GRICE E CECCATO

 Grice e Ceccato: la ragione conversazionale e l’implicatura conversazionale del plusquamperfectum --  implicatura imperfetta --  il perfetto filosofo – scuola di Montecchio Maggiore – filosofia vicentina – filosofia veneta -- filosofia italiana – Luigi Speranza, pel Gruppo di Gioco di H. P. Grice, The Swimming-Pool Library (Montecchio Maggiore). Filosofo vicentino. Filosofo veneto. Filosofo italiano. Montecchio Maggiore, Vicenza, Veneto. Grice: “I like Ceccato – like other Italian philosophers, he has an obsession with geometrical conjunctions  and my favoruite of his tracts is “La linea e la strischia’ – but he has also philosophised on other issues – notably on ‘cybernetics,’ where he purports to give a ‘mechanical explanation’ of language – he has also talked about the ‘mind,’ – ‘mente’ – an expression Italian philosophers hardly use as they see it as an Anglicism, preferring ‘anima,’ – “He has rather boldly philosophised on ‘eudaimonia,’ without taking into account J. L. Ackrill’s etymological findings – but then the Italians use ‘felicita’! – ‘the ingeneering of happiness’ – and also of the ‘fabrica del bello’ --. Grice: “How to, and how not to” “Are all ‘how not to’ ironic? Ceccato thinks not – he has philosophised on sophistry in ‘how NOT to philosophise’ – and he sees Socrates, who claims to be ‘imperfect,’ (i. e. ever unfinished), and echoing Shaw on Wagner, as the perfect philosophy – ‘il perfetto filosofo’!” Filosofo irregolare, dopo aver proposto una definizione del termine "filosofia" e un'analisi dello sviluppo storico di questa disciplina ha preferito prenderne le distanze e perseguire la costruzione di un'opzione alternativa, denominata inizialmente "metodologia operativa" e in seguito "cibernetica". Filosofo prolifico, ha numerosi saggi -- rendendosi noto in particolare nella cibernetica. Pur ottenendo notevole successo di pubblico con i suoi saggi, riscosse scarso successo nell’ambiene filosofico bolognese. Fu tra i primi in Italia ad interessarsi alla traduzione automatica di testi, settore in cui ha fornito importanti contributi. Sperimentò anche la relazione tra cibernetica e arte in collaborazione con il Gruppo V di Rimini.  Studioso della psicologia filosofica, intesa come l'insieme delle attività che l'uomo svolge per costituire i significati, memorizzarli ed esprimerli, ne propose un modello in termini di organo e funzione, scomponendo quest'ultima in fasi provvisoriamente elementari di un ipotetico organo, e nelle loro combinazioni in sequenze operazionali, in parte poi designate dalla espressione semplice e della espression complessa (frastico, frase) e del ‘codice’ utilizzato nel rapport sociale. Fondò ed animò la "Scuola Operativa Italiana", il cui patrimonio è tuttora oggetto di studio e ricerca. Studia Giurisprudenza, violoncello e composizione musicale. Fonda Methodos. Costrue “Adamo II”, un prototipo illustrativo della successione di attività proposte come costitutive dei costrutti (la lingua adamica) da lui chiamati "categorie" per analogia e in omaggio a Immanuele Kant. Insegna a Milano. Diresse il Centro di Cibernetica e di Attività Linguistiche a Milano. Incontró, durante una cena di gala, il Professore di Sistemi di controllo, a Pavia, Mella. Successivamente a questo incontro ispiratore decise di partecipare come attore nel film "32 dicembre" di Crescenzo, interpretandovi il ruolo del folle Cavalier Sanfilippo che si crede Socrate.  Un tecnico tra i filosofi, così intitolò il saggio apparso nelle Edizioni Marsilio di Padova, con i rispettivi sottotitoli: "Come filosofare" e "Come non filosofare”. Altre opere: “Il linguaggio con la Tabella di Ceccatieff”, Actualités Scientifiques et Industrielles, Éditions Hermann, Paris); Adamo II, Congresso Internazionale dell'Automatismo, Milano); “Un tecnico fra i filosofi, Marsilio, Padova); “Cibernetica per tutti, Feltrinelli, Milano); “Corso di linguistica operativa, Longanesi, Milano); “Il gioco del Teocono, All'Insegna del Pesce d'Oro, Milano); “L’anima vista da un cibernetico, ERI, Torino); “La terza cibernetica. Per una anima creativa e responsabile, Feltrinelli, Milano); “Miroglio, Ed.  Priuli&Verlucca, Ivrea); “Ingegneria della felicità” (Rizzoli, Milano); Il linguista inverosimile, Mursia, Milano); “Contentezza e intelligenza (Rizzoli); Mille tipi di bello” (Stampa alternativa, Viterbo); “C'era una volta la filosofia” (Spirali, Milano); Il maestro inverosimile” (Bompiani, Milano) (CL In Italia la Società di Cultura Metodologica Operativa a Milano, il Centro Internazionale di Didattica Operativa. l Gruppo Operazionista di Ricerca Logonica. Dizionario biografico degli italiani, Roma, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, La cibernetica italiana della mente nella civiltà delle macchine. Origini e attualità della logonica attenzionale a partire da Ceccato, Mantova, Universitas Studiorum. PRIMI STUDI PER UN ATTEGGIAMENTO ESTETICO NELLE MACCHINE, di C.. LA TRADUZIONE NELL'UOMO E NELLO MACCHINA, by Silvio La Mecanizzizione delle Attivita...  