1587. The present indicative represents action as going on at the time
of speaking or writing: as,
#scrībō#, _I write_, or _I am writing_. #nunc prīmum audiō#, T. _Andr._
936, _for the first time I hear_. #notat ad caedem ūnum quemque
nostrūm#, _C._ 1, 2, _he is marking us out for death, each and all_.
#domus aedificātur#, _Att._ 4, 2, 7, _the house is building_.
1588. The present is used to denote action customary or repeated at any
time, or a general truth: as,
#agrī cultūrae nōn student#, 6, 22, 1, _they do not apply themselves to
farming_. #virī in uxōrēs vītae necisque habent potestātem#, 6, 19, 3,
_the married men have power of life and death over their wives_.
#probitās laudātur et alget#, J. 1, 74, _uprightness gets extolled, and
left out in the cold_. #dum vītant stultī vitia, in contrāria currunt#,
H. _S._ 1, 2, 24, _while fools essay a vice to shun, into its opposite
they run_. #mors sōla fatētur quantula sint hominum corpuscula#, J. 10,
172, _death is the only thing that tells what pygmy things men’s bodies
be_. #stultōrum plēna sunt omnia#, _Fam._ 9, 22, 4, _the world is full
of fools_. #rīsū ineptō rēs ineptior nūllast#, Cat. 39, 16, _there’s
nothing sillier than a silly laugh_.
1589. The present, when accompanied by some expression of duration of
time, is often used to denote action which has been going on some time
and is still going on.
This present is translated by the English perfect: as, #Lilybaeī multōs
iam annōs habitat#, _V._ 4, 38, _he has lived at Lilybaeum this many a
year_. #iam dūdum auscultō#, H. _S._ 2, 7, 1, _I have been listening for
an age_. #satis diū hōc iam saxum vorsō#, T. _Eu._ 1085, _I’ve trundled
at this boulder long enough as ’t is_. #nimium diū tē castra
dēsīderant#, _C._ 1, 10, _the camp has felt your absence altogether too
long_. #iam diū īgnōrō quid agās#, _Fam._ 7, 9, 1, _I have not known
this long time how you are getting on_. This use extends to the
subjunctive and to nouns of the verb also. But if the action is
conceived as completed, the perfect is used: as, #sērō resistimus ē̆ī
quem per annōs decem aluimus#, _Att._ 7, 5, 5, _it is too late to oppose
a man whom we have been supporting ten long years_.
1590. The present is often used to represent past action as going on
now. This is called the _Present of Vivid Narration_: as,
#trānsfīgitur scūtum Puliōni et verūtum in balteō dēfīgitur. āvertit hīc
cāsus vāgīnam, inpedītumque hostēs circumsistunt#, 5, 44, 7, _Pulio has
his shield run through, and a javelin sticks fast in his sword belt.
This mischance puts his scabbard out of reach, and the enemy encompass
him in this hampered condition_. This present often stands side by side
with a past tense. It is common in subordinate sentences also.
1591. The present is sometimes used in brief historical or personal
memoranda, to note incidents day by day or year by year as they occur.
This is called the _Annalistic Present_: as,
#Proca deinde rēgnat. is Numitōrem prōcreat. Numitōrī rēgnum vetustum
Silviae gentis lēgat#, L. 1, 3, 9, _after this Proca is king; this man
begets Numitor; to Numitor he bequeaths the ancient throne of the
Silvian race_. #duplicātur cīvium numerus. Caelius additur urbī mōns#,
L. 1, 30, 1, _number of citizens doubled; Mt. Caelius added to city_.
#in Māmurrārum lassī deinde urbe manēmus#, H. _S._ 1, 5, 37, _in the
Mamurras’ city then forspent we sleep_. Particularly common with dates:
as, #A. Vergīnius inde et T. Vetusius cōnsulātum ineunt#, L. 2, 28, 1,
_then Verginius and Vetusius enter on the consulship_. #M. Sīlānō L.
Nōrbānō cōnsulibus Germānicus Aegyptum proficīscitur#, Ta. 2, 59, _in
the consulship of Silanus and Norbanus, Germanicus leaves for Egypt_.
1592. Verbs of hearing, seeing, and saying are often put in the present,
even when they refer to action really past: as,
#audiō Valerium Mārtiālem dēcessisse#, Plin. _Ep._ 3, 21, 1, _I hear
that Martial is dead_, i.e. the epigrammatist, 102 A.D. Particularly of
things mentioned in books, or in quoting what an author says: as,
#Hercyniam silvam, quam Eratosthenī nōtam esse videō#, 6, 24, 2, _the
Hercynian forest, which I see was known to Eratosthenes_. #Platō ‘ēscam
malōrum’ appellat voluptātem#, _CM._ 44, _Plato calls pleasure the ‘bait
of sin.’_
1593. The present is sometimes loosely used of future action: as,
#crās est mihī̆ iūdicium#, T. _Eu._ 338, _tomorrow I’ve a case in
court_. #ego sȳcophantam iam condūcō dē forō#, Pl. _Tri._ 815, _for me,
a sharper from the market place I’ll straight engage_. #quam mox
inruimus?# T. _Eu._ 788, _how soon do we pitch in?_ This present is also
used in subordinate sentences with #antequam# and #priusquam# (1912,
1915), with #dum#, _until_ (2006), and sometimes with #sī#.