CIC: Lesson - Grammar - Clauses of Purpose

Image: a statue of a woman with a determined expressionClauses of Purpose

The statue in the image (Il Penseroso by Joseph Mozier) depicts a woman deep in thought, determined to complete whatever task may come. This sense of purpose is commonly expressed in English with a simple infinitive ("to complete"), but Latin almost never uses this construction. We have learned several ways to express purpose in prior lessons (and going back to Latin II), from most common to least:

  • Purpose clause: ut + subjunctive (negative = ne)
    • Cicero verba fecit ut audientibus persuaderet.
    • Cicero made the speech to convince the audience (so that he could convince the audience).
  • Gerundive/Gerund (any case other than nominative can be used to express purpose)
    • Cicero ad audientes persuadendos verba fecit./Cicero audientium persuadendorum causa verba fecit.
    • Cicero made the speech to convince the audience.
  • Future Participle (usually only following verbs of motion):
    • Cicero audientibus persuasurus ad rostrum aggressus est.
    • Cicero stepped up to the speaker's platform to convince the audience.

Latin has another other important way of expressing purpose, which is more common than either the gerundive use or the future participle use: using a relative pronoun + a verb in the subjunctive mood.

Relative Clause of Purpose

The relative clause of purpose is introduced with a relative pronoun (qui, quae, quod) instead of ut or ne. Recall that relative clauses refer back to a specific noun, called the antecedent. The relative clause of purpose, then, is set up to explain why a specific person or group did some action. Compare:

  • Cicero approached the speaker's platform to convince the audience.
    • Here, convincining the audience is the goal of the independent clause as a whole (or, it is the purpose of the action itself)
  • Cicero sent a letter to Atticus to tell him about the speech.
    • Here, we see the purpose for the letter, and so this could be constructed as a relative clause of purpose.

The verb mittere (to send) and its compounds are frequently completed with the relative clause of purpose. As with all relative pronouns, this version of the relative pronoun will agree with the antecedent noun in gender and number, but take its case from the relative purpose clause.

Let's look at the Latin for that last example to see how these are constructed.

  • Cicero epistulam ad Atticum misit quae illi de orationem narraret.
    • Note that the relative pronoun agrees with the antecedent (epistulam) in gender and number (feminine singular), but is nominative as the subject of narraret.

The antecedent can be omitted, which is generally true for relative pronouns in Latin. When this occurs, the antecedent is implied from the gender and number of the relative pronoun:

  • qui nuntiant = those (men) who are announcing
    • relative pronoun (qui) = masculine and plural
  • quae nuntiavit = the woman who announced
    • relative pronoun (quae) = feminine and singular
  • Cicero epistulam scipsit. Misit quae famas communicaret.
    • Cicero wrote a letter. He sent it (the letter) to share news.

Relative Clause of Purpose Examples

Below are several examples taken from authentic sources, to demonstrate the relative clause of purpose in Latin.

Relative Clause of Purpose Examples

Source

Latin Example

Translation
Caesar - Commentarii de Bello Civilis Curio praemittit equites qui primum impetum sustineant.

Curio sends forth the cavalry to endure the first attack.

(qui = masculine, plural; equites is the antecedent)
Caesar - Commentarii de Bello Civilis Mittitur L. Decidius Saxa qui loci naturam perspiciat.

Lucius Decidius Saxa is sent to examine the nature of the location.

(qui = masculine singular: L. Decidius Saxa is the antecedent)
Cicero - Brutus Scribebat orationes quas alii dicerent. 

He was writing speeches so that others might say them.

(quas = feminine plural: orationes is the antecedent)
Cicero - Letters to his Friends habebam (locum) quo confugerem

I had a place in which (where) I might hide (I had a refuge)

(Cicero omits the antecedent, so it is implied - this is not unusual with relative pronouns, which sometimes taken on the role of both antecedent and pronoun: qui pugnaverunt = those who fought)