamation of surprise, etc., or as a recent writer* has suggested, 
 variation in respiration corresponding to the comfort or dis- 
 comfort of the subject, constituted the first language of primi- 
 tive man. Such an utterance was a sentence in embryo— ^the 
 expression of a thought-whole, vaguely but strongly felt. The 
 next step was probably the development of this thought, and 
 consequently of its expression, into component parts with dif- 
 ferent functions or relations, perhaps, for example, into a sub- 
 ject and predicate. This created the demand for a subordinate 
 unit of expression, the word. Sentences, then, were not formed 
 in the beginning by putting words together, but words were 
 developed from the earlier vaguely expressed sentences. 
 
 The second stage then in the evolution of speech is that 
 in which language consists of short, simple, co-ordinate sen- 
 tences, following one another without connectives,** The rela- 
 tions between successive units of thought are often more or 
 less clearly felt, but as yet no verbal means for their expres- 
 sion have been developed. They are suggested,, rather than 
 expressed, by contiguity in time of utterance, intonation, in- 
 flection, etc. Even in comparatively high stages of civilization, 
 the language of common conversation still conforms to a con- 
 siderable extent to this type.* Interesting reminiscences of it 
 are found in the rough, crude style of the didactic writings of 
 Cato the Censor, the "Father of Latin Prose." A person speak- 
 ing under the influence of strong emotion often relapses into 
 this more primitive form of speech. Artistic representations of 
 this phenomenon aire frequent in the passionate outbursts of 
 the heroine of Seneca's Medea and in many other dramatic 
 
 * Prof. F. N. Scott. In an article entitled "The Genesis of Speech." Pub. 
 Mod. Langr Assoc, of .America. Vol. XX II I, p. 4 
 
 ** Examples f most of these early stages in the development of sentence 
 structure may )• found In Franz Boaz: Chinook Texts, p. 9 fif., and in similar 
 works publish y the U. S. Bureau of Ethnology. 
 
 ♦ Compai lie chapter on Parataxis, in Morris: On Principles and Meth- 
 ods in Synta 
 
16 Sentence Structure in Virgil 
 
 productions, in Lucan's Pharsalia, VI, 150-165, and 230-235, 
 and in the speeches of Dido in the fourth book of the Aeneid. 
 In such cases, the speaker or writer surrenders his conventional 
 forms of utterance and allows himself to be dominated by his 
 material. His reactions are instinctive, rather than rational. 
 The same thing often occurs in rapid, animated narrative, or in 
 detailed description, where the psychological order is followed 
 and the short, sharp sentences follow each other like the swift 
 strokes of an artist's brush, as he strives to place upon canvas 
 the fleeting image which has taken possession of his soul. In- 
 stances have been cited* from Tacitus' Agricola, xxxviii, 1-13, 
 and Histories ii, 15. Others are found in the Germania, vi, 
 xxii-xv, in the Aeneid II, 310-315; IV, 665-668; and in the 
 description of the shield of Aeneas, in the last one hundred 
 lines of Book VIII. In the case of a few writers, the tendency 
 to this isolating type of sentence structure becomes so strong 
 as to be a distinctive characteristic, as with Seneca, e. g., De 
 Ben. VI, iii; Ep. Ill, iii (24), 17-21; Ep. IV, xii, (41), 1-4, and 
 with Emerson, e. g., in the earlier paragraphs of the Essay on 
 Friendship. 
 
 The third stage in the evolution of sentence structure is 
 that in which the successive sentences are loosely joined by a few 
 stock connecting words, of which some rather vaguely indicate 
 the general relation existing between the sentences, and some 
 merely mark the beginning of a new sentence, and perhaps 
 emphasize what is to follow. The Homeric poems are a good 
 illustration of this type. The connectives are very frequently 
 used, but are few in number and limited in range of meaning. 
 The most frequent are kul and re , which are merely linking 
 or cumulative and apa and 7e which are of an asseverative 
 or interjectional nature. It should be remarked that throusrhout 
 these earlier periods in its development, language is concrete in 
 its nature; it deals with the objective world and the feelings 
 and emotions of man, as expressed in his actions. With the 
 growth of civilization, and the widening of human experience, 
 the thoughts of men come to be occupied more than formerly 
 with relations between things, — the age of abstract thought 
 has begun. Corresponding to this expansion of thought is the 
 development of the relating or connecting words in language. 
 They increase in number and become more definite and precise 
 in meaning, and a more varied and elaborate sentence structure 
 
 * By Professor Meader in the article referred to on page 17. 
 
Sentence Stkucture in Virgil 17 
 
 results. A comparison of the Argonautica of Apollonius Rho- 
 dius with the Odyssey of Homer will quickly make this evi- 
 •dent. 
 
 But in the meantime a differentiation in function gradually 
 sprang up in the use of connectives. Certain types of sentences 
 came to be felt as subordinate to those to which they were at- 
 tached, and in the same way certain connectives came to be re- 
 garded as subordinating connectives. But the dividing line 
 between co-ordinate and subordinate sentences is nowhere hard 
 and fast, nor is it possible to say, in any given case, just when 
 the connective ceased to be a co-ordinating connective and be- 
 came a subordinating one. In fact, it is becoming increasingly 
 clear that nowhere in the treatment of the phenomena of lan- 
 guage can sharp lines of demarcation or classification be drawn. 
 Speaking in general terms, however, the so-called complex sen- 
 tence, in which one or more subordinate sentences are depend- 
 ent upon a single independent sentence, is both the product and 
 the chosen instrument of abstract thought. Roughly speaking, 
 it is the characteristic type of sentence structure in the Age of 
 Prose. It should be borne in mind in this connection that we 
 are now speaking of the historic or genetic development of the 
 complex sentence. The manner of its origin in the individual 
 mind is an entirely different matter, and has already been de- 
 scribed. 
 
 4. GENERAL TYPES OF SENTENCE STRUCTURE. 
 
 Two principal types of sentence structure are of frequent 
 occurrence in the more highly developed languages of the Indo- 
 European group.* 
 
 * 
 
 a. The apperceptive type — that characterized by complex 
 analysis, in which one or more subordinate sentences depend 
 upon one principal sentence. Several degrees of subordination 
 may occur, i. e., a sentence which depends upon the principal 
 sentence may in turn have a sentence of the second degree de- 
 
 * The chief characteristics of these two types have been described by 
 Wiiiidt: Voelkerpsychologle, 1. 2. p. 230 ff. Several sub-varieties have been 
 described by Dr. E. A. Boucke, in an article entitled "Associative and Apper- 
 ceptive Types of Sentence Structure." in the Journal of Germanic Philology, 
 Vol. IV. No. 4, (1902), and several additional ones by Dr. C. L. Meader, in an 
 article entitled "Types of Sentence Structure in Latin Prose Writers," in the 
 Transactions of the American Philological Association, Vol. XXXVI, 1905. 
 
18 Sentence Structure in VirgiIv 
 
 pending upon it, while a sentence of the third degree may de- 
 pend upon that of the second degree, etc. A complex sentence 
 in which the subordinate sentences precede the principal sen- 
 tence is said to have the ascending structure, while one in which 
 the subordinate sentences follow the principal sentence is said to 
 manifest descending structure. As a rule, but one degree of sub- 
 ordination occurs in ascending structure, although a second de- 
 gree occurs occasionally, and very rarely a third degree. In 
 the descending structure, on the other hand, the third and even 
 the fourth degree are not uncommon. The absence of a high 
 degree of analysis in the ascending structure is probably due to- 
 the fact that the strain of suspense incurred by such an arrange- 
 ment would be intolerable. A complex sentence in which the 
 subordinate member is included within the parts of the princi- 
 pal member, or in which the principal member is included with- 
 in the parts of the subordinate member, or in which the parts- 
 of the two members are interwoven, may be said to possess in- 
 termediate structure. 
 
 Three illustrative sentences of the apperceptive type are 
 given below, the first having ascending structure, the second 
 descending, and the third intermediate. The movement of 
 thought in each of these sentences is represented by the ac- 
 companying formula, in which "a" represents the subject, "b" 
 the predicate, and the curved line joining them what Wundt 
 calls the binary or closed nature of the connection between 
 them.* Capital letters are used to indicate the principal mem- 
 ber in a complex sentence with ascending structure, while the 
 lower-case letters represent the subordinate members of such 
 a sentence. In the descending structure, subordination is indi- 
 cated by writing the subordinate member below the principal 
 member. The diagram used for the third sentence is self-ex- 
 planatory, but it should perhaps be noted that in the subse-- 
 quent use of this formula in this work, no discrimination is 
 made between the three cases of intermediate structure men- 
 tioned above Where no relation is expressed between- 
 two co-ordinate members which have the same function, the 
 fact is indicated by a perpendicular line. Where two elements 
 belonging to the same category are joined by a purely asso- 
 
 * The essential features of this system of graphic representation are used 
 V)y Wundt: Voellierpsychologie, I. 2, p. 316 ff. ; the system is further elabor- 
 ated in the articles by Dr. Boucke and Dr. Meader already referred to, and by 
 the present writer. 
 
Sentence Structure in Virgil 19 
 
 ciative connection, the second is distinguished by a subscript 
 figure. 
 
 si nulla accendit tantarum gloria rerum 
 nee super ipse sua molitur laude laborem, 
 Ascanione pater Romanas invidet arces? 
 
 Aen. IV., 232-234. 
 
 a b ai bi A B 
 
 illud ab hoc igitur quaerendum est, quid sit aniari 
 tanto opere, ad somnum si res redit atque quietem, 
 cur quisquam aeterno possit tabescere luctu. 
 
 Lucretius: De Rerum Natura, 
 
 III., 909-911. 
 
 tu, cuius et annis 
 et generi fata indulgent, quern numina poscunt, 
 Ingredere, O Teucrum atque Italum fortissime ductor. 
 
 Aen. VIII., 511-513. 
 
 The formulae represent only the major elements of the 
 sentence, i. e., subject and predicate, independent and subor- 
 dinate clauses. The neglect of the minor elements, e. g., 
 participial, adjective and adverbial constructions, substantives 
 in apposition, etc., assists the eye in following the main frame- 
 work of the sentence, which corresponds in general to the 
 movement of thought. 
 
 In all the three sentences cited, the movement of thought 
 results from simultaneous factors only; each of the elaborated 
 sentences consists only of the analysis, or better perhaps, of 
 the development, of a single unit of thought. There is no for- 
 ward movement from one unit of thought to another. The 
 development or analysis is the work of the voluntary attention. 
 This is why such sentences are called apperceptive sentences. 
 Sentences of this type are a natural means of expression 
 of abstract thought. They are therefore more common in prose 
 than in poetry, and within the domain of prose are found more 
 frequently in works which deal with subjects calling for much 
 logical analysis. Scientific exposition is particularly prone to 
 be couched in language which conforms more or less closely 
 
20 Sentence Structure in Virgil 
 
 to this general type of sentence structure. Such literature 
 deals largely with relational elements. A style characterized 
 by a high degree of complexity is apt to be difficult for most 
 readers to follow, as it makes heavy demands upon the volun- 
 tary attention, in order to grasp and hold in mind the relations 
 of the various elements of the sentence. 
 
 b. The second of the two principal types of sentence 
 structure is the associative type, which is characterized by 
 successive linking or juxtaposition of simple, co-ordinate sen- 
 tences. This linking takes place under the influence of forces 
 of association, which sometimes operate consciously and some- 
 times unconsciously. The utterance of some element in one 
 sentence calls into mind a new unit of thought which has been 
 in some way and at some time associated with it and thus makes 
 the transition from one sentence to another co-ordinate with 
 it. The movement of thought, aside from the analysis of each 
 unit of thought, is forward from one unit of thought to anoth- 
 er, i. e., it results not only from simultaneous factors, but from 
 successive factors as well. 
 
 The three following sentences illustrate this form of 
 sentence structure. In the accompanying formulae, the associ- 
 ative linking is represented by a horizontal line connecting the 
 successive units of thought. 
 
 panditur extemplo foribus domus atra revolsis, 
 abstractaeque boves abiurataeque rapinae 
 caelo ostenduntur, pedibusque informe cadaver 
 protrahitur. 
 
 Aen, VIII, 262-265. 
 
 a b ai a-j bi as bs 
 
 Cases in which several sentences have a common member may 
 
 be represented as follows : 
 
 Ille ruenti 
 aggere consistit, primumque cadavera plenis 
 turribus evolvit, subeuntesque obruit hostes 
 corporibus; totaeque viro dant tela ruinae, 
 roboraque, et moles; host! seque ipse minatur. 
 
