1603. The historical perfect simply expresses action as having occurred
at an indefinite past time, without implying anything as to the duration
of the action: as,
#scrīpsī#, _I wrote_. #vēnī, vīdī, vīcī#, Caesar in Suet. _Iul._ 37,
_came, saw, overcame_. #apud Helvētiōs longē nōbilissimus fuit
Orgetorīx#, 1, 2, 1, _among the Helvetians, the man of highest birth by
all odds was Orgetorix_. #Diodōrus prope triennium domō caruit#, _V._ 4,
41, _for nearly three years Diodorus had to keep away from home_. #in
Graeciā mūsicī flōruērunt, discēbantque id omnēs#, _TD._ 1, 4, _in
Greece musicians stood high, and everybody studied the art_ (1596).
1604. It may be mentioned here, that in subordinate sentences the
historical perfect is sometimes loosely used from the writer’s point of
view, instead of the more exact pluperfect demanded by the context: as,
#aliquantum spatiī ex eō locō, ubī̆ pugnātum est, aufūgerat#, L. 1, 25,
8, _he had run off some distance from the spot where the fighting had
occurred_. See 1925.