1605. The perfect definite expresses action which is already completed
at the present time, and the effects of which are regarded as
continuing: as,
#scrīpsī#, _I have written_. #dīxērunt#, _Clu._ 73, #dīxēre#, Quintil.
1, 5, 43, _they have finished speaking_. #spectātōrēs, fābula haec est
ācta#, Pl. _Most._ 1181, _ladies and gentlemen, this play is done_.
1606. In old Latin, #habeō# with the perfect participle is sometimes
equivalent to a periphrastic perfect: as, #illa omnia missa habeō#, Pl.
_Ps._ 602, _I’ve dropped all that_, i.e. #mīsī#. But in classical Latin,
the participle and a tense of #habeō# are more or less distinct in their
force: as, #Caesar aciem īnstrūctam habuit#, 1, 48, 3, _Caesar kept his
line drawn up_, not _had drawn up_. Compare 2297.
1607. With verbs of inceptive meaning the perfect definite is equivalent
to the English present: as,
#cōnsistō#, _take my stand_, #cōnstitī#, _stand_, #cōnsuēscō#, _get
used_, #cōnsuēvī#, _am used_, #nōscō#, _learn_, #nōvī#, _know_.
Similarly #meminī#, _remember_, and #ōdī#, _hate_. The pluperfect of
such verbs is represented by the English imperfect, and the future
perfect by the English future.
1608. The perfect often denotes a present resulting state: as, #vīcīne,
periī, interiī#, Pl. _Most._ 1031, _my neighbour, I am dead and gone_.
Particularly in the passive voice: as, #Gallia est omnis dīvīsa in
partēs trēs#, 1, 1, 1, _Gaul, including everything under the name, is
divided into three parts_. Compare 1615.
1609. In the perfect passive, forms of #fuī#, &c., are sometimes used to
represent a state no longer existing: as, #monumentō statua
superimposita fuit, quam dēiectam nūper vīdimus ipsī#, L. 38, 56, 3, _on
the monument there once stood a statue which I saw not long ago with my
own eyes, lying flat on the ground_. Similarly, in the pluperfect,
#fueram#, &c.: as, #arma quae fīxa in parietibus fuerant, ea sunt humī
inventa#, _Div._ 1, 74, _the arms which had once been fastened on the
walls were found on the floor_. Sometimes, however, forms of #fuī#, &c.,
#fueram#, &c., and #fuerō#, &c., are used by Plautus, Cicero, especially
in his letters, Nepos, Sallust, and particularly Livy, in passives and
deponents, quite in the sense of #sum#, &c.
1610. The perfect of some verbs may imply a negative idea emphatically
by understatement, as:
#fuit Īlium#, V. 2, 325, _Ilium has been_, i.e. Ilium is no more.
#vīximus, flōruimus#, _Fam._ 14, 4, 5, _we have lived our life, we have
had our day_. #fīlium ūnicum adulēscentulum habeō. āh, quid dīxī? habēre
mē? immō habuī#, T. _Hau._ 93, _I have one only son, a growing boy. Ah
me, what did I say, I have? Oh no, have had._
1611. The perfect may denote an action often done, or never done: as,
#iam saepe hominēs patriam cārōsque parentēs prōdiderunt#, Lucr. 3, 85,
_time and again have men their land betrayed and parents dear_. #nōn
aeris acervus et aurī dēdūxit corpore febrīs#, H. _E._ 1, 2, 47, _no
pile of brass and gold hath fevers from the body drawn_. #multī, cum
obesse vellent, prōfuērunt et, cum prōdesse, obfuērunt#, _DN._ 3, 70,
_many a man has done good, when he meant to do harm, and when he meant
to do good, has done harm_. Common from Cicero, Sallust, and Catullus
on, especially in poetry.
1612. The perfect is sometimes used as a lively future perfect to
express completed future action: as,
#quam mox coctumst prandium?# Pl. _R._ 342, _how soon is lunch all
cooked?_ #cui sī esse in urbe licēbit, vīcimus#, _Att._ 14, 20, 3, _if
he shall be allowed to stay in town, the day is ours_. #periī, sī mē
aspexerit#, Pl. _Am._ 320, _I’m gone, if he lays eyes on me_.
1613. It may be mentioned here, that the perfect is regularly used in a
subordinate sentence denoting time anterior to a present of repeated
action (1588). In such sentences the present is preferred in English:
as,
#reliquī, quī domī mānsērunt, sē atque illōs alunt#, 4, 1, 5,
_the others, that stay at home, always support themselves and the
above-mentioned also_. #sī quī aut prīvātus aut populus eōrum dēcrētō
nōn stetit, sacrificiīs interdīcunt#, 6, 13, 6, _if any man or any
community does not abide by their decree, they always debar them from
sacrifices_. So also with #quom# or #cum#, #quotiēns#, #simul atque#,
#ubī̆#. Compare 1618.
[Erratum:
1611 ... #nōn aeris acervus et aurī dēdūxit corpore febrīs#
auri]