 Lucan: Pharsalia, VI, 169-173. 
 
 a b bi ba as bs a bi 
 
 There is a wide range of meaning in the connectives used 
 to join successive units of thought in this form of sentence 
 structure. Words like ef and gtie have simnlv a Hnkine or 
 cumulative force ; they express simple addition. But in addi- 
 
Sentence Structure in Virgil 21 
 
 tion to this use, the connective may express many other rela- 
 tions, such as time, cause, consequence, adversative relations, 
 etc. Connectives with such a double function may be repre- 
 sented by the horizontal square bracket, as in the illustrations 
 below. Sometimes the relation expressed by the connective is a 
 loose, general one ; sometimes it is relatively clear and precise. 
 Sentences of this type in which the relation is exact form the 
 stage of transition for the historical development of the com- 
 plex sentence. 
 
 illi agmine certo 
 Laocoonta petunt: et primum parva duorum 
 corpora natorum serpens amplexus uterque 
 implicat et miseros morsu depascitur artus; 
 post ipsum auxilio subeuntem ac tela ferentem 
 corripiunt spirisque ligant ingentibus, et iam 
 bis medium amplexi, bis coUo squamea circum 
 terga dati superant capite et cervicibus altis. 
 
 Aen. II. 212-219. 
 
 Generally speaking, the associative type of sentence struc- 
 ture is characteristic of literature in which the feelings and 
 emotions find fuller expression. It is the medium for subjec- 
 tive expression. The will plays a smaller part in the direction 
 of the thought, which is guided chiefly by various forces of 
 association. Some of these may even exercise their influence 
 without the knowledge of the speaker. From the point of view 
 of the reader, such literature is apt to be easier to follow, as 
 it proceeds in the natural order of passive attention. This is 
 a more primitive order of thought and expression, and is apt 
 to be found in the language of children and of primitive men. 
 
 Closely connected with the associative type is the form 
 of discourse described on pages 15 and 16, in which a number 
 of short simple sentences are felt as parts of one related whole, 
 but in which the relations between these sentences are not 
 verbally expressed. From the rhetorical point of view, this 
 form of expression not only adds vivacity and a pleasing 
 variety, but allows the attention to be concentrated upon the 
 content of the sentences rather than upon the relations between 
 them, or perhaps adds interest by leaving something to the 
 imagination of the reader or hearer. 
 
22 Sentence Structure in Virgil 
 
 Relatirely few sentences in connected discourse conform 
 strictly and solely to any one of the types just enunciated. A 
 much greater number involve both apperceptive and associative 
 elements, as in the following typical examples : 
 
 Ac dum prima novis adolescit frondibus aetas, 
 parcendum teneris, et dum se laetus ad auras 
 palmes agit laxis per purum immissus liabenis, 
 ipsa acie nondum falcis temptanda, sed uncis 
 carpendae manibus frondes interque legendae. 
 
 Georgics II, 362-366. 
 
 munus est Orpheus meum, 
 qui saxa cantu mulcet et silvas trahit, 
 geminique munus Castor et Pollux meum est 
 satique Borea quique trans Pontum quoque 
 summota Lynceus lumine immisso videt, 
 omnesque Minyae: nam ducem taceo ducum, 
 pro quo nihil debetur: hunc nulli imputo; 
 vobis revexi ceteros, unum mihi. 
 
 Seneca: Medea, 228-235. 
 
 The following sentence contains both apperceptive ele- 
 ments and associative additions, and ascending, descending, 
 and intermediate structure. 
 
 et si iam nostro sentit de corpore postquam 
 distractast animi natura animaeque potestas, 
 nil tamen est ad nos qui comptu coniugioque 
 corporis atque animae consistimus uniter apti. 
 iiec, si materiem nostram collegerit aetas 
 post obitum rursumque redegerit ut sita nunc est 
 atque iterum nobis fuerint data lumina vitae, 
 pertineat quicquam tamen ad nos id quoque factum, 
 interrupta semel cuni sit repetentia nostri. 
 
 Lucretius: De Rerum Natura, III., 843-851. 
 
11. VARIATIONS IN SENTENCE STRUCTURE. 
 
 The distinction between apperceptive and associative 
 "types is the most fundamental and significant distinction to 
 be made in the study of sentence structure. Some writers 
 «how ti habitual preference for a complex structure, while 
 others manifest an equal predilection for small units and 
 associative linking. But there are numerous other characteris- 
 tics which serve to distinguish the sentence structure of one 
 writer or of one work from those of other writers or of other 
 works. Several of these will be brought out in our more detailed 
 investigation of Virgil's style. Are such peculiarities of sen- 
 tence formation due to the personality of the writer, to the 
 nature of his subject matter, to the particular literary form 
 selected as the medium of expression, or to still other factors ? 
 We have seen that the sentence structure of a particular work 
 may depend to a certain extent upon the degree of development 
 of the language in the period in which its composition chances 
 to fall. This consideration should be kept in mind when com- 
 paring works which are widely separated in time, or works in 
 different languages of disparate development. But in com- 
 paring works of approximately the same time, in the same 
 dialect, this factor is relatively unimportant. 
 
 I. RELATION TO LITERARY FORM. 
 
 A comparison of the sentence structure of the Aeneid with 
 that of the De Rerum Natura of Lucretius shows conclusively 
 that the structure may vary widely within the limits of the 
 same literary form. Here are two great poems, scarcely a 
 single generation apart in time, and both couched in the epic 
 form, the dactylic hexameter. Yet one is prevailingly apper- 
 ceptive in its sentence structure, while in the other the associ- 
 ative type is equally predominant. The following are selected 
 as typical passages from each poem :* 
 
 hue accedit uti sine certis imbribus anni 
 laetificos nequeat fetus submittere tellus 
 nee porro secreta cibo natura animantum 
 
 • The conclusions stated in this work are based upon minute examination 
 of extended portions of the texts mentioned. The selections here graphically 
 represented are merely illustrative. 
 
24 Sentence Structure in Virgil 
 
 195 propagare genus posmt vitamque tueri; 
 
 ut potius multis communia corpora rebus 
 
 niulta putes esse, ut verbis elementa videmus, 
 
 quam sine principiis ullam rem existere posse. 
 
 denique cur homines tantos natura parare 
 200 non potuit, pedibus qui pontum per vada possent 
 
 transire et magnos manibus divellere montls 
 
 multaque vivendo vitalia vincere saecla, 
 
 si non, materies quia rebus reddita certast 
 
 gignundis e qua constat quid possit oriri? 
 205 nil igitur fieri de nilo posse fatendumst, 
 
 semine quando opus est rebus quo quaeque creatae 
 
 aeris in teneras possint proferrier auras. 
 
 postremo quoniam incultis praestare videmus 
 
 culta loca et manibus melioris reddere fetus, 
 210 esse videlicet in terris primordia rerum 
 
 terraique solum subigentes cimus ad ortus. 
 
 quae nos fecundas vertentes vomere glebas 
 
 quod si nulla forent, nostro sine quaeque labore 
 
 sponte sua multo fieri meliora videres. 
 
 Lucretius: I., 192-214. 
 
 192 
 
 (a) 
 
 c d ci di da 
 
 199 
 
 205 
 
 208 
 
SENTENCE Structure in Virgil 25 
 
 The passage is one which, like most of the work, involves 
 abstract reasoning. The high degree of complexity is notice- 
 able. The descending structure of the first two sentences 
 would also attract attention, but is offset by the ascending 
 structure in the last two sentences. 
 
 Vix ea fatus erat senior, subitoque fragore 
 
 intonuit laevom, et de caelo lapsa per umbras 
 
 Stella facem ducens multa cum luce cucurrit. 
 695 illam, summa super labantem culmina lecti, 
 
 cernimus Idaea claram se condere silva 
 
 signantemque vias; tum longo limite sulcus 
 
 dat lucem, et late circum loca sulpure fumant. 
 
 hlc vero victus genitor se toUere ad auras, 
 700 adfaturque deos et sanctum sidus adorat: 
 
 'lam lam nulla morast; sequor et qua ducitis adsum. 
 
 di patrii, servate domum, servate nepotem. 
 
 vestrum hoc augurium, vestroque in numine Troiast. 
 
 eedo equidem nee, nate, tibi comes ire recuse' 
 
 Aen. II.. 692-704. 
 
 692 
 
 695 
 
 bi a2 ba 
 
 bi 
 
 °^^ a b bi b- 
 
 701 
 
 702 
 
 704 
 
 a b 1 a b a b A B 
 
 (a) b I a b ai bi 
 
 The simplicity of the sentence structure in this typical 
 passage from the Aeneid is apparent at once. There is very 
 little analysis, and a marked predominance of associative con- 
 nections. It stands in the strongest contrast to the passage 
 just quoted from Lucretius. 
 
 hinc indignatur se mortalem esse creatum 
 885 nee videt in vera nullum fore niorte alioni se 
 qui possit vivus sibi se lugere peremptum 
 stansque iacentem se lacerari urive dolere. 
 nam si in morte malumst mails morsuque ferarum 
 tractari, non invenio qui non sit acerbum 
 
26 Sentence Structure in Virgil 
 
 890 ignibus impositum calidis torrescere flammis 
 
 aut in melle situm suffocari atque rigere 
 
 frigore, cum summo gelidi cubat aequore saxi, 
 
 urgerive superne obtritum pondere terrae. 
 
 lara iam non domus accipiet te laeta, neque uxor 
 895 optima nee dulces occurrent oscula nati 
 
 praeripere et tacita pectus dulcedine tangent. 
 
 non poteris factis florentibus esse, tuisque 
 
 praesidium. misero misere' aiunt 'omnia ademit 
 
 una dies infesta tibi tot praemia vitae.' 
 900 illud in his rebus non addunt 'nee tibi earum 
 
 iam desiderium rerum super insidet una.' 
 
 quod bene si videant animo dictisque sequantur, 
 
 dissoluant animi magno se angore metuque. 
 
 'tu quidem ut es leto sopitus, sic eris aevi 
 905 quod superest cunctis privatu' doloribus aegris: 
 
 at nos horrifleo cinefaetum te prope busto 
 
 insatiabiliter deflevimus, aeternumque 
 
 nulla dies nobis maerorem e peetore demet.' * 
 
 Lucretius: De Rerum Natura, III, 884-908. 
 
 884 
 
 e f (e) e f f i ' f 
 
 888 
 
 a b AH 
 
 894 
 
 897 
 
 900 
 
 •904 
 
 a b a a b b 
 
 a b bi I a (a b): b 
 
 d, 
 
 The passage from line 894 to line 908 inclusive is poetic in 
 the highest degree and is full of remarkably deep feeling. The 
 change from the complex structure of the first two sentences to 
 
 * The next three lines have already been quoted on pagei9 
 
Sentence Structure in Virgil 27' 
 
 the relatively simple structure of these lines is noteworthy and 
 significant.* But most of the poem of Lucretius is expressed 
 in as complex structure as characterizes ordinary scientific 
 prose. Compare for example this piece of pure exposition from 
 the Auctor ad Herennium : 
 
 "Quoniaiu igitur docilem, benivolum, attentum auditorem habere 
 volumus, quo modo quidque eflBci possit, aperiemus. 
 
 Dociles auditores habere poterimus, si summam causae breviter ex- 
 ponemus et si attentos eos faciemus; nam docilis est quit attente vult 
 audire. 
 
 Attentos habebimus, si pollicebimur nos de rebus magnis, novis, in- 
 usitatis verba facturos aut de iis, quae ad rem publicam pertineat aut 
 ad eos ipsos, qui au.lient, aut ad deorum inmortalium re- 
 ligionem; et si rogabimus, ut attente audiant; et si nuniero exponemus 
 res, quibus de rebus dicturi sumus." 
 
 Ad Herennium I, iv, 7. 
 
 b a b 
 
 d I'c' di c d 
 
 r d c d c d 
 
 e f c d e f 
 
 R h 
 1 i 
 
 It is therefore apparent that the sentence structure is com- 
 paratively independent of the particular literary form in which 
 the production is expressed. The objection might be urged 
 against the application of this method of investigation to poe- 
 try that the exigencies of metrical expression are so great as to 
 obliterate a writer's personal preference for one or another 
 form of sentence structure. But it has already been noted in 
 connection with the last two passages cited that the structure 
 of a great poem may approximately correspond to that of the 
 most abstract scientific prose. It seems clear, therefore, that 
 metrical composition does not necessarily require any funda- 
 mentally different type of organization from prose. Undoubt- 
 edly, the exigencies of meter do influence an author's style in 
 some degree. This is especially apt to be the case with an au- 
 
 ♦ See also page 35. 
 
28 Sentence Structure in Virgii, 
 
 thor who expresses himself more readily in prose, and is not 
 fully master of meter. But a comparison of the prose and poe- 
 try of Seneca or of Columella makes it evident that the pecu- 
 liarities of an author's prose style are often traceable in his 
 poetry also. One of the most marked characteristics of Seneca's 
 prose style is his large use of the isolating structure, as in the 
 following : 
 
 "Quare tamen deus tarn iniquus in distributione rati fuit, ut bonis 
 viris paupertatem et volnera et acerba funera adscriberet?" Non potest 
 artifex mutare materiam: haec passa est. Quaedam separari a quibus- 
 dam non possunt, cohaerent, individua sunt. Languida ingenia et in 
 somnum itura aut in vigiliam somno simillimam inertibus nectuntur 
 elementis: ut efficiatur vir cum cura dicendus, fortlore fato opus est. 
 Non erit illi planum iter: sursum oportet ac deorsum eat, fluctuetur ac 
 navigiuni in tubido regat: contra fortunam illi tenendus est cursns. 
 
