1778. Indirect alternative questions are introduced like direct
questions (1519). But when the second member is negative, it has oftener
#necne# than #an nōn#: as,
#hoc quaerāmus, vērum sit an falsum#, _Clu._ 124, _let us ask this
question, whether it is true or false_. #quaesīvī ā Catilīnā in conventū
fuisset, necne#, _C._ 2, 13, _I asked Catiline whether he had been at
the meeting or not_. #permultum interest utrum perturbātiōne animī, an
cōnsultō fīat iniūria#, _Off._ 1, 27, _it makes a vast difference
whether wrong be done in heat of passion, or with deliberate intent_.
#quaerō, eum Brūtīne similem mālīs an Antōniī#, _Ph._ 10, 5, _I ask
whether you would rather have him like Brutus or like Antony_.
1779. An introductory #utrum# preceding an alternative question with
#-ne# and #an# occurs a few times in Plautus and Cicero; #utrumne . . .
an# occurs once in Cicero, and twice in Horace and Tacitus each; compare
1522. After #utrum#, a second alternative is sometimes suppressed, as in
the direct question (1523).
1780. #-ne# in the second member only of an alternative question is
rare, and not used by Caesar or Sallust: as, #sine sciam captīva māterne
sim#, L. 2, 40, 5, _let me know whether I am a captive or a mother_.
1781. (1.) A few times in Plautus and Terence, the second member only of
an alternative question is expressed with #quī sciō an?# or #quī scīs
an?# equivalent to _perhaps_: as, #quī scīs an quae iubeam faciat?# T.
_Eu._ 790, _perhaps she’ll do as I direct_. Horace has once #quī scīs
an#, _AP._ 462, in the sense of _perhaps_, and once #quis scit an#, 4,
7, 17, in the sense of _perhaps not_.
1782. (2.) The second member only of an alternative question is often
expressed after #haud sciō an#, _I don’t know but_, _possibly_,
_perhaps_, with #nōn#; #nēmō#, #nūllus#, &c., if the sentence is
negative: as,
#haud sciō an fierī possit#, _V._ 3, 162, _I don’t know but it is
possible_. Similarly, though not often, with #nesciō an#, #haud sciam
an#, #dubitō an#, #dubitārim an#, #dubium an#, #incertum an#, &c.: as,
#ēloquentiā nesciō an habuisset parem nēminem#, _Br._ 126, _in oratory I
fancy he would have had no peer_. This use, in which #haud sciō an#
becomes adverbial, and the subjunctive approaches closely that of modest
assertion, is principally confined to Cicero. In later Latin, #haud sciō
an#, &c., sometimes has a negative sense, _I don’t know whether_, with
#ūllus#, &c.
1783. From Curtius on, #an# is used quite like #num# or #-ne#, in a
single indirect question, without implication of alternatives.
1784. Two alternatives are rarely used without any interrogative
particles at all: as, #velit nōlit scīre difficile est#, _QFr._ 3, 8, 4,
_will he nill he, it is hard to know_, i.e. whether he will or not.
Compare 1518.
[Errata:
1778 ... _Off._ 1, 27
. invisible
1782 ... #ēloquentiā nesciō an habuisset parem nēminem#,
. for ,]