Relative Pronouns.

250. Agreement. 1. The Relative Pronoun agrees with its antecedent in Gender, Number, and Person, but its case is determined by its construction in the clause in which it stands; as,—

mulier quam vidēbāmus, the woman whom we saw;

bona quibus fruimur, the blessings which we enjoy.

2. Where the antecedent is compound, the same principles for number and gender prevail as in case of predicate adjectives under similar conditions (see § 235, B, 2). Thus:—

pater et fīlius, qui captī sunt, the father and son who were captured;

stultitia et timiditās quae fugienda sunt, folly and cowardice which must be shunned;

honōrēs et victōriae quae sunt fortuīta, honors and victories, which are accidental.

3. The Relative regularly agrees with a predicate noun (either Nominative or Accusative) instead of its antecedent; as,—

carcer, quae lautumiae vocantur, the prison, which is called Lautumiae;

Belgae, quae est tertia pars, the Belgians, who are the third part.

4. Sometimes the Relative takes its gender and number from the meaning of its antecedent; as,—

pars quī bēstiīs objectī sunt, a part (of the men) who were thrown to beasts.

5. Occasionally the Relative is attracted into the case of its antecedent; as,—

nātus eō patre quō dīxī, born of the father that I said.

251. Antecedent. 1. The antecedent of the Relative is sometimes omitted; as,—

quī nātūram sequitur sapiēns est, he who follows Nature is wise.

2. The antecedent may be implied in a possessive pronoun (or rarely an adjective); as,—

nostra quī remānsimus caedēs, the slaughter of us who remained;

servīlī tumultū, quōs ūsus ac disciplīna sublevārunt, at the uprising of the slaves, whom experience and discipline assisted (servīlī = servōrum).

3. Sometimes the antecedent is repeated with the Relative; as,—

erant itinera duo, quibus itineribus, there were two routes, by which (routes).

4. Incorporation of Antecedent in Relative Clause. The antecedent is often incorporated in the relative clause. Thus:—

a) When the relative clause stands first; as,—

quam quisque nōvit artem, in hāc sē exerceat, let each one practice the branch which he knows.

b) When the antecedent is an appositive; as,—

nōn longē ā Tolōsātium fīnibus absunt, quae cīvitās est in prōvinciā, they are not far from the borders of the Tolosates, a state which is in our province.

c) When the logical antecedent is a superlative; as,—

Themistoclēs dē servīs suīs, quem habuit fidēlissimum, mīsit, Themistocles sent the most trusty slave he had.

d) In expressions of the following type—

quā es prūdentiā; quae tua est prūdentia, such is your prudence (lit. of which prudence you are; which is your prudence).

5. The Relative is never omitted in Latin as it is in English. Thus the boy I saw must be puer quem vīdī.

6. The Relative is used freely in Latin, particularly at the beginning of a sentence, where in English we employ a demonstrative; as,—

quō factum est, by this it happened;

quae cum ita sint, since this is so;

quibus rēbus cognitīs, when these things became known.

7. The Relative introducing a subordinate clause may belong grammatically to a clause which is subordinate to the one it introduces; as,—

numquam dignē satis laudārī philosophia poterit, cui quī pāreat, omne tempus aetātis sine molestiā possit dēgere, philosophy can never be praised enough, since he who obeys her can pass every period of life without annoyance (lit. he who obeys which, etc.).

Here cui introduces the subordinate clause possit and connects it with philosophia; but cui is governed by pāreat, which is subordinate to possit.

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