OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 97 



mars. Rost, in his Griechische Grammatih, § 118, says : "The so-called 

 Optative is nothing but a peculiar form of the Subjunctive, and stands 

 to the Greek Subjunctive in the same relation as in other languages 

 the Imperfect and Pluperfect Subjunctive to the Present and Perfect." 

 Donaldson in his New Cratylus (p. 617, 2d ed.) says: "It has long 

 been felt by scholars on syntactical grounds, that, considered in their re- 

 lations to each other and to the other moods, they [the Subjunctive and 

 Optative] must be regarded as differing in tense only." Again (p. 618) : 

 " These moods have no i-ight to a separate classification." Crosby, in 

 his Grammar, § 591, says of this classification, that "it deserves the 

 attention of the student, although it is questionable whether it is best to 

 discard the old phraseology." 



As the classification of Kiihner has thus been introduced into no 

 small proportion of the elementary grammars used in our schools, 

 so that many boys are now taught to call the tenses commonly 

 known as the Pi-esent and Perfect Oiitative by the strange names of 

 Imperfect and Pluperfect Subjunctive, the question becomes not merely 

 of theoretical, but eminently of practical importance. In fact, it meets 

 every scholar, and more especially every teacher of Greek gram- 

 mar, the moment he reaches the paradigm of the regular verb. If it 

 were merely a question of convenience, therefore, it would be highly 

 important to have it settled, for the sake of uniformity. 



The question, What shall constitute a distinct mood in any language ? 

 must be settled to some extent arbitrarily. No precise rule will meet 

 all cases ; yet we may safely maintain, that when any series of verbal 

 forms, in which the chief tenses are represented, exhibits a closer con- 

 nection in form and use among its members than it bears as a whole 

 to any corresponding series, it is entitled to the rank of an independent 

 mood. That this is true of the Latin Subjunctive is clear ; and it is 

 equally clear that the Imperfect and Pluperfect of that mood have suf- 

 ficiently strong bonds of connection with the Present and Perfect to 

 prevent them from being marked off as a distinct mood. A merely 

 superficial view of the relation of the Greek Subjunctive and Optative 

 might lead us to the idea, that the two combined would form a mood 

 similar to the Latin Subjunctive, thus simplifying the Greek conjuga- 

 tion and introducing a new analogy with the Latin. But it is this fatal 

 error of carrying the analogy between the Greek and Latin further 

 than the connection of the two languages warrants, which has thrown 

 this whole subject into confusion. When the Latin was looked upon 



VOL. V. 13 