L ' Anatomica methodus, di  Laguna, Pisa, Giardini, C., comp: Corso di linguistica operativa. A cura di Silvio Ceccato. Centoventotto illustrazioni nel testo. Milano, Longanesi,  lllus. Language and Behavior was published in Italian translation, thanks to C. (cf. Petrilli). C., padre della cibernetica italiana, che in quegli anni stava mettendo a punto insieme a Enrico Maretti un prototipo di calcolatore “ intelligente ”, di cui si può leggere in una nota su “ La grammatica insegnata alle macchine. Studi in memoria di C. - Page 5books.google.com › books· Translate this page · ‎Snippet view FOUND INSIDE – PAGE 5 In memoria di Silvio Ceccato Felice Accame Nei giorni immediatamente successivi alla sua morte, i giornali hanno dedicato pochi, imbarazzati e, a volte, imbarazzanti articoli alla figura di C.. Se qualcuno, tramite questi articoli... Silvio Ceccato's little volume Corso di linguistica operativa (Ceccato 1969 ) sits on a quiet shelf in Lauinger library, the work of a semantic pioneer. C.. C. (Civilta delle Macchine) This monograph presents a discussion of the problems encountered by members of the Italian Operational School in their attempts to develop techniques to be used in...  Foundations of Language, Page 171books.google.com › books 1965 · ‎Snippet view FOUND INSIDE .. with his hand, when he moves the pieces, he performs a manual, a physical activity. Foundations of Language. The two types of activity can be distinguished in a 171 C.. I use an operational approach to mental activity based on C.. TECNICA OPERATIVA " (Ceccato), one of the earliest approaches implemented on a computer (University of Milan). 2 - I look at the. Debbo la spinta a studiare processi di questo tipo alla ' tecnica operativa ' di C., di cui un primo abbozzo in Language with the Table of Ceccatieff. Paris: Herman & Cie. 1951. Die C. si verdano anche articoli in Methodos... C., the Italian pioneer in the analysis of mental operations and construction, told me that once, after a public discussion of his theory, he overheard a philosopher say: " If Ceccato were right, the rest of us would be fools ! C.'s group exploited semantic pattern matching using semantic categories and semantic case frames, and C.s approach also involved the use of world knowled.  It is the purpose of this paper to define and differentiate the  various uses of the imperfect indicative, to discover if possible  their origin and trace their interrelations, to outline in fact the  history of the tense in early Latin. The term ' early Latin is  used somewhat elastically as including not only all the remains of  the language down to about the time of Sulla, but also the first  volume of inscriptions and the works of VARRONE, for  Varrone belongs distinctly to the older school of writers in spite  of the fact that the Rerum rusticarum libri were written as late  as 37 B. c. But exact chronological periods are of little meaning  in matters of this sort, and the present outline, being but a fragment of a more complete history of the tense, may stop at this  point as well as another.   Before proceeding to the investigation of the cases of the  imperfect occurring in early Latin it is necessary to describe  briefly the system by which these cases have been classified. In  the first place all cases of the same verb have been placed together  so that the individual verb forms the basis of classification. Then  verbs of similar meanings have been combined to form larger  groups. There result three main groups, and some subdivisions, which for the better understanding of this  may be tabulated  thus: Verbs of physical action or state. Motion of the whole of a body, e. g. eo, curro. Action of a part of a body, e. g. do, iacio.Verbal communication, e. g. dico, promilto.   4. Rest or state, e. g. sum, sto, sedeo. Verbs of psychic action or state.  Thought, e. g. puto, scio, spcro.  Feeling, e. g. metuo, atno.  Will, e. g. volo, nolo.  