The Syntax of the Nominal Forms of the Verb in Livy Book XXXII
Graduation Date
Fall 1939
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Document Form
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Degree Granting Institution
Catholic University of America
Program Name
Humanities
Abstract
The object of this monograph is to account for the use that Livy makes of the nominal forms of the verb, i.e., the infinitive, gerund, gerundive, supine, and participle, in the thirty-second book of his history. This study has been approached from the historical standpoint. Therefore, the author has attempted to show to what extent Livy follows the standards of the Classical Age and to what extent he either violates or extends them. For this reason the examples of the nominal forms of the verb as found in Livy, Book XXXII, are accompanied by historical accounts of their use in writers before our historian's time and also in contemporary and later writers. Stolz-Schmalz, Lateinische Grammatik, 5th edition, revised by Leumann and Hofmann, Munich, 1928, has been used as the basis of these accounts. The recording of instances in which the various nominal forms of the verb are used has been made with as much completeness as was thought necessary for the purpose of this study. For most usages, quotations have been given in full, while, for the most part, refence only have been given for very frequent usages such as that of the perfect passive participle in the ablative absolute construction. It should be noted that no lists have been recorded of so common a usage as the circumstantial employment of the perfect passive participle. Summaries at the end of each chapter offer a comparison of Livy’s usages in Book XXXII with that of previous writers. A final chapter reviewing the findings relative to the four nominal forms of the verb concludes this monograph.