174 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



Temporal clauses may be divided into two classes, prior and posterior, 

 according as they do or do not logically precede the main clause.* Prior 

 clauses regularly are placed before, posterior clauses after, the main clause. 

 In clauses of contemporaneity when the relation is that of coincidence, 

 the temporal clause regularly precedes. 



In the case of insertion, the temporal clause is prior if the main action 

 is inserted, and posterior if the subordinate action is inserted. 



The appearance in temporal clauses of moods and tenses is not as reg- 

 ular as the foregoing statement of general principles might seem to 

 imply. The Greek verbal system is far from complete. Again it is 

 coining to be generally recognized that in the study of syntactical prob- 

 lems word-meaning is of no little importance. f Many verbs, because of 

 their special meaning, have a natural affinity for a certain tense or a cer- 

 tain kind of action. Moreover the influence of negatives is not to be 

 overlooked. The tense of sharp definitive negation is the aorist ; a 

 negative with the imperfect expresses disappointment or resistance to 

 pressure. J 



The temporal clauses in Herodotus will be treated in this discussion 

 from five points of view: mood, tense, the character of the action as 

 expressed by the tense-stem, conjunctions, and order of clauses. 



I. Mood. 



A. Antecedent and Contemporaneous Action. 



Particular action in accordance with fact is expressed as a rule both 

 in. the main and the subordinate clause by the indicative mood. The 

 main verb, as regards its mood, is under no restriction arising from the 

 temporal clause, and therefore may take any form which is possible for 

 an independent sentence. 



In accordance with the regular law of indirect discourse a secondary 

 tense of the indicative in the- clauses now under discussion is almost 

 never changed to the optative. Such a change is made in Herodotus 



only once, 2, 121e: io-ek66vra Se uis tov j3aai\tos tt)v Ovyartpa Kai elpa>Tu>[i(vov 

 rd 7Tfp «ai ol a\Xot, mrrjyr]o~aa6m wt dvoaiwrarov fxkv t\i] ipyacrpivoi ore tov 

 dbeXcpeov . . . dnoTa/xoi ttjv Kf(pa'Sr]v, K.r.X. ore is the reading of all MSS. 



* See Delbriick, Syntak. Forsch., Halle, 1871, vol. 1, p. 35. 



t Cf. E. P. Morris, Principles and Methods in Latin Syntax, p. 47 : " syntax 

 can be understood only when it is studied in the closest connection with word- 

 meaning," etc. 



t Cf. Gildersleeve, Syntax of Classical Greek, 216 and 245; Brugmann, Griech. 

 Gram. 3 , 544, 1, Anm. 



