Kitap 20
6
There is no doubt, said he, that in all these phrases: 'we are discontented,' he forgot us,' 'he pitied us' (nostri), the same case is used as in 'I repent' (mei paenitet), 'he pitied me' (mei miseritus est), ' he forgot me' (mei oblitus est). But mei is the case of questioning, See note on xiii. 26. 1. which the grammarians call 'genitive,' and comes from ego; and the plural of ego is nos. Tui also is formed from tu, and the plural of this is vos. For Plautus has thus declined those pronouns in the Pseudolus, in the following lines: vv. 3 ff. O Sir, could I be told without your words What wretchedness so grievous troubles you, I would have spared the trouble of two men: My own (mei), of asking you, and yours (tis = tui), of answering. For Plautus here uses mei, not from meus, but from ego. Therefore if you should choose to say patrem mei instead of patrem meum, as the Greeks say to\n pate/ra mou, it would be unusual, but surely correct, and on the same principle that Plautus used labori mei, 'the trouble of me,' for labori meo, ' my trouble.' The same rule applies also in the plural number, where Gracchus said O.R.F p. 248, Meyer2. misereri vestrum and Marcus Cicero Pro Planc. § 16. contentio vestrum, and contention nostrum, Div. in Caec. § 37. and on the same principle Quadrigarius in the nineteenth book of his Annals wrote these words: Frag 83, Peter2. 'Gaius Marius, when pray will you pity us (nostrum) and the State?' Why then should Terence use paenitet nostri, not nostrum, and Afranius nostri miseritus est, not nostrum? Indeed, said he, no reason for this occurs to me except the authority of a certain ancient usage, which was not too anxious or scrupulous in the use of language. For just as vestrorum is often used for vestrum, as in this line from the MustellariaMostellaria of Plautus, v. 280. The greatest part of you (vestrorum) know that is true (where vestrorum is for vestrum), in the same way vestri also is sometimes used for vestrum. But undoubtedly one who desires to speak very correctly will prefer vestrum to vestri. And therefore, said he, those have acted most arbitrarily who in many copies of Sallust have corrupted a thoroughly sound reading. For although he wrote in the Catiline: xxxiii. 2. 'Often your forefathers (maiores vestrum), pitying the Roman commons,' they erased vestrum and wrote vestrz over it. And from this Indoles is perhaps the nature of the error, i.e., the disposition to make an error of that kind. that error has grown and found its way into more manuscripts. This is what I remember hearing from Apollinaris, and I noted down his very words at the time, exactly as they were spoken."