 De Prov. V. 9. 
 
 The same tendency is observable in the Medea — even in the 
 less impassioned portions, and in the words of Creon as well as 
 Medea. 
 
 Creon. Medea, Colchi noxium Aeetae genus, 
 180 nondum meis exportat o regnis pedem? 
 
 raolitur aliquid: nota fraus, nota est manus. 
 
 cui parcet ilia quemve securum sinet? 
 
 abolere propere pessimam ferro luem 
 
 equidem parabam: precibus evicit gener. 
 185 concessa vita est, libert^t fines metu 
 
 abeatque tuta. fert gradum contra ferox 
 
 minaxque nostros propius affatus petit. 
 
 arcete, famuli, tactu et accessu procul, 
 
 iubete sileat, regium iinperium pati 
 190 aliquando discat, vade veloci fuga 
 
 monstrumque saevum horribile iamdudum avehe. 
 * * * * 
 Medea. Difficile quam sit animum ab ira flectere 
 iam concitatum quaraque regale hoc putet 
 205 sceptris superbas quisciuis admovit manus, 
 
 qua coepit ire, regia didici mea. 
 
 quamvis enim sim clade miseranda obruta, 
 
 expulsa supplex sola deserta, undique 
 
 afflicta, quondam nobili fulsi patre 
 
Sentence Structure in Virgil 29 
 
 210 avoque clarum Sole deduxi genus. 
 
 quodcumque placidis flexibus Phasis rigat 
 
 Pontusque quidquid Scythicus a tergo videt, 
 
 palustribus qua maria dulcescunt aquis, 
 
 armata peltis quidquid exterret cohors 
 215 inclusa, ripis vidua Tliermodontiis, 
 
 hoc omne noster genitor imperio regit. 
 
 generosa, felix, decore regali potens 
 
 fuJsi: petebant tunc meos ttialamos proci, 
 
 qui nunc petuntur. rapida fortuna ac levis 
 220 praecepsque regno eripuit exilio dedit. 
 
 confide regnis, cum levis magnas opes 
 
 hue ferat et illuc casus — hoc reges habent 
 
 magnificum et ingens, nulla quod rapiat dies: 
 
 prodesse miseris, supplices fido lare 
 225 protegere, solum hoe Colchico regno extuli, 
 
 decus illud ingens Graeciae et florem inclitum, 
 
 praesidia Achivae gentis et prolem deum 
 
 servasse memet. 
 
 Medea: 179-191 and 203-228. 
 
 179 ' — '"^ 
 
 ^'^ a b 
 
 Aol „ K I o K I o K 
 
 182 
 
 183 
 185 
 186 
 
 188 
 203 
 
 207 
 
 211 
 
 217 
 
 221 
 
 a b I (a) b I a b | a b bi 
 
 a b|b|b|b|b|b A B Bi 
 
30 Sentence Structure in Virgii, 
 
 Columella is master of a simple, clear, and dignified prose 
 style, characterized by rather short, clear-cut sentences, with 
 but one degree of analysis, and by the occasional occurrence 
 of short simple sentences. 
 
 "Sed et post haec non ignorabit dominus loci, plus posse qualitatem 
 caeli frigidam vel calidam, siccam vel roscidam, grandinosam ventosam- 
 que vel placldam, serenam vel nebulosam: frigidaeque aut nebulosae 
 duorum generum vltes aptabit, seu praecoques, quarum maturitas fru- 
 gum praecurrit hiemem; seu firmi durique acini, quarum inter caligines 
 uvae deflorescunt, et mox gelicidiis ac pruinis, ut aliarum calorlbus, 
 mitescunt. ventoso quoque et tumultuoso statu caeli fidenter easdem 
 tenaces ac duri acini committet. rursus calido teniores uberioresque 
 concredet, sicco destinabit eas, quae pluviis aut continuis roribus- 
 putrescunt; roscido, quae siccitatibus laborant; grandinoso quae foliis 
 duris latisque sunt, quo melius protegant fructum. nam placida et 
 serena regio nullam non recipit: commodissime tamen eam, cuius vel 
 uvae vel acini celeriter decidunt." 
 
 De Re Rustica, III., i, 6-7. 
 
 a b 
 
 The tenth Book of the De Re Rustica is written in verse, 
 ■intended, as the author says, to serve as a fifth Georgic, in ac- 
 cordance with the suggestion of Virgil. The selection cited 
 from the third Book is on the care of vines ; the one given be- 
 low from the tenth Book is on the care of gardens. Both, of 
 course, are didactic in their nature. Observe the use of short, 
 clear sentences, with little analysis, in both. 
 
 * "o" Is used to denote the object, in cases where its indication is neces- 
 sary to malse the structure of the sentence clear. 
 
Sentence Structure in Virgil 31 
 
 Tu gravibus rastris cunctantia perfode terga, 
 
 tu penitus latis eradere viscera marris 
 
 ne dubita, et summo frondenti cespite mista 
 
 ponere, quae canis iaceant urenda pruinis, 
 75 veroeribus gelidis iraeque obnoxia Caurl, 
 
 alliget ut saevus Boreas, Eurusque resolvat. 
 
 post ubi Riphaeae torpentia frigore brumae 
 
 candidus aprica Zephyrus relegaverit aura, 
 
 sidereoque polo cedet Lyra mersa profundo, 
 80 veris et advenum nidis cantarit hirundo. 
 
 rudere turn pingui, solido vel stercore aselli, 
 
 armentive fimo saturet ieiunia terrae, 
 
 ipse ferens olitor diductos pondere qualos: 
 
 pabula nee pigeat fesso praebere novali, 
 85 immundis quaecunque void it latrina cloacis. 
 
 densaque iam pluviis, durataque summa pruinis 
 
 aequora dulcis humi repetat mucrone bidentis. 
 
 mox bene cum glebis vivacem cespitis herbam 
 
 contundat marrae vel fracti dente ligonis, 
 90 putria maturi solvantur ut ubera campi. 
 
 tunc tritura solum splendentia sarcula sumat, 
 
 angustosque foros adverso limite ducens, 
 
 rursus in obliquum distinguat tramite parvo. 
 
 verum ubi iam puro discrimine pectita tellus, 
 95 deposito squalore nitens sua semina poscit, 
 
 pangite tunc varios terrestria sidera flores, 
 
 Candida leucoia, et flaventia lumina calthae, 
 
 narcissique comas, et hiantis saeva leonis 
 
 ora feri, calathisque virentia lilia canis, 
 100 nee non vel niveos, vel caeruleos hyacinthos. 
 
 De Rebus Rusticig X, 71-100. 
 
 a b I a b bi 
 
 c d c d ci di 
 
 77 • , 
 
 86 — r^ 
 
 a b 
 
 88 
 
 a b (a' b 
 
 94 ^^^ ' — ;^]^ 
 
 a b A B 
 
32 Sentence Structure in Virgii. 
 
 In some passages of the tenth Book there is a little more 
 elaboration and a little more irregularity of structure than in 
 the prose books, with a little more associative linking, but in 
 general the movement is about the same. The writer is evi- 
 dently slightly hampered by the requirements of the meter, 
 but it does not obliterate his peculiarities of style. 
 
 2. RELATION TO SUBJECT MATTER. 
 
 The attempt to discover the extent to which the nature of 
 a writer's subject matter influences his sentence structure is a 
 more complex and difficult problem. Perhaps the best oppor- 
 tunity for investigation is found in a comparison of the Georgics 
 and the Aeneid, for here we have two great poems by the same 
 author, with the same metrical structure, separated in time by 
 but a short interval. The great difference between them is in 
 the nature of the subject matter ; one is didactic, the other epic 
 in content. The divergence in sentence structure, however, is 
 not marked. In both poems there is the same pronounced ten- 
 dency to associative linking, the same flowing character to the 
 movement of thought. But in the Georgics — at least in the 
 more purely didactic portions of the poem — there is a little 
 more variation and irregularity in the form of the larger 
 thought units, a little more abruptness of expression, and a 
 larger use of those connectives which imply logical relation, e. 
 g., there are many more co-ordinating causal connectives, more 
 words expressing purpose, and a slightly larger use of dis- 
 junctives as compared with simple cumulative conjunctions, 
 with a smaller use of temporal connectives and relative pro- 
 nouns. Perhaps the most consp'cuous difference is the compar- 
 ative infrequency in the Georgics of the binary structure which 
 is such a marked characteristic of the Aeneid. 
 
 Most of these differences are illustrated in the following 
 selections : 
 
 GeorcTiVs TT, .^46-361 
 346 ■ 
 
 (a b) a b A B (a) b (a) b a b a b a b 
 
 (a) b I a b I a (b) 
 c d c d 
 
 354 
 
 a a b a ai a 
 
 c d di 
 
18 
 .25 
 
 -30 
 
 592 
 
 594 
 
 597 
 600 
 
 603 
 606 
 
 468 
 473 
 
 481 
 483 
 
 486 
 488 
 
 Sentence Structure in Virgil 
 
 Georgics IV, 18-32 
 
 33 
 
 a ai b a2 as ai bi 
 
 c d c d O D o D 
 
 A a b bi B 
 
 c d di 
 e t ~^U 
 
 a ai ai> b a» bi 
 
 Aeneid VIII, 592-607 
 abb 
 
 a a b b a b ai bi 
 
 a b I a b ai bi 
 
 a a b b 
 c d 
 
 a ai b as bi bj 
 
 a a b b 
 
 Aeneid XII, 468-499 
 a b bi I a b bi 
 
 a b bi bs A B Bi B2 Bs I B 
 
 a b bi ba 
 
 a b bi A B 
 
 a b I a b ai bx 
 
 a a b bt 
 
34 Sentence Structure in Virgil 
 
 a b bi a b~~b] 
 
 494 ^_^ 
 
 Bi B2 Bs 
 
 Similar divergencies in sentence structure may be detect- 
 ed between the Satires and Epistles of Horace, upon the one 
 hand, and the Odes upon the other. Here, however, the ques- 
 tion is complicated by the fact that there is a wide difference 
 in the metrical structure employed in the two cases, which may 
 have something to do with the difference in sentence struc- 
 ture. 
 
 Quae virtus et quanta, boni, sit vivere parvo — 
 
 nee meus hie sermo est, sed quae praecepit Ofellus 
 
 rusticus, abnormis sapiens, crassaque Minerva — 
 
 discite non inter lances mensasque nitentis, 
 5 cum stupet insanis acies fulgoribus et cum 
 
 adclinis falsis animus meliora recusat, 
 
 verum liic impransi mecum disquirite. cur hoc? 
 
 dicam, si potero. Male verum examinat omnis 
 
 corruptus index, leporem sectatus equove 
 10 lassus ab indomito vel, si Romana fatisat 
 
 militia adsuetum graecari, sen pila velox 
 
 molliter austerum studio fallente laborem 
 
 seu te discus agit, pete cedentem aera disco; 
 
 cum labor extuderit fastidia, siccus, inanis. 
 15 sperne cibum vilem; nisi Hymettia mella Falerno 
 
 ne biberis diluta. 
 
 Sermones II, 2; 1-16.. 
 
 a b 
 
 aVa b a'~'a b A 
 
 Nullus argento color est avaris 
 abdito terris, inimice lamnae 
 Crispe Sallusti, nisi temperato 
 
 splendeat usu. 
 vivet extento Proculeius aevo, 
 notus in fratres animi paterni: 
 ilium aget pinna metuente solvl 
 
 fama superstes. 
 
Sentence Structure in Virgii. 
 
 35 
 
 latius regnes avidum domando 
 10 spiritum, quam si Libyam remotis 
 Gadibus iungas et uterque Poenus 
 
 serviat uni. 
 crescit indulgens sibi dirus hydrops 
 nee sitim pellit, nisi causa morbi 
 15 fugerit venis et aquosus albo 
 corpore languor, 
 redditum Cyri solio Phraaten 
 dissidens plebi numero beatorum 
 eximit Virtus populumque falsis 
 20 dedocet uti 
 
 vocibus, regnum et diadema tutum 
 deferens uni propriamque laurum, 
 quisquis ingentis oculo inretorto 
 spectat acervoB. 
 
 Odea II, 2. 
 
 a b I a b 
 
 a b 
 
 c d ci di 
 
 13 
 
 b 
 c d 
 
 17 
 
 b 
 c d 
 
 The same problem may also be approached by a compari- 
 son of different portions of the same work, in which the tone 
 of the subject matter is so different as practically to alter the 
 character of the work for the time being. We have already 
 noted* the fact that in his most highly poetic and emotional 
 passages, Lucretius expresses himself in a simple form of sen- 
 tence structure, approximating the Virgilian manner, and vary- 
 ing widely from his own customary style. The structure of 
 the Fourth Georgic, which closes with the semi-epic of the myth 
 of Arethusa, approaches quite closely that of the earlier books 
 of the Aeneid. We should perhaps be prone to ascribe this to 
 the gradual development of the poet's style, were it not for 
 
 • Page 27. 
 
