THE  RELATIVE  SENTENCE                         165
 

LESSON   XXXIX

THE RELATIVE SENTENCE: ENGLISH CONSTRUCTIONS
FOR WHICH A RELATIVE SENTENCE MAY BE EM¬
PLOYED IN LATIN

211.   The relative word cannot of itself exert any influence
on the mode of the verb of its clause. If the verb of a relative
clause in Latin is subjunctive, it is the result of a force im¬
posed on it by some governing verb, or the result of the in¬
fluence of some subordinate conjunction, or else it is the result
of some necessity of expression within the relative clause itself.

212.   A verb may impose its force on the verb of a relative
clause:

a.   By throwing it into indirect discourse.

b.   By attraction. A relative clause, included within another
clause whose verb is in the subjunctive, often has its own verb
subjunctive for no apparent reason other than that it is regarded
as an integral and logically necessary part of the subjunctive
clause in which it lies.

To cut Caesar off from the supplies which were being brought from
the Sequani, uti commeatu, qui ex Sequanis supportaretur, Caesarem
intercluderet.

21 J. The necessities of expression laid upon the verb of a
relative clause may be:

a.   Purpose.   79, II, c.              d.  Concession.    141, a.

b.   Result.   95, a.                      e.  Character.   214.

c.   Cause.    140, d.

214.  The relative characteristic, or descriptive relative.

When a relative clause refers its antecedent to a type, assert¬
ing a fact which is characteristic of that type, the clause is said
to be a relative clause of characteristic or description, and its