Cf. Trans. Am. Philolog. Ass. Auxiliary verbs, i. e. verbs which represent such English  words as could, should, might, &c, &c, e. g. possum, oportet, decet. Such a system has, of course, many inconsistencies. The verb  ago, for instance, may be a verb of action or of verbal com-  munication, but since instances of this sort are comparatively rare and affected no important groups of verbs it has seemed  best not to separate cases of the same verb. Again I. 3 is logically a part of I. 2, or the verbs grouped under  III might perhaps have been distributed among the different  subdivisions of I and II. But the object of the classification, to  discover the function of each case, has seemed best attained by  grouping the verbs as described. By this system, verbs of similar  meaning, whose tenses are therefore similarly affected, are  brought together and this is the essential point. In a very large  collection of cases a stricter subdivision would doubtless prove of  advantage.  There are about 1400 cases of the imperfect indicative in the  period covered by this investigation. Of these, however, it has  been necessary to exclude 2 from 175 to 180 leaving 1226 from a  consideration of which the results have been obtained. The  TENSE appears, therefore, NOT TO HAVE BEEN  A FAVOURITE, and its  comparative infrequency which I have noted already for Plauto and Terenzio 3 may here be asserted for the whole period of early  Latin. About three-quarters of the total number of cases are  supplied by Plauto, Terenzio, and Varrone. A study of these 1226 cases reveals three general uses of the  imperfect indicative: the progressive or true imperfect; the aoristic imperfect, and the shifted' mperfect.  Let us consider these in order.  In the following pages I have made an effort to state and illustrate the facts,  reserving theory and discussion for the third section of this paper. These are cases doubtful for one reason or another, chiefly because of  textual corruption or insufficient context. For the latter reason perhaps too  many cases have been excluded, but I have chosen to err in this direction since  so much of the material consists of fragments where one cannot feel absolutely  certain of the force of the tense. The true imperfect shows several subdivisions: the simple progressive imperfect, the imperfect of customary past action, and the frequentative imperfect.   Of these I A and I B include several more or less distinct  variations, but all three uses together with their subdivisions  betray their relationship by the fact that all possess or are  immediately derived from the progressive function. This progressive idea, the indication of an act as progressing, going on,  taking place, in past time or the indication of a state as vivid, is  the true ear-mark of the tense. The time may be in the distant  past or at any point between that and the immediate past or it  may even in many contexts extend into the present. In duration  the time may be so short as to be inappreciable or it may extend  over years. The time is, however, not a distinguishing mark of  the imperfect. The perfect may be described in the same terms.   The kind of action * remains, therefore, the real criterion in the  distinction * of the imperfect from other past tenses. I A. The Simple Progressive Imperfect.   Under this heading are included all cases in which the tense  indicates simple progressive action, i. e. something in the 'doing',  ' being ', 4 &c. The idea of progression is present in all the cases,  but there are in other respects considerable differences according  to which some distinct varieties may be noted. All told there are  680 cases of this usage constituting more than half the total.   I I have chosen progressive as more expressive than durative which seems to  emphasize too much the time.   2 'Kind of action' will translate the convenient German Aktionsart while  ' time ' or ' period of time ' may stand for Zeitstufe.   % Herbig in his very interesting discussion, Aktionsart und Zeitstufe (I. F.  '896), comes to the conclusion that 'Aktionsart ' is older than ' Zeitstufe '  and that though many tenses are used timelessly none are used in living speech  without 'Aktionsart.' The progressive effect is also found in the present participle (and in parti-  cipial adjectives), and indeed the imperfect, especially in subordinate clauses,  is often interchangeable with a participial expression, falling naturally into  participial form in English also. How close the effect of the imperfect was  to that of the present participle is well illustrated by Terence, Heaut. 293-4  nebat . . . texebat and 285 texentem . . . offendimus. Cf. Varro R. R. Ill, 2. 2   Of these 449 are syntactically independent, 231 dependent. 1 In  its ordinary form this usage is so well understood that we may  content ourselves with a few illustrations extending over the  different groups of verbs.  I.i. Verbs of motion.  