36 Sentence Structure in Virgil 
 
 the fact that the sentence formation of the Eclogues resembles 
 that of the Aeneid fully as closely as does that of the Georgics. 
 It is interesting also to compare the passage in Lucretius I., 250- 
 26], with one almost identical in content in the Georgics, II., 
 325-335. 
 
 250 postremo pereunt imbres, ubi eos pater aether 
 
 in gremium matris terrai praecipitavit; 
 
 at nitidae surgunt fruges ramique virescunt 
 
 arboribus, crescunt ipsae fetuque gravantur; 
 
 hinc alitur porro nostrum genus atque ferarum, 
 255 hinc laetas urbes pueris florere videmus 
 
 frondiferasque novis avibus canere undique silvas; 
 
 hinc fessae pecudes pingui per pabula laeta 
 
 corpora deponunt et candens lacteus umor 
 
 uberibus manat distentis; hinc nova proles 
 260 artubus inflrmis teneras lasciva per herbas 
 
 ludit lacte mero mentes perculsa novellas. 
 
 Lucretius I, 250-261. 
 
 250 
 
 ai bi I a b bi a ai b 
 
 b I a b ai b] 
 d c d 
 
 325 turn pater omnipotens fecundis imbribus aether 
 
 coniugis in gremium laetae descendit, et omnis 
 
 magnus alit magno commixtus corpore fetus. 
 
 avia tum resonant avibus virgulta canoris, 
 
 et Venerem certis repetunt armenta diebus; 
 330 parturit almus ager, zephyrique tepentibus auris. 
 
 laxant arva sinus; superat tener omnibus umor; 
 
 inque novos soles audent se germina tuto 
 
 credere, nee metuit surgentis pampinus austros 
 
 aut actum caelo magnis aquilonibus imbrem, 
 335 sed trudit gemmas et frondes explicat omnis. 
 
 Georgics II, 325-335. 
 
 32.5 
 
 328 
 
 bi 
 
 bi I a b 81 bi I a b ai bi 
 
 bo (a) 
 
 One is impressed at once with the fact that in this passage 
 Lucretius, departing from his usual manner, has expressed him- 
 self in almost exactly the same sentence structure afterward 
 used by Virgil in a passage of similar purport. The style is 
 
Sentence Structure in Virgil 37 
 
 characteristic of Virgil, but not of Lucretius. Of course, one 
 must take into consideration the possibility that Virgil has here 
 copied after Lucretius, or that both have drawn from a com- 
 mon source. But upon a closer examination, one does not fail 
 to find the characteristic differences between the two writers 
 even in these citations. Virgil has no analysis, in one ease ex- 
 pressing with a co-ordinate sentence exactly the same idea 
 which Lucretius has expressed in a subordinate clause, and he 
 makes a larger use of purely cumulative conjunctions, where 
 Lucretius has used more connectives which imply other rela- 
 tions. And this fact receives even greater weight if the hy- 
 pothesis of borrowing is adopted, for in that case we have Vir- 
 gil's marked characteristics apparent even in the use of an- 
 other's material. 
 
 It is of course difficult to draw any line of demarcation be- 
 tween the influence exerted upon a writer's style by his per- 
 sonality and that exerted by his subject matter, because the 
 writer's personality is so apt to influence his choice of subject 
 matter. But upon the whole, it is safe to say that the choice of 
 subject matter often influences a writer's sentence structure in 
 a given work, though such variations are less marked than those 
 due to temperament. 
 
 3. RELATION TO TEMPERAMENT. 
 
 The latter may best be investigated by comparing works 
 of the same character, couched in the same literary form, but 
 by different authors. Such a comparison of Virgil with other 
 writers is hampered by the fact that we have only fragments of 
 the epic poets who preceded him (unless we class Lucretius as 
 an epic poet), and also by the fact that he was almost univer- 
 sally adopted as a model of style by lat'er writers, especially 
 epic poets. In the case of writers who consciously modelled 
 after Virgil, it is difficult, if not impossible, to tell just how far 
 the correspondences are due to the fact that they have adopted 
 a Virgilian manner of organizing their sentences. 
 
 The fragments of Ennius, however, are sufficiently exten- 
 sive so that we can gain a fairly accurate idea of the general 
 organization of his thought. The difference between this and 
 Virgil's style is moreover of especial significance, as Virgil was 
 to such a large extent indebted to Ennius. The comparison 
 shows a considerably larger use of the appercept've form than 
 is usual with Virgil. 
 
38 Sentence Structure in Virgii. 
 
 ANNALES I, xlvii 
 
 79 
 
 32 
 
 84 
 
 92 
 
 95 
 
 194 
 
 197 
 
 199 
 
 201 
 
 35 
 
 40 
 
 a b bi a b | b 
 
 a b I a b 
 c d c d 
 
 a b 
 
 c d <■' I) A B Bi 
 
 e f c d 
 
 a b A B Bi 
 
 c ci d 
 
 ANNALES VI, xii 
 
 a b ai bi I a b b | a b 
 
 a a'~'ab b'~'b A B a b: 
 
 a b A B (A) B 
 
 a b (a b) a b 
 
 ALEXANDER I 
 
 a a b b a b 
 
 a b 
 c d 
 e t 
 
Sentence Structure in Virgil 39 
 
 43 r^K 
 
 The fragments of the dramatic works of Ennius, Pacuvius, 
 and Accius show the same general character. Even Plautus, 
 though his style is largely influenced by the preference of the 
 piebeius sermo for isolation and co-ordination, makes a consid- 
 erable use of subordinate constructions. 
 
 The treatment of the style of the later epi-c writers, as com- 
 pared with Virgil, will be postponed, for the sake of conveni- 
 ence, until the details of Virgil's sentence structure have been 
 more fully developed. 
 
III. CHIEF CHARACTERISTICS OF VIRGIL'S SENTENCE: 
 
 STRUCTURE. 
 
 1. PREDOMINANCE OF ASSOCIATIVE ELEMENTS. 
 
 Whether Virgil's preference for the associative type of 
 sentence structure is a reversion (in the development of Latin 
 literature) to a more primitive .type, as exemplified in the- 
 Homeric poems for instance, or whether it is due to the pecu- 
 liar cast of the poet's temperament, it is at all events a most 
 marked characteristic. The vast majority of Virgil's sentences 
 are compound. Detached simple sentences are comparatively 
 rare, and of subordinate sentences, but 171 occur in Book II,. 
 208 in Book IV, 183 in Book VIII, and 241 in Book XII.* 
 
 a. Types of Associative Sentences. 
 
 (1) The Double Sentence. 
 
 Of the compound sentences, one particular type seems 
 characteristic of Virgil, especially in the Aeneid. This is the- 
 compound sentence of two members. The following are typi- 
 cal examples : 
 
 suspensi Eurypylum scitantem oracula Phoebi 
 mittimus, isque adytis haec tristia dicta reportat: 
 
 Aen. II, 114-115. 
 
 a b ai bi 
 
 natat uncta carina, 
 frondentisque ferunt remos et robora silvis 
 infabricata fugae studio. 
 
 Aen. IV, 398-400. 
 
 nee non et gemini custodes limine ab alto 
 praecedunt gressumque canes comitantur erilem. 
 
 Aen. VIII, 461-462. 
 
 procedit legio Ausonidum, pilataque plenis 
 agmina se fundunt portis. 
 
 Aen. XII, 121-122. 
 
 ♦These four books of Virgil are selected as the basis for the data which- 
 follo-w because they contain all the principal varieties of subject matter- 
 which make up the Aeneid: the second book contains the story of the sack 
 of Troy, narrative-descriptive epic; the fourth book contains the ne-wer Vlr- 
 g-ilian "contribution — the dramatic romance of the Dido episode; the eighth 
 booK is made up of more subdued narration and description, while the twelfth 
 book contains the battle epic of the war with Turnn.s. A more cursory exam- 
 ination of the other books fails to reveal any peculiarities of structure not 
 sufficiently accounted for in the detailed examination of the books mentioned.. 
 
Sentence Structure in Virgil 41 
 
 Other examples are found in Book II, 118-119, 250-252, 
 363-366, 482-483, 484-485, 710-711; IV, 509-511, 632-533,663- 
 665; VIII, 518-519, 530-531; XII, 25-26, 462-463, 693, 921-923. 
 
 An exceedingly frequent variation of this form is that in 
 which one subject is construed with two predicates. 
 
 turn vero Teucri incumbunt et litore celsas 
 deducunt toto navis. 
 
 Aen. IV, 397-398. 
 
 The first and last sentences of Book II, the first of Book 
 IV, and the last of Book VIII and of Book XII are of this form, 
 while the first sentences of Books VIII and XII and the last of 
 Book IV contain binary elements in combination. This type 
 of sentence seems to possess a lyric element ; it often occurs as 
 a sort of interlude or refrain, in quiet narrative or descriptive 
 passages which serve as means of transition between the more 
 stirring portions of the work. But it is by no means confined 
 to such passages. It occurs more than 80 times in Book II 
 alone, sometimes isolated, and sometimes in combination with 
 other elements. Examples are: II, 145, 146-147, 234, 571-574, 
 619-620, 757-759 ; IV, 184-188, 219-222, 504-508 ; VIII, 124, 125, 
 608-611 ; XII, 672, 758-759, 849-852, 853-854, 855. The form fre- 
 quently finds its way even into the subordinate members of 
 complex sentences, as in II, 21-28, 176-179 ; XII, 561-564. It is 
 used with increasing frequency in the latter books of the 
 Aeneid, and occurs over 140 times in Book XII. Such extensive 
 use, of course, renders it a dominating type of expression. In 
 the Eclogues it occurs occasionally, but by no means as often as 
 in the Aeneid. In the Georgics, it is much more common, but 
 somewhat less frequent than in the Aeneid. 
 
 (a) Binary sentence structure isnotinfrequentin the literature 
 of several languages. It seems to occur most often in rather 
 primitive literature, especially that which contains a lyric ele- 
 ment. It is very common in Hebrew literature, gnomic as well 
 as lyric. Its pychological motive, in some cases at least, seems to 
 be to present two sides, so to speak, of an object of thought, and 
 so to make a deeper or a more accurate impression upon the 
 mind of the hearer or reader. Of course, many objects of 
 thought have more than two aspects, and the impression might 
 conceivably be made clearer still by presenting more than two. 
 But on the other hand, the mind of the hearer or reader might 
 
42 Sentence Structure in Virgil 
 
 be confused by presenting so many closely united successive 
 factors. In simple language, two seems to be the limit most 
 commonly arrived at by the process of mutual give and take — 
 the adaptation of speaker to hearer. The human mind is prone 
 to express itself in pairs. This finds its reflex in such common 
 sayings as "there are two sides to every question." It is not 
 unlikely, too, that this habit of expression may be due in part 
 to the binary nature of many facts of experience — to the large 
 number of concepts which involve a contrast, and so occur only 
 in pairs, such as cold and heat, high and low, day and night. 
 Such a habit if speech may conceivably be extended beyond its 
 original bounds and applied to concepts which are not neces- 
 sarily of a dual nature.* Or again, the causes of the phenome- 
 na may have to be sought in subtle and little understood, but 
 deepseated, impulses in the human soul which tend uncon- 
 sciously toward rhythmic forms of expression.** 
 
 Man;v writers make use of a binary form of sentence for 
 the purpose of bringing out contrasts, antitheses, etc. It is 
 noteworthy that Virgil seldom resorts to this common expedi- 
 cn. A binary sentence like that in Aeneid VIII, 530-531, 
 
 obstipuere animis alii, sed Troius heros 
 adgnovit sonitum et divae promissa parentis. 
 
 in which contrast or opposition between the members is ex- 
 pressed, is so unusual as to attract attention at once. Virgil 
 seems rather to deepen the impression by cumulative additions, 
 like the successive strokes of a painter's brush. 
 
 Possibly the binary nature of the hexameter line may have 
 operated to encourage the natural tendency toward binary ex- 
 pression, but the binary sentences in Virgil do not appear to 
 occupy tny particular number of lines, and the division be- 
 tween the members does not regularly fall at any fixed place 
 in the line. The phenomenon is one to be accounted for chiefly 
 by psychological considerations, not metrical ones; its causes 
 are not external, but internal. In its large use, Virgil has con- 
 sciouslv or unconsciously conformed to an instinctive tendency 
 
 •For a treatniPiit of somo aiialofroiis phenomena 'n Greek literature, see E. 
 Kemmer: Die Polare Ausdru<'ksweise in der GrietMische Literatur, in Bei- 
 traege r.v.r Ilistorisolien Syntax der Grieehisehen Spraohe, edited by M. Sfhanz. 
 Wuertzburg. 1903. and also Henrich : Die Sogenannte Polare Ansdncksweise ini 
 Grleschischen, Neustadt, 1899. 
 
 ♦♦Compare the chapter on the Rhytlim of Motion, in Herbert Spencer's 
 First Principles. 
 
Sentence Structure in Virgil 43 
 
 of the human mind, which has usually found its fullest expres- 
 sion in literature which is not dominated by rigid conventions.* 
 
 (2) LONGER ASSOCIATIVE SERIES. 
 
