#quasi# (#quam sī#), #tamquam sī#, #ut# or #velut sī#.
2117. #sī# following a word meaning _than_ or _as_ is used with the
subjunctive in conditional comparisons.
In this use, #quasi# (#quam sī# twice in Tacitus) and #tamquam sī# are
found at all periods. #ut sī# is found in Terence once, in Cicero (not
in the orations), once in Livy, sometimes in later writers. #velut sī#
begins with Caesar; not in Cicero. #ac sī# is found once in the _Bell.
Hisp._ and in late Latin.
2118. #sī# is often omitted after #tamquam#, and (from Livy on)
sometimes after #velut#. After #quasi# it is sometimes inserted in
Plautus, Lucretius, and late Latin. #ceu# is sometimes used, chiefly in
poetry, for #tamquam sī#. The main clause often has as correlative
#ita#, #sīc#, #perinde#, #proinde#, #similiter#, or #nōn secus#.
2119. The tense of the subjunctive is usually regulated by the sequence
of tenses, in Cicero nearly always with #quasi# and #tamquam sī#.
#quid mē sīc salūtās quasi dūdum nōn vīderīs?# Pl. _Am._ 682, _why dost
thou greet me thus as if but now thou hadst not looked on me?_ #quid ego
hīs testibus ūtor, quasi rēs dubia sit?# _Caecil._ 14, _why do I employ
these witnesses, as if it were a case involving doubt?_ #tamquam sī
claudus sim, cum fūstīst ambulandum#, Pl. _As._ 427, _I have to take my
walks with a stick, as if I were a lame man_. #tamquam extrūderētur, ita
cucurrit#, _Ph._ 10, 10, _he rushed away as if he had been kicked out_.
#quod absentis Ariovistī crūdēlitātem, velut sī cōram adesset,
horrērent#, 1, 32, 4, _because they trembled at Ariovistus’s barbarity,
absent as he was, just as if he stood before their eyes_. #mē quoque
iuvat, velut ipse in parte labōris ac perīculī fuerim, ad fīnem bellī
Pūnicī pervēnisse#, L. 31, 1, 1, _I feel glad myself at having finally
reached the end of the Punic war, as if I had had a direct hand in the
work and the danger_.
2120. The imperfect or pluperfect subjunctive is sometimes used, even
when the leading verb is in a primary tense, to mark action more
distinctly as non-occurrent (2091): as,
#eius negōtium sīc velim suscipiās, ut sī esset rēs mea#, _Fam._ 2, 14,
_I wish you would undertake his business, just as if it were my own
affair_. #mē audiās, precor, tamquam sī mihī̆ quirītantī intervēnissēs#,
L. 40, 9, 7, _listen to me, I pray you, as if you had come at a cry from
me for help_. #iūs iūrandum perinde aestimandum quam sī Iovem
fefellisset#, Ta. 1, 73, _as for the oath, it must be counted exactly as
if he had broken one sworn on the name of Jupiter_. This is the more
usual way in Cicero with #ut sī#.
2121. #quasi#, #ut#, or, from Livy on, #tamquam# or #velut#, _as if_, is
sometimes used with participle constructions, nouns, and abridged
expressions: as,
#quasi temere dē rē pūblicā locūtus in carcerem coniectus est#, _DN._ 2,
6, _on the ground that he had been speaking without good authority about
a state matter, he was clapped in jail_. #restitēre Rōmānī tamquam
caelestī vōce iussī#, L. 1, 12, 7, _the Romans halted as if bidden by a
voice from heaven_. #laetī, ut explōrātā victōriā, ad castra pergunt#,
3, 18, 8, _in high spirits, as if victory were assured, they proceeded
to the camp_.
2122. In old Latin, #quasi# is found a few times for the original #quam
sī# after a comparative: as, #mē nēmō magis respiciet, quasi abhinc
ducentōs annōs fuerim mortuos#, Pl. _Tru._ 340, _nobody will pay any
more attention to me than if I had been dead two centuries_. It is also
used (once in classical Latin, _CM._ 71) in periods of actual
comparison, like #tamquam# (1908), with the indicative: as, #senex ille
illī dīxit, quasi ego nunc tibi dīcō#, Pl. _St._ 545, _that old man said
to him, as I now say to you_. For its use in figurative comparisons, see
1908, 1944. For #tamquam# introducing a reason &c., see 1909, a late
usage found rarely with #quasi# and #ut#.
[Erratum:
2120 ... This is the more usual way in Cicero with #ut sī#.
#ut si#.]