A temporal clause is an adverbial clause of time, that is to say, a clause which informs the reader about the time when the action of main verb of the sentence occurred. So in a sentence such as "after I had said this, he went out", the first clause is a temporal clause. The name comes from the Latin word tempus, genitive temporis, 'time". Typically in Latin a temporal clause has a conjunction of time such as cum "when" or postquam "after" at or near the beginning of the clause and a verb at the end. The verb in a Latin temporal clause is usually in the indicative mood, although sometimes, especially when the conjunction is cum, it is in the subjunctive. But if the clause is part of indirect speech, the verb is nearly always in the subjunctive mood. The conjunctions used to introduce temporal clauses sometimes have other, non-temporal, meanings. For example, cum can mean "when", "since", or "although"; dum can mean "while", "until", or "provided that"; ubi can mean "when" or "where", and so on. Another possibility commonly used in Latin for expressing time is a participial phrase. For example, the temporal clauses id postquam audīvit (Nepos) "after he heard this" and quod cum audīvisset (Cicero) "when he heard this" both mean much the same thing as the participial phrase quō audītō (Pliny) (literally, "with which heard"). Temporal clauses are very frequent in certain styles of Latin such as history, and it is not uncommon to find a sentence introduced by two or three temporal clauses, often mixed with participial phrases of time.
Classification of temporal clauses A common way of classifying temporal clauses is according to whether the action or situation described in the temporal clause is antecedent, contemporaneous, or subsequent to that of the main verb: A. The action of the temporal clause verb is antecedent to that of the main verb:
The temporal clause describes an event completed before the main verb: e.g. "after the signal was given, they began fighting" The temporal clause describes a situation which began before the main verb and which may overlap with it: e.g. "once the soldiers were in position, the generals came forward" B. The action of the temporal clause verb is contemporaneous with the main verb:
Two events co-occur: e.g. "when he fell, he was hurt" Two situations are co-extensive: e.g. "he was happy as long as he lived" The main clause event occurs during the temporal clause situation: e.g. "they arrived while he was sleeping" The temporal clause event occurs during the main clause situation: e.g. "when they arrived he was sleeping" The main clause situation is interrupted by a temporal clause event e.g. "he was sleeping, when suddenly they arrived" The temporal clause defines the start-point of a situation: e.g. "he had lived there since he was born" The temporal clause defines the end-point of a situation: e.g. "he lived there until he died" C. The action of the temporal clause is subsequent to that of the main verb:
The temporal clause event happened: e.g. "he left before I arrived" The temporal clause event did not happen: e.g. "he left before I had a chance to speak" A second way of classifying temporal clauses is whether the sentence refers to a definite time, as in the above examples, or is iterative, describing a generalisation or repeated action at an indefinite time:
e.g. "whenever they win, they make a sacrifice" A third classification is whether the main verb and hence the sentence as a whole is situated in past, present, or future time. A fourth method of classification, followed in this article, is according to the different conjunctions used.
Choice of conjunction Roman authors differ from one another in style, and this is shown among other things by their preference for different conjunctions. The table below shows the number of temporal clauses for some of the most common conjunctions in three historians of the republican period, Julius Caesar, Cornelius Nepos, and Sallust, and two poets of the following generation, Virgil and Ovid. The conjunctions are cum "when, while", postquam "after", ubi "when", ut "as, as soon as, when", simulatque "as soon as". The figures for posteāquam and simulac are included with postquam and simulatque.
The figures for cum here are for clauses of time only, omitting causal or concessive ones. The table shows that the narrative cum with the subjunctive is very common in Caesar and Nepos, but little used by the other three authors. Sallust used ubi more than any other of the conjunctions, but it was avoided by Nepos. Conversely, Nepos and the two poets make frequent use of ut, but it is never used by Sallust. Caesar made relatively little use of postquam compared with the other authors. The following table shows the relative use of postquam and posteāquam "after" and antequam and priusquam "before":
From this table it can be seen that Cicero had a clear preference for posteāquam, while the other authors preferred postquam. The conjunction antequam is more common than priusquam in Cicero, and was used to an extent by Livy, but is almost completely avoided by Caesar, Nepos, and Sallust. The conjunctions quoad and dōnec, both meaning "until" or "as long as", also show variation. Quoad occurs 144 times in Cicero but only twice in Tacitus. It is rare in poetry, occurring once in Horace and twice in Lucretius only. Conversely, dōnec is hardly found at all in writers of the republican period, but became popular under the empire; in Tacitus it occurs 140 times.
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