2175. The accusative with the infinitive is used with active verbs or
verbal expressions of perceiving, knowing, thinking, and saying: as,
#patēre tua cōnsilia nōn sentīs?# _C._ 1, 1, _you don’t feel that your
plots are all out?_ #huic fīlium scīs esse?# T. _Hau._ 181, _you are
aware that this man has a son?_ #Pompēiōs cōnsēdisse terrae mōtū
audīvimus#, Sen. _NQ._ 6, 1, 1, _we have heard that Pompei has been
swallowed up by an earthquake_, 63 A.D., 17 years before its utter
destruction. #saepe audīvī inter ōs atque offam multa intervenīre
posse#, Cato in Gell. 13, 18 (17), 1, _I have often heard ‘’twixt cup
and lip there’s many a slip.’_ #dīcit montem ab hostibus tenērī#, 1, 22,
2, _he says the hill is held by the enemy_. #dīxtin dūdum illam dīxisse,
sē expectāre fīlium?# T. _Hec._ 451, _didn’t you say a while ago the
woman said that she was looking for her son?_
Some of the commonest of these verbs are: (_a._) #audiō#, #animadvertō#,
#sentiō#, #videō#. (_b._) #accipiō#, #intellegō#, #sciō#, #nesciō#.
(_c._) #arbitror#, #cēnseō#, #cōgitō#, #crēdō#, #exīstimō#, #meminī#,
#opīnor#, #putō#, #recordor#, #suspicor#. (_d._) #adfirmō#, #āiō#,
#dēmōnstrō#, #dīcō#, #disputō#, #doceō#, #fateor#, #nārrō#, #negō#,
#nūntiō#, #ostendō#, #prōmittō#, #scrībō#, #sīgnificō#, #spērō#,
#trādō#. (_e._) #rūmor est#, #nōn mē fugit#, #certus sum#, #nōn nescius
sum#, &c., &c. Also occasionally verbs used in the sense of _think_ or
_say_, as #mittō#, _send word_, and substantives or pronouns expressing
a thought or judgement.
2176. The accusative with the infinitive is sometimes introduced by a
neuter pronoun, or by #sīc# or #ita#: as, #illud negābis, tē dē rē
iūdicātā iūdicāvisse?# _V._ 2, 81, _will you deny this, that you sate in
judgement on a matter that was already decided?_ #sīc accēpimus, nūllum
bellum fuisse#, _V._ 5, 5, _we have been told this, that there was not
any war_. Sometimes by an ablative with #dē#: as, #dē hōc Verrī dīcitur,
habēre eum perbona toreumata#, _V._ 4, 38, _about this man report is
made to Verres that he had some choice bits of embossed work_.
2177. (1.) Passive verbs of this class are commonly used personally in
the third person of the present system, with the subject, and the
predicate noun, if used, in the nominative: as,
#hī centum pāgōs habēre dīcuntur#, 4, 1, 4, _these people are said to
have a hundred cantons_. #nūlla iam exīstimantur esse iūdicia#, _V. a.
pr._ 43, _there are thought to be no courts of law any longer_. #pōns
prope effectus nūntiābātur#, Caes. _C._ 1, 62, 3, _the bridge was
reported to be well-nigh done_.
2178. Such personal passives are much more common in the writers of
Cicero’s day than in old Latin. Particularly so #arguō#, #audiō#,
#cōgnōscō#, #comperiō#, #concēdō#, #dēfendō#, #dēmōnstrō#, #dīcō#,
#doceō#, #excūsō#, #exīstimō#, #inveniō#, #iūdicō#, #līberō#, #memorō#,
#negō#, #nūntiō#, #ostendō#, #postulō#, #putō#, #reperiō#, #trādō#.
2179. (2.) With the first or second person the personal construction is
rare: as, #quod nōs bene ēmisse iūdicātī sumus#, _Att._ 1, 13, 6, _that
we are thought to have made a good bargain_. #cum inveniāre improbissimā
ratiōne esse praedātus#, _V._ 4, 3, _when you prove to have been robbing
most abominably_. But with #videor#, _seem_, the personal construction
is the rule in all three persons, and in the perfect system as well as
the present.
2180. (3.) In the perfect system, and also usually in the gerundive
construction (2246), verbs of this class are commonly impersonal: as,
#trāditum est Homērum caecum fuisse#, _TD._ 5, 114, _the tradition is
that Homer was blind_. #ubī̆ tyrannus est, ibī̆ dīcendum est nūllam esse
rem pūblicam#, _RP._ 3, 43, _wherever there is an absolute ruler, there
we must maintain there is no commonwealth_.
2181. (4.) With some verbs of this class, the impersonal construction is
preferred even in the present system. Thus, commonly #intellegitur#, _it
is understood_, as impersonal; regularly in classical Latin #crēditur#;
with a dative in Cicero and Caesar #dīcitur#, #nūntiātur#. The
impersonals #cernitur#, #fertur#, #memorātur#, #prōditur#, #vidētur#,
are rare.
2182. The personal construction is sometimes extended to other verbs or
verbal expressions, especially in poetry: as, #colligor#, O. _A._ 2, 6,
61, _I am inferred_, for #colligitur#. #nōnnūllīs magistrātūs veniēbant
in suspīciōnem nōs dēmorātī esse#, Lentulus in _Fam._ 12, 15, 5, _the
magistrates were suspected by some of having delayed us_ (1491).
2183. With verbs of thinking and saying the subject accusative is
sometimes omitted.
(_a._) Oftenest thus #mē# #nōs#, #tē# #vōs#, or #sē#: as, #stultē
fēcisse fateor#, i.e. #mē#, Pl. _B._ 1013, _I own I’ve acted like a
fool_. #cōnfitēre vēnisse#, i.e. #tē#, _RA._ 61, _confess you came_.
#quae imperārentur facere dīxērunt#, i.e. #sē#, 2, 32, 3, _they said
they would do as ordered_ (2221). Often the future without #esse#: as,
#refrāctūrōs carcerem minābantur#, i.e. #sē#, L. 6, 17, 6, _they
threatened to break the jail open_, (_b._) Less frequently an accusative
of #is#: as, #oblītum crēdidī#, i.e. #eum#, _Fam._ 9, 2, 1, _I imagined
he had forgotten_. Such omissions are common in old Latin, Cicero,
Caesar, Livy, and in poetry.
2184. When the accusative is not expressed, a predicate noun is
sometimes put in the nominative, chiefly in poetry, in imitation of a
Greek idiom: as,
#phasēlus ille quem vidētis, hospitēs, ait fuisse nāvium celerrimus#,
Cat. 4, 1, _the clipper you see yonder, friends, says she was once the
fleetest of the fleet_. #uxor invictī Iovis esse nescīs#, H. 3, 27, 73,
_thou knowest not thou art the bride of the unconquerable Jove_.
Similarly with verbs of emotion (2187): as, #gaudent esse rogātae#, O.
_AA._ 1, 345, _they are glad to have been asked_. #gaudent perfūsī
sanguine frātrum#, V. _G._ 2, 510, _they’re glad to have been imbued
with brothers’ blood_.