 Associative groups of more than two members are not in- 
 frequent in Virgil. Groups of four and even five or six mem- 
 bers are sometimes found, but the triple group is more fre- 
 quent than the more extensive ones. These larger groups are 
 seldom found in the Eclogues, but are quite common in the 
 Oeorgics. They are not numerous in the earlier books of the 
 Aeneid, but increase in number until they are rather numerous 
 in the twelfth Book. Some typical examples follow: 
 
 nee non Ausonii Troia gens missa coloni 
 versibus incomptis ludunt risuque soluto, 
 oraque corticibus sumunt horrenda cavatis, 
 et te, Bacche, vocant per carmina laeta. tibique 
 oscilla ex alta suspendunt mollia pinu. 
 
 Georgics II, 385-389. 
 
 a b bi ba b.-i 
 
 Talia per Latium. quae Laomedontius heros 
 cuncta videns magno curarum fluctuat aestu, 
 atque animum nunc hue celerem, nunc dividit illuc, 
 in partisque rapit varias perque omnia versat: 
 sicut aquae tremulum labris ubi lumen aenis 
 sole repercussum aut radiantis imagine lunae 
 omnia pervolitat late loca iamque sub auras 
 erigitur summique ferit lacuaria tecti. 
 
 Aen. VIII, 18-25. 
 
 C (I Cli (ij 
 
 Further examples are found in Georgics II, 403-407; IV, 
 67-81; Aen. II, 699-700; IV, 391-392, 362-364; VIII, 59-65, 
 175-178, 179-181, 213-218, 273-275, 310-312; XII, 353-358, 473- 
 480, 509-512, 554-556. Such associative chains are usually used 
 to describe the successive steps in a series of actions. The triple 
 
 ♦Compare in this eonnection. Boiicke: Goethe's Weltanschauung. (Stutt- 
 gart. IftOT). esp. p. 24S. The writer shows that Goethe's view of the nature 
 and ordPF of events in the natural world is determined by his fundamental 
 eoneeption of the action and reaction of mutually opposing forces, and that 
 this conception of "polarity" came to b a dominating factor in all his works. 
 As a rule, each character in Goethe's work has its opposite character; when 
 one quality is described, the opjiosite nnility is also brought out. Similarly, 
 tliough he does not deal in antitheses. Virgil's form of expression came to 
 partake largely of the double structure (lcscril>cd above. 
 
44 Sentence Structure in Virgil 
 
 sentence, in particular, is often employed to describe the steps 
 leading up to an important speech or action. The type of ex- 
 pression IS a somewhat primitive one, resembling the language 
 commonly used by children in telling a story. 
 
 2. ABSENCE OF COMPLEX ANALYSIS. 
 
 Closely connected with this preponderance of the associa- 
 tive type is the scant use of apperceptive analysis. In the 
 Aeneid, Virgil employs about one-half as many subordinate 
 constructions as are found in ordinary Latin prose. To be 
 more exact, the second book of the Aeneid contains an average 
 of 33 subordinate constructions per 1000 words; the fourth 
 book, 45 ; the eighth book, 40 ; and the twelfth book, 40. Book 
 II of Caesar's Gallic War contains 75 subordinate sentences 
 per 1000 words; Cicero's oration for Pompey's Military Com- 
 mand has 72. That typically Roman writer, the Auctor ad 
 Herennium, Book I, Ch. iv-vii, and Book IV, Ch. xviii-xix, 
 makes use of 171 subordinate clauses in all, or an average of 
 119 per 1000 words. For the four books of Virgil cited, the 
 average number of subordinate constructions per 1000 words 
 is 39 ; for the prose selections mentioned, 78.* 
 
 As already mentioned, Virgil seldom employs sentences of 
 more than the second degree of complexity. Even the second de- 
 gree is not of frequent occurrence. In Book II, for example, out 
 of a total of 172 subordinate sentences, but 18 involve the sec- 
 ond degree. In six of these, the infinitive in indirect discourse 
 forms one degree ; in three, the structure is complicated by the 
 occurrence of involved similes ; in one, the second degree is 
 formal rather than real, having the form of a cmn invers7wi 
 construction ; in one, a long conditional sentence is suddenly 
 broken off and an irregular conclusion added ; in one, the text 
 is doubtful; but six are left in which some more or less dis- 
 turbing element does not enter. Of these 18 sentences, three 
 also involve a third degree of analysis, but one of these is the 
 sentence with broken construction, and another contains an 
 infinitive in indirect discourse ; but one clear case of the third 
 degree is left in the entire book, and even here the question 
 might possibly be raised whether a certain relative clause is 
 not virtually independent. If this view is taken, the sentence 
 
 ♦The prose passages taken were chosen as typical examples of narration, 
 oratory, and abstract exposition, of the period immediately preceding- Virsil- 
 
Sentence Structure in Virgil 45 
 
 would be broken up into two sentences, each involving but one 
 degree of complexity. About the same degree of complexity 
 obtains in the other three books examined as in the second 
 book. In ordinary prose, on the other hand, the third and even 
 the fourth degree of analysis are frequently employed. 
 
 a. Ascending and Descending Construction. 
 
 (1) Organization of Ascending and Descending Members. 
 
 The subordinate member of the ascending construction in 
 Virgil most commonly consists of a single sentence, but the bi- 
 nary form is also frequent. Occasionally one member of such 
 a binary form is still further subdivided, consisting of one sub- 
 ject and two predicates, but the full triple form, consisting of 
 three subordinate sentences of equal rank, is seldom or never 
 used. The subordinate member in the descending construction 
 is sometimes more extensive ; one subject with three predicates 
 connected by associative linking occurs occasionally, and some- 
 times a binary form of which one member consists of a subject 
 with two predicates. But in the great majority of cases, as in 
 the ascending construction, the subordinate member consists 
 of but one or two sentences of the same degree of subordina- 
 tion. 
 
 (2) Relation of Function to Position. 
 
 In the following classification of subordinate sentences in 
 ascendii^.p and descending positions, the functional method of 
 groupinj; has been followed, i. e., the subordinate clauses have 
 been grouped according to the chief function which each serves 
 in the sentence where it occurs. This method of classification 
 is perhaps- open to the criticism of being variable and inexact, 
 but it is believed that it corresponds more closely to the actual 
 character of the phenomena of language than a purely formal 
 method of classification would. Multiple clauses, i. e., those 
 cons'sting of one subject with more than one predicate, have 
 been counted but once. A sentence is said to be in ascending, 
 descending or intermediate construction with reference to the 
 sentence on which it directly depends. 
 
 (a; Of 807 subordinate sentences occurring in Books II, 
 IV, VIII, and XII of the Aeneid, 428 are used in descending 
 construction, 171 in intermediate, and 208 in ascending. In 
 order to compare these figures with the usual practice, as no 
 data for the latter were available, a detailed study was made 
 of the three prose selections mentioned on page 44. 
 
46 Skntence Structure in Virgil 
 
 (b) In the three prose selections, 971 subordinate sen- 
 tences were found, of which 509 were used in the descending' 
 construction, 246 in the intermediate, and 216 in the ascend- 
 ing. On the basis of the same total as from Virgil, but pre- 
 serving the proportions last mentioned, this would make for 
 the prope selections, 423 in the descending construction, 204 
 in the intermediate, and 180 in the ascending. This shows a 
 slight excess in descending constructions in Virgil as com- 
 pared with prose usage. We should perhaps note also in pass- 
 ing the deficiency in intermediate constructions in Virgil as 
 compared with prose usage, and the excess of ascending con- 
 structions. 
 
 (3) Virgil's Tendency Toward Descending Structure. 
 
 But such a rough comparison is very far from revealing 
 the whole truth with respect to Virgil's use of ascending and 
 descending structure, for Virgil by no means employs the same 
 kinds of subordinate sentences, in the same proportions, as 
 the pros? writers mentioned. We notice that clauses of result^ 
 qiiin clauses, and (pure) 'substantive clauses are almost wholly 
 lacking in Virgil, while clauses of cause, and characteristic 
 and restrictive relative clauses are much less frequent in Vir- 
 gil than in the prose selections. They are not numerous in 
 Virgil lor the reason that Virgil's thought is largely objective 
 and concrete, while these classes of subordinate sentences are 
 used to bring out relations, abstractions, and closer definition. 
 But all these six classes of subordinate clauses, with the single 
 exception of restrictive relative clauses, occur most frequently 
 (in prose) in the descending construction. Most restrictive 
 relative clauses, in prose, are nearly equally divided between 
 the intermediate and the descending construction. Now it is 
 evident that not only to keep the balance between the ascend- 
 ing and descending constructions, but to provide an excess 
 of the latter, as Virgil does, he must use many subordinate 
 clauses in the descending construction which in prose are usu- 
 ally found in the ascending or intermediate constructions, or 
 that the proportion of descending constructions must be large- 
 ly increased in the case of certain classes which are usually 
 descending in prose as well. The first alternative is 
 found to hold in the case of clauses of place and subordinate 
 adversative clauses, both of which are much more numerous 
 in Virgil than in the prose selections. The second alternative 
 
Sentence Structure in Virgil 47 
 
 holds in the case of supplementary relative clauses and tem- 
 poral clauses. These are the two most numerous categories in 
 Virgil and are much more frequent in Virgil than in the prose. 
 The increase in the proportion of descending constructions in 
 temporal clauses in Virgil as compared with prose usage is 
 considerable, and the increase in descending constructions in 
 supplementary relative clauses in Virgil is very marked. The in- 
 crease in the number of the last class in Virgil is also remarkable. 
 Small losses in the proportion of descending constructions are 
 found in the conditional clauses and clauses of comparison. 
 There is a slight gain in the proportion of descending con- 
 structions in Virgil's indefinite relative clauses, which are also 
 somewhat more numerous than in the prose. In the case of in- 
 direct questions, infinitive constructions, and clauses of pur- 
 pose and manner, no marked differences are observable be- 
 tween Virgil's usage and that olP prose, either in the frequency 
 with which these clauses occur, or in the proportion of ascend- 
 ing and descending constructions used. There is a slightly 
 larger proportion of descending constructions among infinitive 
 clauses in Virgil. Clauses of comparison are most apt to be 
 used in the descending construction in Virgil, and in the in- 
 termediate construction in prose. 
 
 The excess of descending constructions in temporal clauses 
 in Virgil as compared with prose is accounted for in part by 
 Virgil's frequent use of the cum ijiversum construction in nar- 
 rative. Such clauses are of the nature of associative additions, 
 and are almost invariably descending. Virgil's large use of 
 supplementary relative clauses is one of the most marked feat- 
 ures of Lis style. These too are of the nature of associative 
 additions, and occur much more naturally in the descending 
 position than elsewhere. Takmg all the facts together, it is 
 evident that Virgil has a marked tendency toward the larger 
 use of the descending order as compared with other, and espe- 
 cially with older writers. 
 
 (4) Difference in Psychological Function Between Ascending 
 and Descending Structure. 
 
 There is a very noticeable difference between the psycholo- 
 gical nature and use of the ascending order and that of the 
 descending order. The ascending construction tends to em- 
 phasize the unity of the larger thought whole, to produce a 
 feeling of suspense, and to result in a climax in the utterance 
 
48 Sentence Structure in Virgil 
 
 of the principal member. The descending order, on the other 
 hand, tends to eliminate discriminations of emphasis, to em- 
 phasize relations less, to place all the primary elements of the 
 larger thought group more nearly on an equality, and to allow 
 Ihe attention to be occupied more fully with the emotional 
 content of each primary unit as it comes into consciousness.* 
 In the ascending construction the subordinate member exists 
 for the principal member, or rather for the larger thought- 
 whole to which they both belong : in the descending construc- 
 tion, the subordinate member exists more for its own sake. 
 An earlier writer** has pointed out the fact that Virgil is prone 
 to employ a series of short simple sentences to express these 
 larger "logical periods," leaving the precise relation between 
 the primary units undefined. This general tendency toward 
 syntactical particularism is one of the most marked Virgilian 
 characteristics. 
 
 One is tempted to suggest an analogy between the change 
 from the political unity and submerging of the individual un- 
 der the Roman republic to the individualism and cosmopoli- 
 tanism of the imperial period, and the change from the unified 
 periodic structure of earlier Latin to the shorter sentences and 
 more concise expression of a Tacitus or a Seneca. Under the 
 Republic, thought was objective and relational: under the Em- 
 pire, it becomes introspective, subjective, emotional. The emo- 
 tional (tontent of Virgil's poetry has always been remarked 
 upon. 1'his is closely connected with his tendency toward the 
 isolating and the descending sentence structures. He is a pio- 
 neer in the change — in part a cause and in part an effect of it. 
 In him Latin literature finds a renaissance of the sensitive hu- 
 man element: it becomes concrete and subjective. Language 
 thus employed reflects the social character of speech in the 
 larger liberty wh^ch is left for individual interpretation, as 
 compared with the periodic structure, in which the various 
 relations involved are more closely defined. "The literature of 
 power" is usually literature to the interpretation of which the 
 reader or hearer himself makes large contribution from the 
 depths of his own personality. Virgil has expressed himself in 
 such a way as to allow the reader the largest possible range 
 for the play of those forces which characterize his personal 
 
 *Compai-e Weil : De L'Ordre des Mots. 
 