Plautus, 2 Aul. 178, Praesagibat mi animus frustra me ire,  quom exibam domo.   1 With the principles of formal description as last and best expressed by  Morris (On Principles and Methods of Syntax) all syntacticians  will, I believe, agree. Nearly all of them will be found well illustrated in the  present paper. For purposes of tense study, however, I have been unable to  see any essential modification in function resulting from variation of person  and number, although some uses have become almost idiomatic in certain  persons, e. g. the immediate past usage with first person sing, of verbs of  motion (p. 15). Just how far tense function is affected by the kind of sentence  in which the tense stands I am not prepared to say. In cases accompanied by  a negative or standing in an interrogative sentence the tense function is more  difficult to define than in simple affirmative sentences. It is easier also to  define the tense function in some forms of dependent clauses, e. g. temporal,  causal, than in others. This is an interesting phenomenon, needing for its  solution a larger and more varied collection of cases than mine. At present  I do not feel that the influence upon the tense of any of these elements is  definite enough to call for greater complexity in the system of classification.  While, therefore, I have borne these points constantly in mind, the tables  show the results rather than the complete method of my work in this respect.In the citation of cases the following editions are used:   Fragments of the dramatists, O. Ribbeck, Scaenicae Romanorum poesis  fragmenta (I & II), Lipsiae -8 (third edition).   Plautus, Goetz and Schoell, T. Macci Plauti comoediae (editio minor), Lipsiae, Terence, Dziatzko, P. Terenti Afri comoediae, Lipsiae Orators, H. Meyer, Oratorum romanorum fragmenta, Turici.   Historians, C. Peter, Historicorum Romanorum fragmenta, Lipsiae.   Cato, H. Keil, M. Porci Catonis de agricultura liber, Lipsiae, and H.  Jordan, M. Catonis praeter lib. de re rustica quae extant, Lipsiae i860.   Lucilius, L. Mueller, Leipsic, Auctor ad Herennium, C. L. Kayser, Cornifici rhetoricorum ad C. Herenium libri tres, Lipsiae.   Inscriptions, Th. Mommsen, C. I. L. I.   Ennius (the Annals), L. Mueller, Q. Enni carminum reliquiae, Petropoli.   Naevius (Bell, poen.), L. Mueller, Q. Enni carminum reliquiae, Petropoli.   Varro, H. Keil, M. Terenti Varronis rerum rusticarum libri tres, Lipsiae Varro, A. Spengel, M. Terenti Varronis de lingua latina, Berolini Varro, BUcheler, M. Terenti Varronis saturarum Menippearum reliquiae,  Lipsiae. Id. Amph. 199, Nam quom pugnabant maxume, ego turn   fugiebam maxume.  Lucilius, Sat.,l ibat forte aries' inquit;  I. 2. Verbs of action.  Ex incertis incertorum fabulis (comoed. pall.) XXIV.  R., sed sibi cum tetulit coronam ob coligandas nuptias,  T\b\ ferebat; cum simulabat se sibi alacriter dare,  Turn ad te ludibunda docte et delicate detulit.  Plautus, True. 198 atque opperimino : iam exibit, nam   lavabat.  Cf. id. Men. 564 (ferebam), Mil. 1336 (temptabam), Epid.  138 (mittebam); Terence, Andr. (dabam); Auctor ad  Herenn. 4, 20, 27 (oppetebat).  Verbal communication.   Plautus, Men, Quin modo   Erupui, homines qui ferebant te. Apud hasce aedis. tu clamabas deum fidem,  Ex incert. incert. &c. 282. XXXII. R., Vidi te, Ulixes saxo  sternentem Hectora,  Vidi tegentem clipeo classem Doricam :  Ego tunc pudendam trepidus hortabar fugam. State.   Plautus, Aul. 376, Atque eo fuerunt cariora, aes non erat.  Id. Mil. 181, Sed Philocomasium hicine etiam nunc est? Pe.   Quom exibam, hie erat.  Varro, R. R. III. 2. 2., ibi Appium Claudium augurem   sedentem invenimus . . . sedebat ad sinistram ei Cornelius   Merula . . .  Cf. also Plautus, Rud. 846, (sedebanf), Amph. 603 (stabam)   &c. &c.   Verbs of thought.   Hist. frag. p. 70, 1. 7, Et turn quo irent nesciebani, ilico   manserunt.  Plautus, Pseud. 500-1, Non a me scibas pistrinum in mundo   tibi,  Quom ea muss[c]itabas ? Ps. Scibam.  Cf. also Plautus, Rud. 1 186 ,(credebam); Varro R. R. I. 2. 25.  (ignorabat), &c.  II. 2. Feeling.  Plautus, Epid. 138, Desipiebam mentis, quom ilia scripta   mittebam tibi.  Id. Bacch. 683, Bacchidem atque hunc suspicabar propter  crimen, Chrysale,   II. 3. Will.   Lucilius, Sat. incert. 48, fingere praeterea adferri quod quis-  que volebat:   In these cases the act or state indicated by the tense is always  viewed as at some considerable distance in the past even though  in reality it may be distant by only a few seconds. The speaker  or writer stands aloof, so to speak, and views the event as at some  distance and as confined within certain fairly definite limits in the  past. If, now, the action be conceived as extending to the im-  mediate past or the present of the speaker, a different effect is  produced, although merely the limits within which the action  progresses have been extended. This phase of the progressive  imperfect we might term the imperfect of the immediate past 1 or  the interrupted 2 imperfect, since the action of the verb is often  interrupted either by accomplishment or by some other event.  