Fear Clauses

Fear can be expressed in many different ways. In Latin, we have seen verbs of fear take a noun as an accusative or dative or an infinitive in the same role, as well as noun phrases expressing fear, like the descriptive and objective genitive uses:

Accusative:
- Canes timeo.
- I am afraid of dogs. / I fear dogs.
Dative:
- Tibi vereor.
- I fear for you. = I am worried/concerned about you.
Infinitive:
- In via ambulare timeo.
- I am afraid to walk in the street.
Descriptive Genitive:
- Senatores de timore mortis dixerunt.
- The senators talked about their fear of death.
Objective Genitive:
- Multum metum salutis habuimus.
- We had a great deal of fear for our safety.

Latin has another other important way of expressing fear: using the participle ut + a verb in the subjunctive mood.

Subjunctive Fear Clause

The fear clause is closely related to a purpose clause and is introduced with ut or ne. The reason this clause must be mentioned separately is that the normal translation is backward for positive and negative:

ut = that not (also rarely ne non)
ne = that

Why? Consider what is being said when expressing a fear of something:

I fear that my friend will not come.
- The desire here is positive: for the friend to come. So, Latin uses ut to introduce this clause:
- Timeo ut meus amicus veniat.
I feared that my friend might come.
- Now, the person fearing desires something not to happen: they wish for the friend to not come. So, Latin uses ne to introduce this clause:
- Timui ne meus amicus veniret.
Ne non can sometimes be used instead of ut:
- When the verb of fearing is negated (non timeo ne non... = I don't fear that something may not...)
- When a specific word in the dependent clause is being negated, not the whole clause (timeo ne non tam = I fear that something is not so much...)

Fear not: the meaning should be clear when you are translating, so long as you remember: fear is already a negative emotion. Keep that in mind, and you will have nothing to fear.

Fear Clause Examples

Latin actually expresses fear in several different ways, including without using the subjunctive.

**Fear Clause Examples**
Source	Latin Example	Translation
Constructed	Cicero veritus est ut hostis capturus esset.	Cicero feared *that his enemy would not* be captured.** (His desire: capturing the enemy)
Constructed	Cicero metuit ne res publica deficiat.	Cicero fears that the republic might suffer. (His desire: for the republic to avoid suffering; note: metuit must be present tense, as we see the present tense in the subjunctive clause. Fear clauses must follow the sequence of tenses!)
Constructed	Cicero non timebat *ne veritas non* crederetur**.	Cicero was not afraid that his truth would not be believed. (His desire: his truth to be believed; independent clause negative, double negative)
Cicero	Si te iam, Catilina, comprehendi, si interfici iussero, credo, erit verendum mihi, ne non potius hoc omnes boni serius a me quam quisquam crudelius factum esse dicat.	If, O Catiline, I would now order you to be arrested, or if I might order you to be put to death, I must be afraid, I believe, that all good men would say that I had acted too slowly, rather than that anyone should claim that I acted cruelly. (His desire: to be perceived as having acted fairly)

Nota bene - Cicero Example

Note the use of ne non - Cicero may be poking at Catiline a bit here, by saying that the fear is not actually his own, but Catiline's.
Note also the use of the passive periphrastic (gerundive + form of sum: erit verendum) for the introduction of the fear clause.

Practice Activity

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