 **E. Weissenborn: Untersuchungeu ueher den Satz- und reriodenbau in 
 Virgils Aeneide. 
 
Sentence Structure in Virgil 49 
 
 temperament. In the reading of Virgil, therefore, both poet 
 and reader express themselves, and it is in precisely this fact 
 that much of Virgil's greatness consists. 
 
 (5) Relation to Other Historical Tendencies in the Latin Lan- 
 guage. 
 
 Th'.i drift toward descending structure and conciseness 
 of expression is interesting as a precursor of that ' ' shift in the 
 expression of relational concepts from inflectional forms to 
 single words," which has been styled "the greatest change 
 that has taken place in language."* In the history of the Lat- 
 in language, all three changes are part of the reaction of the 
 thought and life of the provinces upon those of the older state, 
 and find their fullest expression in the Romance languages of 
 modern Europe, which are conspicuous for their clear- 
 ness and conciseness of expression, and for their 
 capacity for emotional content. Virgil's family name 
 may or may not have been Gallic in its origin, but 
 the poet himself, growing up as he did in the heart of 
 Cisalpin»> Gaul, can hardly have been free from Gallic influ- 
 ence. Those traits in which he is greatest are also distinctive 
 traits of the Gallic national temperament. It is of some inter- 
 est in this connection to compare his style with that of the one 
 purely Gallic writer of Latin poetry whose work is available 
 for the purpose. Ausonius was of Gallic nationality by both 
 parents, lived and wrote in Gaul, and was professor of rhetoric 
 in a Gallic university. His poems, especially his "Mosella," 
 by whi(;h he is best known, show a comparatively simple sen- 
 tence structure, containing somewhat more complexity than 
 that of Virgil, but a complexity that consists almost wholly in 
 the use of the descending structure. 
 
 ♦Morris: On Principles and Methods In Syntax. 
 
50 Sentence Structure in Virgil 
 
 3. connkctivks in virgil 
 
 A study of the connectives used by Virgil throws consid- 
 erable light upon the manner in which he organizes his thought. 
 For this purpose, the connectives in Books II and VIII of the 
 Aeneid have been collected and compared. Only those connec- 
 tives which unite major elements were considered; those used 
 to join single words (except predicates) were disregarded. As 
 in the case of subordinate sentences, in grouping the results, 
 the functional method of classification has been preferred 
 throughout, i. e., a word or other element is classified according 
 to its most important function in the particular sentence where 
 it occurs. 
 
 a. Co-ordinating Connectives. 
 
 Of simple linking or cumulative conjunctions, in Book 11,^ 
 et occurs 112 times, que 123 times, neque (or nee) 23 times, 
 and atgue (or ac) 18 times; total for this group, 276. 
 
 Of disjunctive or alternative connectives, (in Book II) auf 
 is found 18 times, ve {seu, neu) 7 times, and an (or forsitan) 
 twice; total for this group 27. 
 
 Of adversative connectives, sed occurs 7 times, at (or ast) 
 7 times, autem 5 times, tamen 4 times, contra twice, si7i twice, 
 and guin {etiam) once; total for the group, 28. 
 
 Of temporal connectives, turn is used 8 times, iamque 9 times ^ 
 znde (or deinde) 6 times, interea twice, simul twice, hinc once, 
 and various others 6 times, making a total for the group of 34. 
 
 The relative pronoun is used to introduce an independent 
 sentence once. 
 
 Of co-ordinating causal conjunctions, nam is used 4 times^ 
 namque 5 times, and enim twice; total for the group, 11. 
 
 Of connectives used to express consequence, ergo occurs 7> 
 times. 
 
 The total number of co-ordinating connections is 380. 
 
 b. Subordinating Connectives. 
 
 Of subordinating connectives, the relative is used 65 times 
 in Book II. 
 
Sentence Structure in Virgil 51 
 
 Of temporal connectives, ctcm occurs 12 times, dum 5 
 times, ut 6 times, ubi 4 times, donee twice, postquam and 
 Pruisquam once each, {ex) quo once, and qiiando once; total 
 for the group, 33. 
 
 Of conditional conjunctions, si is found 26 times, and ni 
 and sin twice each ; total 30, 
 
 Of connectives used to introduce an indirect question ut is 
 used once, ne twice, qui and quae once each, and quo and ubi 
 once; total 7. 
 
 Of connectives, introducing purpose clauses, ut is used 4 
 times, and ne twice; total 6. 
 
 Clauses used primarily to denote manner and comparison 
 are introduced by ceu twice, by qualis twice, by veluti once ; 
 total 5. 
 
 Subordinate adversative clauses are introduced by quamvis 
 once, and once by etsi; total 2. 
 
 Clauses used primarily to denote place are introduced by 
 quocunique once, and by ubi twice; total 3. 
 
 The total number of subordinating connectives in Book II 
 is 151. 
 
 The number of co-ordinating connectives in Book II is 
 thus seen to be approximately two and one-half times as great 
 as the number of subordinating connectives, indicating a mark- 
 ed preference on the part of the poet for co-ordinating con- 
 structions. In many cases, the co-ordination results from the 
 fact that the writer has not seen fit to define accurately the 
 relation existing between the clauses. Many clauses which in 
 prose would ordinarily be placed in subordination with a defin- 
 ite relationship expressed, are loosely joined together by Vir- 
 gil, and the reader is left to determine the relation more closely 
 or not as he feels incited. The function of the recipient is 
 larger in discourse of this type ; he has a greater feeling of lib- 
 erty. Such a form of expression also allows both author and 
 recipient to concentrate their attention and energy upon the 
 content, rone, or color of the separate elemeiits of thought, 
 since thoy are released from the necessity of holding large 
 units in mind and discriminating exactly the relations of the 
 components to one another and to the whole. 
 
-52 Sentence Structure in Virgil 
 
 The same general tendency is observable in the remark- 
 ably large proportion of the simple linking or cumulative con- 
 junctions, as compared with other co-ordinating conjunctions 
 which express more exact relations. There are very nearly 
 two and three-quarters times as many of the first class as of all 
 the other classes of co-ordinating connectives combined, i. e., 
 disjunctive, adversative, temporal, causal, consequential, and 
 relative. Among these cumulative conjunctions, the fact that 
 less than nine per cent are negative is also significant. It 
 shows that Virgil's style is positive rather than negative. This 
 is still further borne out by the small number of adversative 
 connectives — scarcely more than seven per cent of the total 
 number of co-ordinating conjunctions. 
 
 Among the connectives that express more exact relations, 
 both co-ordinating and subordinating, the temporal connectives 
 are most numerous. This indicates a tendency toward a some- 
 what primitive or elemental style. In the language of primi- 
 tive people and of children, temporal and conditional limita- 
 tions are among the first limitations to appear. Among the 
 subordinating connectives, conditional conjunctions are next 
 in number to temporal ones in this book. Of subordinating 
 connectives, relative connections are much the most numerous, 
 amounting to 43 per cent of the whole number. As already 
 pointed out, the majority of these introduce clauses that make 
 an additional statement, i. e., that are of the nature of associa- 
 tive additions. As a connective, the relative establishes a com- 
 paratively close grammatical relationship, but the thought re- 
 lations indicated are usually rather loose. In definiteness of 
 logical relationship, relative connectives occupy a position mid- 
 way between simple cumulative connectives and those which 
 indicate relations of time, cause, purpose, etc. Virgil's large 
 use of relative connections, therefore, is another factor con- 
 tributing to relatively large freedom for interpretation on the 
 part of the reader. 
 
 The extremely limited number of connectives used to es- 
 tablish the more definite logical relationships is one of the 
 most marked characteristics of our poet's style. The number 
 of connectives introducing clauses of purpose, clauses of cause, 
 and subordinate adversative clauses is scarcely more than five 
 per cent of the whole number of subordinating connectives. 
 In fact, no clauses of cause at all were noted in the second book 
 of the Acneid. 
 
Sentence Structure in Virgil 55- 
 
 The connectives of Book VIII are used in almost the same 
 proportions. The larger proportion of disjunctive connectives 
 in Book II as compared with Book VIII is probably due in part 
 to the poet's desire to portray the perplexity and indecision 
 of the Trojans during the sack and burning of the city. The 
 slightly larger proportion of temporal connectives in Book 
 VIII as compared with Book 11 is probably due to the larger 
 proportion of narration (rather than description) in the former 
 book. The same reason probably accounts in part for the 
 smaller number of conditional sentences in Book VIII. With 
 these exceptions, the relative proportions observed in the use 
 of the various classes of connectives in Book II hold with sur- 
 prising closeness in Book VIII. In both there is the same pref- 
 erence for co-ordination, and for the use of the connectives 
 which indicate relations less exactly, as compared with those 
 which indicate more exact logical relations. The writer is in- 
 tent upon the content of each element as it appears, and the 
 reader is left to build up the larger logical fabric of thought 
 more in harmony with the tendencies of his own mental dispo- 
 sition. 
 
 A strictly psychological treatment should also take some 
 account of various other means of indicating the relationship 
 in thought between successive portions of discourse besides the 
 words conventionally classed as connectives. Prominent 
 among these are the demonstrative pronouns and such words 
 as sirmil, iamqne, item, qiiin, ivsuper and tandem. Thoug'ht 
 connections and divisions are also sometimes indicated by sim- 
 ilarity ia position of corresponding words in successive sen- 
 tences, and even, in some instances, by the nature of the verb 
 itself in the sentence, e. g^.. the use of dixerat to mark the 
 close of a quotation. Such means of indicating the looser 
 thought relationships occur with moderate frequency in the 
 Aeneid. while exact designations of time like proximo die, 
 posiridie eins diei, etc., so frequent in Caesar's Gallic War and 
 other narrative literature, and inferential particles and other 
 words used to denote the more exact logical relationships, suck 
 as itaque, igitur, and deiitde, frequent in Cicero's Orations and 
 other argumentative works, are relatively infrequent in the 
 Aeneid. 
 
54 Sentence Structure in Virgil 
 
 4 participial constructions. 
 
 The system of graphic representation here employed takes 
 into account only the major elements of the sentence. Of the 
 minor elements, aside from the direct object, the most import- 
 ant are participial constructions. One is impressed, however, 
 by the finite nature of Virgil's sentence structure. The more 
 important factors in the sentence are almost invariably ex- 
 pressed by finite verbs (or by infinitives in indirect discourse). 
 Only accessory and comparatively unimportant ideas are 
 ■couched in participial forms of expression. The system of 
 graphic symbols is therefore a more adequate representation of 
 Virgil's sentence framework than it would be of that of many 
 prose writers. The participial constructions in Virgil are 
 usually short. Only about seventy of those of Book VIII in- 
 volve more than two words. No regularity in the position of 
 such groups was observed. 
 
 5. THE EFFECT OF EMOTIONAL CONTENT UPON VIRGIL'S 
 SENTENCE STRUCTURE. 
 
 In the endeavor to analyze the effect of strong emotion 
 upon senlenee structure in Virgil, we meet with very complex 
 and even contradictory data. We shall naturally deal more es- 
 pecially with the subject matter of the fourth book of the 
 Aeneid in this connection, as that book contains by far the 
 largest number of passages characterized by deep feeling. Dido, 
 Aeneas, and the gods are the chief interlocutors, and the larger 
 part of the book is comprised in their various speeches. Among 
 them all, the gods are the only ones who present any consistent 
 characteristics as far as the sentence structure is concerned. 
 The ascending and intermediate structure which is employed in 
 their speeches comports well with their dignity and authority. 
 The speech of Juno to Venus, lines 115-127, and that of Jupiter 
 to Mercury, lines 223-237, are cases in point. 
 
 The conflict of passion and pathos in the words with which 
 Dido addresses Aeneas in lines 305-330 is clearly reflected in 
 the irregiilar and involved sentence structure, which almost de- 
 fies graphic representation. 
 
 The tendency toward the isolated form is noticeable here, 
 though less conspicuous because, as we have seen, it is a prom- 
 inent feature of Virgil's style, even in unimpassioned portions 
 
Sentence Structure in Virgil 55 
 
 of the text. Perhaps the best illustration of isolation due to 
 the influence of emotion is seen in the words of Anna when 
 the news of Dido's death reaches her, lines 675-684. 
 
 On the other hand, in one of the most passionate outbursts 
 in the whole book. Dido's words to Aeneas in lines 365-387, 
 Virgil varies only slightly from the customary even flow of 
 his sentence structure. There is the same lack of complexity, 
 the associative linking, and even the double sentences. The 
 tendency toward isolation is, however, somewhat more in evi- 
 dence here than in Virgil's customary style. 
 