A few citations will make these points clearer:   Plautus, Stich. 328, ego quid me velles visebam.   Nam mequidem harum miserebat. — '\ was coming to see  what you wanted of me (when I met you) ; for I've been pitying  (and still pity) these women.' In the first verb the action is  interrupted by the meeting ; in the second it continues into the  present, the closest translation being our English compound pro-  gressive perfect, a tense which Latin lacked. The imperfect ibam  is very common in this usage, cf. Plautus, True. 921, At ego ad  te ibam = l was on my way to see you (when you called me),  cf. Varro, R. R. II. 11. 12; Terence, Phorm. 900, Andr.  But the usage is by no means confined to verbs of motion  (I. 1) alone. It extends over all the categories:   I. 2. Motion.  Plautus, Aulul. 827 (apparabas), cf. Andr. 656.   1 In Greek the aorist is used of events just past, but of course with no pro-  gressive coloring, cf. Brugmann in I. Miiller's Handbuch, &c. E. Rodenbusch, De temporum usu Plautino quaest. selectae, Argentorati  1888, pp. n-12, recognizes and correctly explains this usage, adding some  examples of similar thoughts expressed by the present, e. g. Plautus, Men. 280  (quaeris), ibid. 675 (quaerit), Amph. 542 (numquid vis, a common leave-taking  formula). In such cases the speaker uses imperfect or present according as  past or present predominates in his mind, the balance between the two being  pretty even. Verbal communication.  Terence, Eun. 378 (iocabar), Heaut. 781 (dicebam) ; Plautus,  Trin. 212 (aibanf).   I. 4. Rest.   Plautus, Cas. 532 (eratn), cf. Men. n 35. Terence, Eun. 87  (stabam), Phorm. 573 {cotnmorabar).   II. 1. Thought.   Terence, Phorm. 582 (scibam), cf. Heaut. 309. Plautus,  Men. 1072 (censebam), cf. Bacch. 342, As. 385 &c.  II. 2. Feeling.   Plautus, Stich. 329 (miserebaf) ; Turpilius, 107 V R.  (sperabam).   II. 3. Will.   Plautus, As. 392 and 395 (volebatn), Most. 9, Poen.Auxiliary verbs.   Plautus, Epid. 98 (so/ebam), cf. Amph. 711. Terence, Phor-  mio 52 (conabar).  In this usage the present or immediate past is in the speaker's  mind only less strongly than the point in the past at which the  verb's action begins. The pervading influence of the present  is evident not only because present events are usually at hand in  the context, but also from the occasional use with the imperfect  of a temporal particle or expression of the present, cf. Plaut.  Merc. 884, Quo nunc ibas = ' whither were you (are you) going ? '  Terence, Andr. 657, immo etiam, quom tu minus scis aerumnas   meas,  Haec nuptiae non adparabanfur mihi, Rodenbusch labours hard to show that this case is like the preceding  and not parallel with the cases of volui which he cites on p. 24 with all  of which an infinitive of the verb in the main clause is either expressed or to  be supplied. Following Bothe, he alters deicere to dice (which he assigns to  Adelphasium) and refers quod to the amabo and amflexabor of I230 = 'meine  Absicht'. But there is no need of this. Infinitives occur with some of the  cases cited by Rodenbusch himself on p. II, e. g. Bacch. 188 (189) Istuc volebatn  . . . fercontarier, Trin. 195 Istuc voUbam scire, to which may be added Cas. 674  Dicere vilicum volebatn and ibid. 702 illud . . . dicere volebatn. It is true that the  perfect is more common in such passages, but the imperfect is by no means  excluded. The difference is simply one of the speaker's point of view: quod  volui = ' what I wished * (complete) ; quod valebant = ' what I was and am  wishing ' (incomplete). As. 212, which also troubles Rodenbusch, is customary  past.   Nee postulabat nunc quisquam uxorem dare.   Merc. 197, Equidem me tarn censebam esse in terra atque in   tuto loco :  Verum video. In the last two cases note the accompanying presents, set's and  video.   The immediate past also is indicated by a particle, e. g. Plautus,  Cas. 594 ad te hercle ibam commodum.   There are in all 207 l cases of this imperfect of the immediate  past. They are distributed pretty evenly over the various groups  of verbs as will be seen from the following table: No. of Cases. I. I    Verbs of motion,    26  I. 2  it  " action,  17  I.  3 (i   "verbal communication, 31 I. 4   state, 35 II.  1 it " thought,    36 II. 2 " " feeling,  35  II. 3 " " will, 13  Auxiliary verbs, The verbs proportionately most common in this use are ibam  and volebam which have become idiomatic. The usage is  especially common in colloquial Latin, but 16 cases 5 occurring  outside the dramatic literature represented chiefly, of course, by  Plautus and Terence.   