W. M. Lindsay, Syntax of Plautus

---

The distinction between hic ‘the person beside me or us,’ iste (often iste tuus) ‘the person beside you,’ ille ‘the person at a distance from me or us’ is carefully observed in the Comedies and often reveals to us the position occupied at the moment by the several actors on the stage. Hic (usually hic homo, etc.) for ego is a well-known usage of colloquial Latin, e.g. Ter. Andr. 310 “tu, si hic sis, aliter sentias.” In Epid. 291 it has this sense, even though in a neighbouring line (v. 286) it has the sense of ‘he.’ Common too are hoc habet ‘a hit!,’ e.g. Most. 715; hoc age ‘exert yourself’ (cf. Mil. 458 “vin tu facere hoc strenue?”). Hoc means ‘the sky’ ‘the day’ in e.g. Amph. 543 “lucescit hoc iam” (cf. Mil. 218, Ter. Heaut. 410), acting in fact as Subject of the Impersonal Verb; ‘the door’ in e.g. Amph. 1020 “aperite hoc. heus! ecquis hic est? ecquis hoc aperit ostium?” (cf. Trin. 870). On hoc est quod ‘this is the reason of,’ see VIII. 2 s.v. quod. Terence's quidquid huius (Neuter) may also be mentioned, e.g.

• Heaut. 961 “quidquid ego huius feci, tibi prospexi et stultitiae tuae”,
• Eun. 202 “et quidquid huius feci, causa virginis feci”,
980.

The contemptuous use of iste, even of an absent person, is apparently found in Plautus, see Seyffert in Bursian's Jahresbericht, 1895, p. 300), e.g. Cas. 275 “Hercules dique istam perdant”, where the speaker is alone on the stage. Other phrases with this Pronoun are: Quid istuc? ‘what is the meaning of your conduct?’ e.g. Capt. 541 “quid istuc est quod meos te dicam fugitare oculos?” It is to be distinguished from quid istic (Adverb)?, the formula of unwilling assents, e.g. Rud. 1331 “A. proin tu vel aias vel neges. B. quid istic? necessumst, video.” The full form of the last appears in Epid. 141 “quid istic （‘in that matter urged by you’） verba facimus?”

Ille became the Definite Article of certain Romance languages. In a few lines of Plautus it seems to play something like this part, e.g.

• Trin. 493 “aeque mendicus atque ille opulentissimus censetur censu ad Accheruntem mortuus”,
• Stich. 133 “placet ille meus mihi mendicus” (cf. Ital. il mio).

Of phrases with ille may be mentioned:

hic ille est, e.g. Most. 162 “haec illa est tempestas mea” ‘this is the storm I mentioned (in v. 108）’;
nunc illud est quom, e.g. Capt. 516 “nunc illud est quom me fuisse quam esse nimio mavelim” (cf. Ter. Adelph. 299; the abnormal nunc id est quom of Rud. 664, a Cretic line, seems due to metrical convenience);
ille Juppiter ‘Jupiter in heaven above,’ e.g. Curc. 26 “nec me ille sirit Juppiter”, Most. 398 “ita ille faxit Juppiter” (cf. Pseud. 922, Amph. 461"); ille is explained in Pers. 818 “ille qui supra nos habitat”;
• ille alter and illi ceteri (cf. French ces autres), Mil. 168 “nihili facio quid illis faciat ceteris”;
• illud—volui dicere, in correcting a slip of the tongue, e.g. Mil. 819 “A. sorbet dormiens. B. quid, sorbet? A. illud ‘stertit’ volui dicere.”

The rhetorical use of hic—ille as ‘the latter—the former,’ e.g. Accius 6 “haec fortes sequitur, illam indocti possident”, is naturally rare in the Comedians, e.g. Bacch. 397 “illum laudabunt boni, hunc (hoc MSS.) etiam ipsi culpabunt mali” (see Seyffert in Bursian's Jahresbericht, 1895, p. 307). But hic—hic and ille—ille ‘the one’—‘the other’ are characteristic of the colloquial Latin of Plautus' time and later, e.g.

• Most. 778 “vehit hic clitellas, vehit hic autem alter senex”,
• Ter. Phorm. 332 “quia enim in illis fructus est, in illis opera luditur”;
• also huc illuc, hinc illinc, etc.

In this connexion may be mentioned that phrase of Most. 605 with its curiously modern ring: “A. cedo faenus, redde faenus, faenus reddite! . . B. faenus illic, faenus hic! （‘interest here, interest there!’） nescit quidem nisi faenus fabularier.”