 In Virgil's ordinary style it is usually easy to distinguish 
 the limits of the larger units of thought in the succession of 
 short, simple sentences. One of the most uniform r'^suUs of 
 strong emotion is the fact that the boundaries of these logical 
 groups become difficult to trace or are wholly obliterated, 
 leaving only a rapid series of short, sharp sentences. This is 
 noticeable in the outcry of Anna already referred to, lines 
 675-684, and in the speech of Dido to Aeneas, lines 305-330. 
 
 In general, one is surprised at the extent to which even 
 the more impassioned parts of the work conform to the poet's 
 ordinary style, rather than at the number or extent of the 
 changes in the organization of the thought due to emotional 
 content. One or two conclusions seem fairly clear: the poet 
 is capable of deep feeling; indeed, he is peculiarly prone to 
 pity and to pathos; but his temperament is adapted rather to 
 the passive contemplation of the tragedies of human experi- 
 ence than to the active expression of passion or emotion. In 
 a passage involving deep feeling, the usual sentence structure is 
 sometimes continued until the middle of the passage is reach- 
 ed ; then, for a sentence or t\vo, the poet seems affected by some 
 disturbing influence, which upsets the usual movement of 
 thought ; but the steady forward movement is quickly resumed, 
 and usually continued until the end of the passage. This would 
 seem to indicate that the writer's style is a deep-seated habit, 
 the result either of temperament, or of long and stern self- 
 discipline, or of both, so that his method of expression does 
 not easily respond to variations in the emotional character of 
 the subject-matter. Such passages as Dido's soliloquy after 
 the embarkation of Aeneas, lines 590-629, tend to confirm this 
 theory. 
 
56 Sentence Structure in Virgil 
 
 Another perplexing bit of evidence is found in the fact 
 that there is more subordination in Book IV than in the other 
 books examined. A high degree of cortiplexity is usually asso- 
 ciated with reflection or abstract thought, where the relations, 
 between the elements of conscious experience are an important 
 factor. That this holds good for Virgil is shown by passages of 
 a reflective character like the words of Dido, lines 15-19, and 
 those of Venus, lines 110-112 : The third degree of complexity^ 
 found in the first of these two passages, is unusual in Virgil. 
 But Book IV is distinguished from all the other books of the 
 Aeneid by the large extent to which the emotional element en- 
 ters. Nevertheless, Book IV has over fourteen per cent more 
 subordinate sentences (in proportion to its length) than the 
 average of the four books examined. In the majority of in- 
 stances, moreover, the sentences which manifest the most com- 
 plex and irregular structure occur in the most impassioned 
 portions of the book. On the other hand, Book II, in which the 
 story of the tragedy of Troy is recounted after the event, con- 
 tains nearly sixteen per cent less subordination than the aver- 
 age for the four books. These facts go to show that Virgil has 
 carried his natural tendency toward a simple style to such an 
 extreme that the introduction of passages of an emotional 
 character acts as a disturbing element, causing him to return to 
 a more normal proportion of simple and complex sentences. 
 
 Still another fact looking toward the same conclusion i& 
 found in the structure of the numerous similes, which are con- 
 siderably more complex than most of the work. These are of 
 two types : in one the subordinate construction is carried 
 through to the end, while in the other it is carried through only 
 one or two sentences, and then the comparison is finished in in- 
 dependent construction. The similes in lines 468-473 and 402- 
 407 conform to these two types, respectively. The similes are 
 not a spontaneous production of the author, but a literary con- 
 vention borrowed from the Greek, and from their nature not 
 readily reducible to the Virgilian manner of expression. They 
 therefore enter as a more or less disturbing element in the or- 
 ganization of the poet's thought, 
 
 6. SUMMARY OF VIRGILIAN CHARACTERISTICS. 
 
 In briefly summarizing the chief characteristics of Virgil's 
 style, we may observe that he manifests a tendency to employ 
 
Sentence Structure in Vikgil 57 
 
 short sentences and sentence groups of moderate length. Ir- 
 regular and involved sentences, and those sentence forms 
 which involve long suspense very seldom occur. One of the 
 most marked qualities of his style is its remarkably smooth, 
 forward movement, by successive positive additions. The gen- 
 eral effect is cumulative ; antitheses and corrections are sel- 
 dom introduced, and parentheses are few and inconspicuous. 
 
 Virgil evinces a preference for finite and regular forms 
 of expression; abbreviated sentences, and abrupt or startling 
 forms are sparingly used. In many cases groups of short 
 simple sentences which in ordinary prose might be fused to- 
 gether into a single complex sentence are presented in co- 
 ordination, following one another in the appropriate psycholo- 
 gical order, but without connectives expressed. This arrange- 
 ment is stimulating in its reaction upon the attention of the 
 reader. It calls for relatively large and free activity upon his 
 part, and allows more latitude for interpretation than a sen- 
 tence structure in which the organization is carried to its logi- 
 cal completion. 
 
 There is a marked preference for the associative type of 
 sentence structure. Associative linkings are numerous. The 
 binary form of compound sentence is very freely employed, 
 triple associative sentences are not uncommon, and longer as- 
 sociative series occur occasionally. 
 
 The apperceptive type is employed about half as frequent- 
 ly as in ordinary prose. In sentences of this form, the ascend- 
 ing and intermediate members are usually brief and the com- 
 plexity is seldom carried beyond the first degree. In the des- 
 cending structure, there is somewhat greater length and com- 
 plexity, but the subordination seldom reaches the third degree. 
 In general, Virgil shows a tendency toward a larger use of the 
 descending structure than had been common before his time, 
 thus conducing to clearness, and emotional content. Of subor- 
 dinate sentences, he employs temporal and supplementary rela- 
 tive clauses most frequently, and rarely uses those which ex- 
 press the more exact logical relations. Of connectives, he uses 
 a vastly larger number of simple linking or cumulative con- 
 junctions than of connectives which have a fuller relational 
 meaning. Of the latter class, he generally prefers those which 
 express loose general relations rather than those which express 
 exact logical relations. 
 
58 Sentence Structure in Virgil 
 
 Speaking broadly, Virgil represents the emancipation of 
 the element of feeling, — the sensitive, aesthetic, subjective ele- 
 ment in literature, — and the organization of his thought as ex- 
 pressed in his language bears the imprint of this quality. He 
 is the prophet of the newer tendencies in Latin literature. His- 
 torically, he stands at the threshold of a new epoch; but the 
 more prosaic proposition also holds, that he is also the prophet 
 and himself the incarnation of the later development of the 
 Latin tongue. In the hero of his greatest masterpiece, Virgil 
 has striven to conform to the national traditions — the ancient 
 ideals of his countrymen — and it is precisely here that the poet 
 is least successful. Similarly, when he expresses himself after 
 the model of the elaborate, complex structure of earlier Latin, 
 he is least successful, least Virgilian. 
 
IV. THE SENTENCE STRUCTURE OF OVID AND THE 
 LATER EPIC WRITERS COMPARED WITH VIRGIL. 
 
 The value of comparisons between Virgil's sentence 
 structure and that of later epic writers is impaired to a large 
 extent by the fact that Virgil's work was almost immediately 
 accepted as a canon of literary execution, and was copied 
 with the most painstaking minuteness by nearly all the writers 
 who aspired to compose in the same or a similar field. Never- 
 theless, v.'e shall not fail to find, even here, evidences of the 
 writer's literary personality appearing through the outward 
 garb of conventional imitation. The most important works for 
 our purpose are the Pharsalia of Lucan, the Thebaid of Papin- 
 ius Stafcius, the Punic War of Silius Italicus, and the Argon- 
 autiea of Valerius Flaccus. Another writer of hexameter is 
 also of interest in this connection, — Ovid, in the serai-epic of the 
 Metamorphoses. 
 
 1. OVID. 
 Taking these in chronological order, we have first to deal 
 with Ovid. The sentence structure of the Metamorphoses 
 bears much resemblance to that of Virgil in the broad lines of 
 its organization. It is not characterized by a high degree of 
 complexity, and it is associative to a very considerable degree. 
 When graphically represented, it impresses one at first more 
 by its similarity than by its differences. On closer inspection, 
 however, it will be noticed that there is somewhat more com- 
 plexity in Ovid, with slightly less use of the descending struc- 
 ture, and a considerably greater use of the ascending and es- 
 pecially ol the intermediate. Ovid seldom uses more than two 
 degrees of complexity, and the second degree is much more apt 
 to occur in the ascending or in the intermediate structure than 
 in the descending structure. The binary structure occurs oc- 
 casionally, but is more apt to be found in combination than 
 alone. Larger combinations of associative elements are fre- 
 quent; groups of three are common, and four, five, six, or 
 even seven members in such a chain are not uncommon. But 
 the links of these longer chains usually consist of subjects or 
 predicates alone, not usually of complete sentences. From the 
 point of view of the impression made by the reading of pas- 
 sages from each author, the prime characteristic of Virgil's 
 
60 Sentenck Structure in Virgil 
 
 style is its smooth, onward flow; that of Ovid's style, the re- 
 markable way in which each unit of thought is rounded off, 
 finished, and set by itself. Practically all the peculiarities 
 noted above contribute to this end. The ascending structure, 
 especially when the subordinate sentences are rather long and 
 complex, produces a feeling of suspense and emphasizes the 
 principal sentence, and the intermediate structure tends to pro- 
 duce a closer unity in the sentence whole in which it is used. 
 This tendency is still further accentuated by the fact that there 
 are fewer associative Unkings in Ovid than in Virgil, and more 
 collocation without connectives expressed. Even in the asso- 
 ciative chains, the fact that usually only sentence elements 
 rather than sentences are joined together conduces to the im- 
 pression of unity. Possibly, Ovid's extensive use of the elegiac 
 distich may have furthered this tendency. 
 
 2. LUCAN. 
 
 Of all the epic poets of the first century A. D., Lucan 
 shows the most boldness and originality in style — or perhaps it 
 would be nearer the truth to say that he is dominated more 
 than the others by Alexandrian influence and less by Virgil. At 
 any rate, his sentence structure differs most vddely from that of 
 Virgil, and contains the greatest latitude of variation within 
 itself of all the epic writers of this period. His most noticeable 
 characteristic is the frequent use of long ascending construc- 
 tions. Such ascending sentences with from three to six sub- 
 ordinate members are not uncommon. He creates a situation 
 in great detail, into which the principal member is finally 
 thrust Avith tremendous emphasis. Often a long series of sub- 
 jects is joined with a single predicate. A second characteristic 
 feature is his habit of abrupt and startling collocations. Sev- 
 eral short sentences which are evidently felt as parts of a larger 
 whole are nevertheless left without connecting links of any 
 kind between them. These two peculiarities, together with 
 his bold and often extravagant diction, unite to produce the 
 feeling of extreme tension or strain which his work produces. 
 Many of his sentences are more elaborate than those of Virgil, 
 and with these are interspersed many series of short, abrupt 
 sentences. Lucan makes large use of associative connections 
 and of the double compound sentence, and in these respects as 
 well as in his use of the descending structure, he resembles 
 Virgil closely. He uses more ascending constructions, how- 
 
Sentence Structure in Virgil 61 
 
 ever, than Virgil, though in some passages he drops the ascending 
 form, and makes large use of the descending structure. Prob- 
 ably no other writer mentioned in this study varies so widely 
 in different portions of the same work. 
 
 3 THE EPIC WRITERS OF THE FLAVIAN PERIOD. 
 
 The three epic poets of the Flavian period, Valerius Flac- 
 eus, Silius Italieus, and Papinius Statins may be grouped to- 
 gether as diligent imitators of the forms of Virgilian expres- 
 sion, though falling far short of their great master in the con- 
 tent of their works. Such close approximation in manner of 
 expression on the part of poets differing so widely in poetic 
 genius as Virgil and Silius can hardly be the result of similarity 
 of temperament, but is probably due to the most minute and 
 mechanical conscious imitation. 
 
 a. Valerius Flaccus, 
 
 In the Ars:onautica of Valerius Flaccus we find many 
 very short sentences, though the logical groups of these are 
 sometimes very long. The work is characterized by lack of 
 complex analysis. There are many series of short abrupt sen- 
 tences, especially in the earlier portion of the work, impart- 
 ing a rather rough and vigorous tone. This characteristic de- 
 creases as the work proceeds, giving way to a more flowing 
 style. On the other hand, there is an increase of complexity 
 in the later portions of the work. The same types of ascend- 
 ing and descending structure as in Virgil are found, but there 
 is a comparative lack of intermediate structure. The sentence 
 structure is predominantly associative. There is much binary 
 structure, and triple associative chains are not uncommon. 
 There are many more incomplete forms of expression than in 
 Virgil, usually the result of abbreviated repetition. 
 
 b. Silius Italieus. 
 
 In the Punica of Silius Italieus we have the extreme of ser- 
 vile imitation of Virgilian form. There is even less subordination 
 than in the Aeneid, especially less ascending and intermediate 
 structure. There is the same marked predominance of associative 
 linking. The longer associative chains are freiquent, and there 
 is less tendency toward the isolating structure than in Virgil. 
 The binary forms of expression are carried to a great extreme, 
 so that what in Virgil is a source of simplicity and elemental 
 
62 Sentence Structure in Virgil 
 
 strength becomes a wearisome monotony in Silius. His work 
 furnishes one of the clearest illustrations of the deadening ef- 
 fect of over-emphasis upon form and neglect of content in all 
 Latin literature. Almost the only distinguishing feature in his 
 style is his frequent use of rather important minor elements, 
 usually participial constructions, which most commonly occu- 
 py an intermediate position in the clauses in which they occur. 
 
 c. Papinius Statins. 
 