By virtue of its progressive force the imperfect is a vivid tense  and as is well known, became a favorite means in the Ciceronian  period of enlivening descriptive passages. It was especially used  to fill in the details and particulars of a picture (imperfect of situa-  tion). 8 This use of the tense appears in early Latin also, but with  much less frequency. The choice of the tense for this purpose  is a matter of art, whether conscious or unconscious. At times,  indeed, there is no apparent reason for the selection of an imper-  fect rather than a perfect except that the former is more graphic, 1 Somewhat less than one-third of the total (680) progressive cases.   5 These cases are Ennius, Ann. 204, C. I. L. I. 201. 1 1 (3 cases), Varro, L.  L. 5. 9 (1 case), and Auctor ad Herenn. 1. 1. 1 (2 cases), 1. 10. 16, 2. 1. 2, 2. 2.  2 (2 cases), 3. 1. 1 (2 cases), 4. 34. 46, 4. 36. 48, 4. 37. 49. All of these are in  passages of colloquial coloring, either in speeches or, especially those in auctor  ad Herenn., in epistolary passages.   3 I use this term for all phases of the tense used for graphic purposes.  and if it were possible to separate in every instance these cases  from those in which the imperfect may be said to have been  required, we should have a criterion by which we might dis-  tinguish this use of the imperfect from others. But since the  progressive function of the tense is not altered, such a distinction  is not necessary.   Statistics as to the frequency of the imperfect of situation in  early Latin are worth little because the chief remains of the  language of that period are the dramatists in whom naturally the  present is more important than the past. The historians, to whom  we should look for the best illustrations of this usage, are for the  most part preserved to us in brief fragments. Nevertheless an  examination of the comparatively few descriptive passages in  early Latin reveals several points of interest.   In Plautus and Terence the imperfect was not a favorite tense  in descriptions. Bacch. 258-307, a long descriptive passage of  nearly 50 lines, interrupted by unimportant questions, shows only  4 imperfects (1 aoristic) amid over 40 perfects, historical presents,  &c. Capt. 497-5151 Amph. 203-261, Bacch. 947-970, show but  one case each. Stich. 539-554 shows 5 cases of erat. In Epid.  207-253 there are 10 cases.   In the descriptive passages of Terence the imperfect is still far  from being a favorite tense, though relatively more common than  in Plautus, cf. Andr. 48 ff., 74-102, Phorm. 65-135 (containing 11  imperfects). But Eunuch. 564-608 has only 4 and Heaut. 96-150  only 3.   Another very instructive passage is the well-known description  by Q. Claudius Quadrigarius of the combat between Manlius and  a Gaul (Peter, Hist. rom. fragg., p. 137, 10b). In this passage  of 28 lines there are but 2 imperfects. The very similar passage  describing the combat between Valerius and a Gaul and cited by  Gellius (IX, n) probably from the same Quadrigarius contains  8 imperfects in 24 lines. Since Gellius is obviously retelling the  second story, the presumption is that the passage in its original  form was similar in the matter of tenses to the passage about  Manlius. In other words Gellius has 'edited' the story of  Valerius, and one of his improvements consists in enlivening the  tenses a bit. He describes the Manlius passage thus : Q. Claudius  primo annalium purissime atque illustrissime simplicique et  incompta orationis antiquae suavitate descripsit. This simplex  et incompta suavitas is due in large measure to the fact that   Quadrigarius has used the simple perfect (19 times), varying it  with but few (4) presents and imperfects (2). A closer com-  parison of the passage with the story of Valerius reveals the  difference still more clearly. Quadrigarius uses (not counting  subordinate clauses) 19 perfects, 4 presents, 2 imperfects ; Gellius,  4 perfects, 9 presents, 8 imperfects. In several instances the  same act is expressed by each with a different tense :   Quadrigarius. Gellius.   processit (bis), f procedebat,   \ progrediiur,  constitit, c congrediuntur,  consistent,  constituerunt, conserebantur manus,   8 perfects of acts in 5 imperfects of acts   combat. of the corvus. Gellius has secured greater vividness at the expense of simplicity  and directness.   