Page:The New Latin Primer (Postgate).djvu/105

Rh § 177. —I. The Present and Imperfect are used for actions of general or frequent occurrence: prŏbĭtās laudātur ĕt algĕt honesty is praised and freezes, Pausănĭās ĕpŭlābatŭr mōrĕ Persārum Pausanias used-to-banquet in the style of the Persians.

§ 178. II. The same tenses, especially the Imperfect, are also used of an action purposed or attempted, but not carried out : quĭd me terres? why do-you-try-to frighten me? sēdābant tŭmultūs they tried-to-allay the outbreaks.

§ 179. III. They are also used with iam already, and similar Adverbs, of actions which have been going on for some time; and they are then to be translated by English Completed tenses : annum iam audĭō Crătippum I have been already hearing (i.e. attending the lectures of) Cratippus for a year, iamdūdum tĭbĭ adversābăr I had long been opposing you.

§ 180. denote a sudden action: terră trĕmit, fūgērĕ fĕrae the earth quakes, the wild beasts have fled (flee at once); terră trĕmŭĭt, fūgĕrant fĕrae the earth quaked, the wild beasts at once fled; sī terră trĕmĕt (or trĕmŭĕrĭt), fūgĕrint fĕrae if the earth quakes, the wild beasts will at once flee.

§ 181. —Sometimes, by an effort of the imagination, the speaker transports himself to some point in the Past or the Future, and uses the Tenses which would then be correct.

§ 182. —The Present is often used vividly in speaking of past events; Iŭgurthă vallō moenĭă circumdat, Jugurtha surrounded the-walls with-an-entrenchment.