A CENTURY OF METAPHYSICAL SYNTAX 201 



Thus a very important French syntacticist, Ferdinand Antoine, 

 whose recent death all workers in classics must deplore, wrote in his 

 Syntaxe de la Langue Latine, Paris, 1885, p. 163, "Le subjonctif 

 exprime une simple conception de 1 'esprit." 1 



Thus far I have been following out, for Latin, the Matthia-Hermann- 

 Kant theory. Another form, the Thiersch-Dissen-Hermann-Kant 

 theory, is to be found in Ramshorn's Latin grammar, 1824. Rams- 

 horn makes the Indicative the mood of Reality, the Subjunctive 

 the mood of the Conditioned, and the Imperative the mood of Neces- 

 sity. It will be seen that I do not agree with Golling's statement 

 that the grammars of Zumpt and Ramshorn rest upon no philo- 

 sophical theorems, but upon grammatically scientific foundations. 



Many combinations and interadjustments of these systems have 

 of course appeared. Thus Schmalz, in his Latin syntax of 1885, 

 started with Subjectivity, and from this got Dependency, Inner 

 Connection, etc. In the third edition, 1900, he starts with a fictive 

 power (which is simply, of course, our too familiar " Vorstellung ") , 

 and from this gets Subjectivity, which he then makes to account for 

 the various dependent uses of the Subjunctive. The oldest theory 

 of the Subjunctive, namely, that it is essentially a subjoined mood, 

 has also been revived by Krucziewicz, in the Zeitschrift fur oster- 

 reichischen Gymnasien, 1894, and in a printed lecture by Professor 

 West in the Latin Leaflet for January 18, 1904. 



This must suffice for Greek and Latin grammar. It would seem 

 now as if my story might be at an end. But the most extraordinary 

 part of it still remains to tell. Metaphysical and wholly unpsycho- 

 logical ways of looking at mood-syntax did not stop with the gram- 

 mars of two languages, but spread to grammars of all languages of 

 the family. 



The Indicative, says Becker in his Organismus, 1827, expresses an 

 act as "ein wirkliches," while the Subjunctive represents it as "ein 

 vorgestelltes," whether it be in itself real or conceived ("sei es an 

 sich wirklich oder vorgestellt"). Grimm adopted the system in his 

 German grammar, Matzner in his English grammar, etc. It is to-day 

 the dominant creed. Every teacher of English, German, or French 

 will recognize it as the system in almost universal vogue. I need 

 give but a couple of illustrations, one for English, and one for French. 



One of the latest and best American grammars of English, that of 

 Professor Carpenter, says " Verbs are said to be in the Indicative, 

 Subjunctive, or Imperative moods, according as they represent 

 statements as actual facts, as thoughts, or as commands"; and again, 

 "the Subjunctive mood represents statements as thoughts or con- 



1 Antoine did not remain satisfied with this view, as is shown both by private 

 letters to me, and by the fact that he has in print accepted and expounded my 

 views upon the constructions with antequam, priusquam, dum, donee, and the like. 