This choice of tenses was, as has been said, a matter of art,  whether conscious or unconscious. The earlier writers seem to  have preferred on the whole the barer, simpler perfect even in  passages which might seem to be especially adapted to the  imperfect, historical present, &c. The perfect, of course, always  remained far the commoner tense in narrative, and instances are  not lacking in later times of passages 1 in which there is a striking  preponderance of perfects. Nevertheless the imperfect, as the  language developed, with the growth of the rhetorical tendency  and a consequent desire for variety in artistic prose and poetry,  seems to have come more and more into vogue. 2   The fact that the function of a tense is often revealed, denned,  and strengthened by the presence in the context of particles of  various kinds, subordinate clauses, ablative absolutes, &c, &c,   1 E. g. Caesar, B. G. I. 55 and 124-5.   s The relative infrequency of the tense in early Latin was pointed out on  p. 164. Its growth as a help in artistic prose is further proved by the fact that  the fragments of the later and more rhetorical annalists, e. g. Quadrigarius,  Sisenna, Tubero, show relatively many more cases than the earliest annalists.  This is probably not accident. When compared with the history of the same  phenomenon in Greek, where the imperfect, so common in Homer, gave way  to the aorist, this increase in use in Latin may be viewed as a revival of a  usage popular in Indo-European times. Cf. p. 185, n. 2. was pointed out in Trans. Am. Philol. Ass. What was there 1 said of Plautus and Terence may here be  extended to the whole period of early Latin. The words and  phrases used in this way are chiefly temporal. Some of those  occurring most frequemly are: modo, commodum ; turn, tunc;  simul; dudum, iam dudum; iam, primo, primulum ; nunc; ilico;  olim, quondam; semper, saepe; fere, plerumque ; Ha, 2 &c, &c.  A rough count shows in this class about 120 cases,' accompanied  by one or more particles or expressions of this sort. Some  merely date the tense, e. g., turn, modo, dudum, &c. Others, as  saepe, fere, primulum, have a more intimate connection with the  function. Naturally the effect of the latter group is clearest in  the imperfects of customary past action, the frequentative, &c,  and will be illustrated under those headings. Here I will notice  only a few cases with iam, primulum, &c, which illustrate very  well how close the relation between particle and tense may be.  The most striking cases are :   Plautus, Merc. 43, amare valide coepi[t] hie meretricem. ilico  Res exulatum ad illam <c>lam abibat patris. Cf. Men.  1 1 16, nam tunc dentes mihi cadebant primulum.   id. Merc. 197, Equidem me iam censebam esse in terra atque   in tuto loco : Verum video . . .  id. Cist. 566, Iam perducebam illam ad me suadela mea,   Anus ei <quom> amplexast genua . . .  id. Merc. 212, credet hercle: nam credebat iam mihi.   The unquestionably inceptive force of these cases arises from  the combination of tense and particle. No inceptive* function can  be proved for the tense alone, for I find no cases with inceptive  force unaccompanied by such a particle.   Cf. also Morris, Syntax, p. 83.   5 How far the nature of the clause in which it stands may influence the  choice of a tense is a question needing investigation. That causal, explanatory,  characterizing, and other similar clauses very often seem to require an im-  perfect is beyond question, but the proportion of imperfects to other tenses in  such clauses is unknown. Cf. p. 166, n. 1.   s No introductory conjunctions are included in this total, nor are other  particles included, unless they are in immediate connection with the tense.   4 In Trans. Am. Philolog. Ass. XXX, p. 21, I was inclined to take at least  Merc. 43 as inceptive. This I now believe to have been an error. The  inceptive idea was most commonly expressed by coepi -\- m&n. which is very  common in Plautus and Varro. We have here the opposite of the phenomenon  discussed on p. 177. There are a few cases in which the imperfect produces the same  effect as the imperfect of the so-called first periphrastic conjuga-  tion : Terence, Hec. 172, Interea in Imbro moritur cognatus   senex.  Horunc: ea ad hos redibal lege hereditas.=reditura erat,  English ' was coming ', ' was about to revert ', cf. Greek pi\\a> with  infinitive.   Cf. Phorm. 929, Nam non est aequum me propter vos decipi,  Quom ego vostri honoris causa repudium alterae  Remiserim, quae dotis tantundem <fti£«/.=datura erat &c.  In these cases the really future event is conceived very vividly  as already being realized.   Plautus, Amph. 597 seems to have the effect of the English  'could':   Neque . . . mihi credebam primo mihimet Sosiae  Donee Sosia . . . ille . . .  But the * could ' is probably inference from what is a very vivid  statement. A Roman would probably not have felt such a  shading. 