 Papinius Statins was a poet of much greater power, al- 
 though an ardent admirer and close imitator of Virgil. His 
 sentence structure conforms to that of Virgil in all its main 
 outlines, but in some minor points shows the force of a distinct 
 personality. His Thebaid is predominantly associative in 
 structure. The binary form is of frequent occurrence, especial- 
 ly the full form, in which two subjects and two predicates are 
 expressed. Sentences with one subject and three predicates are 
 common. There is noticeably less isolation than in Placcus or 
 Silius, and a marked tendency toward a smoother, more flow- 
 ing style. A tendency toward sentence groups of moderate 
 length is also discernible. Incomplete sentences are very fre- 
 quent, giving a concise, somewhat epigrammatic character to 
 some portions of the text. There is very little complexity, the 
 ascending structure in particular being of infrequent occur- 
 rence. 
 
V. THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE SO-CALLED MINOR 
 VIRGILIAN WORKS. 
 
 An interesting application of the method of study of sen- 
 tence structure here employed is its use in connection 
 with the problem of the authenticity of the minor works which 
 have been ascribed to Virgil. We shall consider three of these : 
 the Ciris, the Culex, and the Moretum. 
 
 1. THE CIRIS. 
 
 Of the Ciris, three portions may be taken as fairly repre- 
 sentative : lines 1-53 of the elaborate introduction, lines 171-190, 
 which are of a narrative character, and lines 220-257, which are 
 partly narrative but chiefly the words of the aged nurse ad- 
 dressed to the heroine. The organization of the thought in 
 these passages is represented by the following diagrams. For 
 purposes of comparison, graphic representations of the Seventh 
 Eclogue and of portions of the Fourth and Tenth Eclogues are 
 also introduced at this point. One is impressed at once by the 
 wide divergence between the sentence structure of the Ciris 
 and that of the authenticated works of Virgil. Virgil's sen- 
 tences aj-e almost always short ; many of those in the Ciris are 
 inordinately long. The first two sentences of the poem occupy 
 26 lines. Lines 181-186 comprise but one sentence, and lines 
 241-258 but two sentences. Virgil almost never employs a form 
 of sentence which causes prolonged suspense ; his ascending and 
 intermediate sentences are very brief: remarkably long sus- 
 pense is a very conspicuous feature of the Ciris, both in ascend- 
 ing and intermediate constructions. Examples are lines 1-11, 
 42-53, 181-186, 220-223, and 241-249. Virgil's structure is al- 
 most invariably very simple and regular; that of the Ciris is 
 usually complex, and exceedingly involved and irregular, ren- 
 dering the poem unusually difficult to read. Long sentences in- 
 volving both ascending and descending structure are frequent 
 in the Ciris and very rare in Virgil ; the Ciris often has ascend- 
 ing, descending and intermediate structure within the limits of 
 a single sentence. Virgil uses parentheses very sparingly, and 
 exceedingly brief ones ; long and involved parentheses are very 
 conspicuous in the Ciris. Finally, the large use of associative 
 
64 Sentence Structure in Virgil 
 
 linking is one of the most deep-seated characteristics of Virgil's 
 genuine works, while its absence is a distinctive feature of the 
 Ciris. If Virgil wrote the Ciris, he must have disguised his 
 style so that it was totally unrecognizable, or else his style was 
 so altered after its composition as absolutely to efface its dis- 
 tinctive characteristics. Either alternative is incredible. The 
 evidence of the sentence structure, therefore, is wholly against 
 the Virgilian authorship of the Ciris. 
 
 CIRIS 
 
 a b (a b I a b bi) A B 
 
 c ci d 
 
 12 
 
 a b a b A B (A B) 
 
 c d di c ci d (c d) c d 
 
 e f ei fi I e f fi 
 attvlb. attrib. 
 
 2^ a b a b (al b 
 
 c d 
 
 29 
 
 36 
 
 42 
 
 171 
 
 178 
 
 180 
 
 ab|a b|a b|a b|a b 
 
 c d 
 
 a b a b 
 
 a b ill) h A a b I a b B 
 
 c d ic; dt 
 * * * * * 
 
 a b I a b (a) a (> b | a d bi 
 
 a b a b a b I a b 
 
 a b a b A B 
 
{SENTENCE Structure in Virgil 65 
 
 181 
 
 187 
 
 ab(a)abbab|ab AB{A)B ab 
 
 c d 
 • ^t t r i b. 
 
 a b (a b b) (A) B a b 
 
 ***** 
 
 220 
 
 224 
 
 229 
 
 234 
 
 237 
 
 a a b b ( a b) A B (A) B: 
 
 a ba ab (ab)b|a b 
 
 c d 
 
 a a b b 
 
 c d c d c d 
 
 (a) b 
 
 c c d d c d 
 
 attrlb. 
 a b 
 
 c d 
 
 e f e (e f) f 
 
 241 
 
 ab(abAB)ab AB 
 
 cd cdcd(c)cdd 
 
 ^^^ a b a^ b A B abb, 
 
 c d c d 
 
 ECLOGUE VII 
 
 Non-flnlte constructions 
 
 a b a ai 
 
 b V a (b) la (b) la b|a b|b b) 
 
66 Sentence Structure in Virgil 
 
 11 
 
 14 
 
 18 
 
 21 
 
 25 
 
 29 
 
 31 
 
 33 
 
 35 
 
 37 
 
 41 
 
 44 
 
 a a b b a b 
 
 a b AB:ab|a ai b a b AB 
 
 a b I a b ai bi 
 
 a b I a b ai bi a b 
 
 c d 
 
 a b|a b|a b|a b 
 c d 
 
 aabb(ab) ab AB 
 
 a b a b A B 
 
 c d c d 
 
 a b ai , bi 
 
 a b A B 
 
 a b A B I a b 
 
 a b a a b b 
 
 a b a b A B 
 
 a b I b I b 
 
 c d 
 
 a b I a b 
 c d 
 
Sentence Structure in Virgil 
 
 67 
 
 45 
 
 (a ai as a b i a b I a b 
 c d 
 
 49 
 
 a ai I a ai b | a b 
 
 a ^ c (d) 
 
 53 Z^= 
 
 a aib|ab|a b a bAB 
 
 57 
 
 a ba b|a b|a b aib^ 
 
 61 
 
 a b|a b|a b|a b|a b|a b A Ai B 
 
 65 
 
 a b|a b|a b|a b a b A|Ai B 
 
 69 
 
 a b I a b 
 
 c d 
 
 ECLOGUE IV 
 
 a b|abib|a b AB 
 
 a ba b a b|a b|a b 
 
 a a b ai bi b I a b 
 
 11 
 
 a b ai bi a b A B 
 
 15 
 
 a b bi (a) b bi 
 
 18 
 
 a b I a b ai bi I a b ai bi ai' bi | a b 
 
68 Sentence Structure in Virgil 
 
 a b a b (a) b A B a b ai bi 
 
 31 
 
 a b 
 
 c d I c d I c d 
 
 a b a a b (b) I a b ai bi 
 
 37 
 
 a b AB a b|a b|a b|a b a b 
 
 a b a b I a b 
 
 ECLOGUE X 
 
 a bla^a b ba b 
 
 a a bb|a b|a b|a b|a b 
 
 c d 
 
 a '"' a b a ai b ao 
 
 c d 
 
 a I a b I a ai b a b V a b ai bi / a b | a 
 
 b I a b 
 
 21 
 
 26 
 
 31 
 
 a b:a b|a b|a b|a b|a b aibi 
 
 a b I a b: a b | a b I a b ai bi a2 b2 as bs 
 c d 
 
 a: a b: b | a b 
 
 c d 
 
 35 
 
 ab bi b biaa a b(a|a aib) (A) B | a b | a b 
 
 c d 
 
Sentence Structure in Virgil 69 
 
 2. THE CULEX. 
 
 The Culex manifests quite different characteristics. The 
 sentences are mostly of moderate length, and the longer ones 
 are formed for the most part by associative linking rather than 
 by apperceptive analysis. Instances of long suspense do not 
 occur, and ascending and intermediate sentences are rather 
 short, as in the Georgics and the Aeneid, and conform to the 
 same types. There is less ascending and intermediate structure 
 than in the Ciris, and relatively more of the descending struc- 
 ture. There is somewhat more complexity than in the Aeneid, 
 the descending structure being occasionally carried to the sec- 
 ond degree of analysis. In general, the sentence structure is 
 more irregular and more involved than in the authenticated 
 Virgiliau works. Parentheses are infrequent, and usually short. 
 There is much associative linking, and some binary structure. 
 The sentence structure of the Culex shows no marked character- 
 istics that are not found in the Virgilian works. On the other 
 hand, the most distinctive traits of Virgil's sentence structure 
 are found in the Culex, but in less degree. The testimony of 
 the sentence structure then, is not conclusive, but indicates a 
 tolerably strong probability that we have here, in basis at least, 
 a genuine Virgilian work, of very early date. 
 
 3. THE MORETUM. 
 
 In the Moretum we have a poem which differs materially 
 both from the Ciris and from the Culex. Its sentence structure, 
 however, is much farther removed from the Ciris than from the 
 Culex. The sentences in the Moretum are usually short, and 
 the longer ones consist of associative linkings, and not, as a 
 rule, of apperceptive analyses. There is very little complexity ; 
 this is usually only of the first degree, though the descending 
 structure is two or three times carried to the second degree. 
 There is but little ascending construction, — a fact which may 
 be due in part to the extremely simple nature of the subect 
 matter, — and there is a corresponding preponderance of the 
 descending structure. The absence of the intermediate struc- 
 ture is noticeable, which may be due again to the forward move- 
 ment of the simple description of which the poem is made up. 
 There is no long suspense. There is a remarkably smooth for- 
 ward flow to the style, much associative linking, considerable 
 binary structure, and occasional triple, quadruple, and quintu- 
 
70 Sentence Structure in Virgil 
 
 pie associative chains. Groups of short, simple sentences com- 
 posing a logical whole, but without verbal connection, are fre- 
 quent. All the characteristics of the sentence structure of this 
 poem are Virgilian characteristics, and all the most important 
 Virgilian characteristics are present in the structure of this 
 poem, with the single exception of the intermediate structure. 
 Its style is intermediate between that of the Eclogues and that 
 of the Georgics, but nearer that of the Georgics. Proofs deriv- 
 ed from sentence structure could not well go farther toward the 
 positive determination of the authorship of any work than 
 the proofs in this case go toward establishing the Virgilian au- 
 thorship of the Moretum. 
 
 MORETUM 
 
 a b ai bi 
 
 c d di da 
 e f 
 
 bi 
 
 ^^ abb] b2 
 
 13 
 
 16 
 
 a b ai bi b2 
 c d 
 
 a b I a b 
 
 c d 
 
 19 
 
 24 
 
 26 
 
 e f 
 
 a b b] a b A B a b (a) bi 
 
 a b I a b I a b 
 
 bi (a b) a b bi 
 
29 
 
 31 
 
 37 
 
 39 
 
 42 
 
 43 
 
 47 
 
 52 
 
 56 
 
 61 
 
 64 
 
 67 
 
 69 
 
 Sentence Structure in Virgil 71 
 
 a b bi I (a) b 
 
 a b I (a) b I (a) b bi ba I b | b | b b b 
 
 a b bi bi 
 
 a b A B Bi a b 
 
 a b ai b] 
 
 a b I (a) b I (a) b I (a) b (a b 
 
 a b bi b_' a b (a b) (a) bi hj 
 
 a a bAB(ajbababAB 
 
 a b a a b 
 
 a b 
 
 c c d 
 
 a b I a b ai bi b 
 c d 
 
 a^a b ab AB 
 
 a b o o o 
 
72 Sentence Structure in Virgil 
 
 72 
 
 79 
 
 84 
 
 87 
 
 92 
 
 94 
 
 96 
 
 98 
 
 103 
 
 107 
 
 111 
 
 113 
 
 116 
 
 119 
 
 a (b) I a ai a2 aa b | a ai a2 as a4 (b) 
 
 c d 
 
 (a b) a b ai bi a b 
 
 a ai b aa a.s a4 
 
 c d 
 
 a b (a) bi a b 
 
 a b A B Bi 
 
 b bi b2 bit 
 
 a b bi 
 
 a b|a b|a b bila b a b 
 
 a b I a b I a b ai bi b2 
 
 c d c d 
 
 a b ai bi I a b bi 
 
 a b I a b 
 
 (c) d 
 
 a b b] b2 bs 
 
 abb 
 
 c d 
 
 a b a b bi ba bs 
 
 o d 
 
m 
 
 
 lX. 
 
TA 
 
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