Reflexive pronouns.

244. 1. The Reflexive Pronoun sē and the Possessive Reflexive suus have a double use:—

I. They may refer to the subject of the clause (either principal or subordinate) in which they stand,—'Direct Reflexives'; as,—

sē amant, they love themselves;

suōs amīcōs adjuvāt, he helps his own friends;

eum ōrāvī, ut sē servāret, I besought him to save himself.

II. They may stand in a subordinate clause and refer to the subject of the principal clause,—'Indirect Reflexives'; as,—

mē ōrāvit ut sē dēfenderem, he besought me to defend him (lit. that I defend himself);

mē ōrāvērunt, ut fortūnārum suārum dēfēnsiōnem susciperem, they besought me to undertake the defense of their fortunes.

a. The Indirect Reflexive is mainly restricted to those clauses which express the thought, not of the author, but of the subject of the principal clause.

2. The Genitive suī is regularly employed, like meī and tuī, as an Objective Genitive, e.g. oblītus suī, forgetful of himself; but it occasionally occurs—particularly in post-Augustan writers—in place of the Possessive suus; as, fruitur fāmā suī, he enjoys his own fame.

3. Sē and suus are sometimes used in the sense, one's self, one's own, where the reference is not to any particular person; as,—

sē amāre, to love one's self;

suum genium propitiāre, to propitiate one's own genius.

4. Suus sometimes occurs in the meaning his own, their own, etc., referring not to the subject but to an oblique case; as,—

Hannibalem suī cīvēs ē cīvitāte ējēcērunt, his own fellow-citizens drove out Hannibal.

a. This usage is particularly frequent in combination with quisque; as,—

suus quemque error vexat, his own error troubles each.

5. The Reflexives for the first and second persons are supplied by the oblique cases of ego and tū (§ 85); as,—

vōs dēfenditis, you defend yourselves.

Reciprocal pronouns.

245. 1. The Latin has no special reciprocal pronoun ('each other'), but expresses the reciprocal notion by the phrases: inter nōs, inter vōs, inter sē; as,—

Belgae obsidēs inter sē dedērunt, the Belgae gave each other hostages (lit. among themselves);

amāmus inter nōs, we love each other;

Gallī inter sē cohortātī sunt, the Gauls exhorted each other.

a. Note that the Object is not expressed in sentences of this type.

Demonstrative pronouns. Hīc, Ille, Iste.

246. 1. Where hīc and ille are used in contrast, hīc usually refers to the latter of two objects, and ille to the former.

2. Hīc and ille are often used in the sense of 'the following'; as,—

Themistoclēs hīs verbīs epistulam mīsit, Themistocles sent a letter (couched) in the following words;

illud intellegō, omnium ōra in mē conversa esse, I understand this, that the faces of all are turned toward me.

3. Ille often means the famous; as, Solōn ille, the famous Solon.

4. Iste frequently involves contempt; as, iste homō, that fellow!

5. The above pronouns, along with is, are usually attracted to the gender of a predicate noun; as, hīc est honor, meminisse officium suum, this is an honor, to be mindful of one's duty.

Is.

247. 1. Is often serves as the antecedent of the relative quī. Thus:—

Maximum, eum quī Tarentum recēpit, dīlēxī, I loved Maximus, the man who retook Tarentum.

a. Closely akin to this usage is is in the sense of such (= tālis); as,—

nōn sum is quī terrear, I am not such a person as to be frightened.

b. Note the phrase id quod, where id stands in apposition with an entire clause; as,—

nōn suspicābātur (id quod nunc sentiet) satis multōs testēs nōbīs reliquōs esse, he did not suspect (a thing which he will now perceive) that we had witnesses enough left.

Yet quod alone, without preceding id, sometimes occurs in this use.

2. Is also in all cases serves as the personal pronoun of the third person, 'he,' 'she,' 'it,' 'they,' 'them.'

3. When the English uses 'that of,' 'those of,' to avoid repetition of the noun, the Latin omits the pronoun: as,—

in exercitū Sullae et posteā in Crassī fuerat, he had been in the army of Sulla and afterward in that of Crassus;

nūllae mē fābulae dēlectant nisi Plautī, no plays delight me except those of Plautus.

4. Note the phrases et is, et ea, etc., in the sense: and that too; as,—

vincula, et ea sempiterna, imprisonment, and that too permanently.

Īdem.

248. 1. Īdem in apposition with the subject or object often has the force of also, likewise; as,—

quod idem mihi contigit, which likewise happened to me (lit. which, the same thing);

bonus vir, quem eundem sapientem appellāmus, a good man, whom we call also wise.

For īdem atque (ac), the same as, see § 341, 1. c.

Ipse.

249. 1. Ipse, literally self, acquires its special force from the context; as,—

eō ipsō diē, on that very day;

ad ipsam rīpam, close to the bank;

ipsō terrōre, by mere fright;

valvae sē ipsae aperuērunt, the doors opened of their own accord;

ipse aderat, he was present in person.

2. The reflexive pronouns are often emphasized by the addition of ipse, but ipse in such cases, instead of standing in apposition with the reflexive, more commonly agrees with the subject; as,—

sēcum ipsī loquuntur, they talk with themselves;

sē ipse continēre nōn potest, he cannot contain himself

3. Ipse is also used as an Indirect Reflexive for the purpose of marking a contrast or avoiding an ambiguity; as,—

Persae pertimuērunt nē Alcibiadēs ab ipsīs dēscīsceret et cum suīs in grātiam redīret, the Persians feared that Alcibiades would break with them and become reconciled with his countrymen;

ea molestissimē ferre dēbent hominēs quae ipsōrum culpā contrācta sunt, men ought to chafe most over those things which have been brought about by their own fault (as opposed to the fault of others).