Chapter 36

RULE 1: Indirect Command (Jussive Noun Clause) = verb of commanding, urging, warning, etc. + ut/ne + subjunctive verb.

RULE 2: Fio functions as the passive of facio (but it is not related to facio linguistically).

RULE 3: Ut introduces a negative fearing clause; ne introduces a positive one.

I. Grammar

A. Indirect Command

What Wheelock calls “jussive noun clauses,” I prefer to call “indirect command” because it’s a simpler name and follows a system of nomenclature with which students are by now familiar (indirect statement, indirect question).

This clause should pose no problems to students since it resembles other clauses they’ve seen:

1. Verb Introducing the Clause. In the same way that certain verbs can trigger indirect statement and indirect question, indirect command is introduced by verbs of ordering, advising, requesting, permitting, contriving and urging, all of which can “indirectly” relate what was expressed using the imperative mood in direct speech. [NOTE: There is overlap in the verbs introducing the three indirect constructions, e.g. say (say why . . . , say that . . .), ask (ask that . . . , ask why . . . ).]
2. Subordinate Conjunction and Subjunctive Verb. Much like a purpose clause, indirect command is introduced with ut or ne. The subjunctive verb in the ensuing clause follows the rules of sequence of tenses seen also in purpose, result and indirect question.

Only one thing may cause students difficulty, the case constructions used by the individual verbs which introduce indirect command. As we say, “I ordered him (accusative) to go” but “I sought from him (preposition) that he leave,” Latin also uses different constructions with the various verbs capable of introducing indirect command. Wheelock includes a list of these verbs and the constructions they use on page 173, note 1. Call this list to the students’ attention and have them memorize it.

B. Clauses of Fearing

This is arguably the most egregious omission in Wheelock’s otherwise excellent text. Students must learn fearing clauses and, because it is vaguely related to the “indirect” constructions, I include it in this chapter.

With one exception, fearing clauses present no real surprises. They are introduced by verbs of fearing, use ut or ne and call for subjunctive verbs following sequence of tenses. The exception is that, contrary to expectation, ut means “that . . . not” and ne means “that.” The reason for this is that fearing clauses originated as independent prohibitions: “I am afraid. May it not (ne) happen!” which developed into “I am afraid that (ne) it may happen”; and the converse, “I am afraid. Let (ut) it happen!” which became “I am afraid that (ut) it may not happen.” Go through Wheelock’s examples on page 378. Students will be expected to know this construction on tests.

C. Fio

Part of yet another composite conjugation, fio supplies the passive of facio which produces only active forms in the present-tense system—this is true only of facio when it is uncompounded (i.e. without a prefix); in compound, it has a full range of passive forms, cf. conficitur—conversely in the perfect system, simple facio exhibits its own passive forms (factus sum). That fio stems originally from a different base from facio (see below) is what makes this verb a composite conjugation.

Students will almost certainly find this verb challenging in several respects, all of which you need to reinforce:

1. Fio has active endings (fio, fis, fit, . . .) but is passive in sense, as if it were a “reverse deponent.” At the same time, however, the infinitive form fieri which looks passive (cf. the older passive infinitive ending -ier, e.g. amarier). Other passive-looking forms, such as fitur and fiebantur, are attested in Cato.
2. In spite of its passive sense (“be made”), fio does not take an agent. To the contrary, fio acts most often as a linking verb, followed a predicate noun or adjective.
3. Fio is involved in an important Latin idiom: fit + ut (with a subjunctive verb) = “it happens/comes about that . . . ”

D. History of Fio

Its active forms, the failure of fio to take a passive agent and its common association with a predicate point to its non-passive origin. In fact, it derives from the same base as fui—Indo-European *bhw- which cognate with English be—and is, therefore, in origin a linking verb. The addition of the suffix -i- to the base *bhw- attracted it toward the fourth conjugation, hence fiebam and fiam.

II. Vocabulary

• timor: The nominative singular has become honor through analogical levelling; see Chapter 32 s.v. honor.
• cogo: = co- + ago (literally, “drive together”). Although the present base contracts to cog- (cf. co-opia > copia), the perfect forms lack contraction, coegi and coactum. Cogo can be followed by either (1) an accusative noun + an infinitive (“force him to act”) or (2) an accusative noun + ut + subjunctive (“force him that he act”).
• curo: Draw the students’ attention to the fact that this verb does not mean “cure”; see Chapter 4, s.v. cura. It can be followed by indirect command, in the sense “Take care that . . .!”
• fateor: This verb will be better known to English-speaking students in its compound forms which exhibit vowel gradation: confiteor (confessus) and profiteor (professus). Fateor takes both indirect statement and indirect question. The fa- base, meaning “speak” and coming from an Indo-European base bha-, is also seen in fari, fabula, fatum and fama, Greek phemi.
• oro: Of the many Latin words for “beg, plead,” oro was edged out by more popular variants (precor, peto, rogo) in the classical period, lending it an air of remoteness and archaism. This new sense conformed well with the Christian attitude of humbleness before God, and so the early Christian fathers adopted orare as their preferred word for “to pray.”

III. Sentences

Practice and Review

1. Indirect command.
2. Purpose clause.
3. Indirect command.
4. Purpose clause.
5. Indirect command.
6. Future more vivid.
7. Indirect question.

10. Indirect command.

IV. Quiz 6