1   I B. The Imperfect of Customary Past Action.   The imperfect may indicate some act or state at some appreci-  able distance in the past as customary, usual, habitual &c. The  act or state must be at some appreciable distance in the past (and  is usually at a great distance) because this function of the tense  depends upon the contrast between past and present, a contrast  so important that in a large proportion of the cases it is enforced  by the use of particles. 2 The act (or state) is conceived as  repeated at longer or shorter intervals, for an act does not become  customary until it has been repeated. This customary act usually  takes place also as a result or necessary concomitant of certain  conditions expressed or implied in the context, e. g. maiores nosiri  olim &c, prepares us for a statement of what they used to do.  The act may indeed be conceived as occurring only as a result of  a certain expressed condition, e. g. Plautus, Men. 484 mulier  quidquid dixerat,   1 Some of the grammars recognize ' could' as a translation, e. g., A. & G.   § 277 g-   8 E. g. turn, tunc, olim &c. with the imperfect, and nunc &c. with the con-  trasted present.    Idem ego dicebam = my words would be uttered only as a  result of hers. 1   There are 462 cases of the customary past usage of which 218  occur in independent sentences, 244 in dependent. This large  total, more than one-third of all the cases, is due to the character  of Varro's De lingua latina from which 289 cases come. This is  veritably a ' customary past ' treatise, for it is for the most part a  discussion of the customs of the old Romans in matters pertaining  to speech. Accordingly nearly all the imperfects fall under this  head. Plautus and Terence furnish 112. The remaining 61 are  pretty well scattered.   As illustrations of this usage I will cite (arranging the cases  according to the classes of verbs) :   I. 1. Plautus, Pseud. 1180, Noctu in vigiliam quando ibat  miles, quom tu Has simul,  Conveniebatne in vaginam tuam machaera militis ?  Terence, Hec. 157, Ph. Quid ? interea ibatne ad Bacchidem ?   Pa. Cottidie.  Varro, L. L. 5. 180, qui iudicio vicerat, suum sacramentum e   sacro auferebat, victi ad aerarium redibat.  I. 2. Plautus, Bacch. 429, Saliendo sese exercebant magis   quam scorto aut saviis. (cf. the whole passage).  Hist, fragg., p. 83. 27, Cn., inquit, Flavius, patre libertino natus,  scriptum faciebat (occupation) isque in eo tempore aedili  curuli apparebat, . . .  I. 3. Terence, Eun. 398, Vel rex semper maxumas   Mihi agebal quidquid feceram :  Varro, L. L., 5. 121, Mensa vinaria rotunda nominabalur Cili-  bantum ut etiam nunc in castris. Cf. L. L. 7. 36, appellabant,  5. 118, 5. 167 &c.   1 This usage seemed to me formerly sufficiently distinct to deserve a special  class and the name 'occasional', since it is occasioned by another act. It is  at best, however, only a sub-class of the customary past usage and in the  present paper I have not distinguished it in the tables. It is noteworthy that  the act is here at its minimum as regards repetition and that it may occur in  the immediate past, cf. Rud. 1226, whereas the customary past usage in its  pure form is never used of the immediate past. The usages may be approxi-  mately distinguished in English by 'used to', 'were in the habit of &c. (pure  customary past), and 'would' (occasional), although 'would' is often a good  rendering of the pure customary past. Good cases of the occasional usage  are : Plautus, Merc. 216, 217 ; Poen. 478 S ; Terence, Hec. 804 ; Hist, fragg.  p. 202. 9 (5 cases), ibid. p. 66. 128 (4 cases). Plautus, Bacch. 421, Eadem ne erat haec disciplina tibi,   quom tu adulescens eras ?  C. I. L. I. 1011.17 Ille meo officio adsiduo florebat ad omnis.   II. 1. Auctor ad Herenn. 4. 16. 23, Maiores nostri si quam  unius peccati mulierem damnabant, simplici iudicio multorum  rnaleficiorum convictam putabant. quo pacto ? quam inpudicam  iudicarant, ea venefici quoque damnata existutnabatur.   Cato, De ag., 1, amplissime laudari existimabatur qui ita lau-  dabatur.   II. 2. Plautus, Epid. 135, Illam amabam olim: nunc tarn alia  cura impendet pectori.   Varro, R. R. III. 17.8, etenim hac incuria laborare aiebat M.  Lucullum ac piscinas eius despiciebat quod aestivaria idonea  non haberent.   III. 3. Plautus, As. 212, quod nolebant ac votueram, de   industria  Fugiebatis neque conari id facere audebatis prius. Cf. the  whole passage.  Varro, L. L. 5. 162, ubi quid conditum esse volebant, a celando   Cellam appellarunt.  III. Terence, Phorm. 1 90, Tonstrina erat quaedam : hie sole-   bamusfere  Plerumque earn opperiri, . . .  Varro, L. L. 6. 8, Solstitium quod sol eo die sistere videbatur . . .