On the expression of relative time in Latin narrations
Jesús de la Villa · 2019
Different devices are used in Latin narrations to indicate that a certain event has happened previously, simultaneously, or after another event. Using an excerpt from Caesar and another from Livy, this chapter analyses how these devices are used together and what their relative frequency is in each author. Of these different devices, it is the iconic presentation of the sequence of events that seems to be the default procedure for marking relative time within the narration. Verbal tenses are also used with almost the same frequency to express relative time, though they are often redundant if iconic order is present. Other procedures including conjunctions and adverbs appear far less often.