W. M. Lindsay, Syntax of Plautus

---

The use of Adverbs with esse is a well-known feature of colloquial Latin. Notable examples are

• Merc. 583 “pulchre ut simus”,
• Truc. 172 “longe aliter est amicus atque amator”,
• Ter. Phorm. 529 “hic me huiusmodi scibat esse, ego hunc esse aliter credidi: iste me fefellit, ego isti nihilo sum aliter ac fui” (cf. Pers. 838 “sed ita pars libertinorum est”, Trin. 46 “si ita es ut ego te volo, sin aliter es”),
• Accius 120 “quoniam horum aequiter sententiae fuere”;
• also the common phrase frustră esse, e.g. Capt. 854 “ne frustra sis” ‘make no mistake about it,’ ‘be assured of that.’

It is most frequently Impersonal, e.g.

• bene est¹ (passim), Cist. 59 “male mihi est”,
• Men. 626 “quid tibi aegre est?”,
• Asin. 144 “nunc quom est melius” ‘now things are better,’
• Bacch. 1181 “i hac mecum intro, ubi tibi sit lepide victibus, vino atque unguentis.”

The difference of pulchre sum and pulchre est mihi may find its true parallel in the change from an Impersonal to a Personal use of a Verb, e.g. doleo for dolet mihi, lubent for lubet illis (see V. 1). Or the origin of the construction may be the identity of sense in esse and se habere; for with se habere the Adverb is appropriate, e.g. Poen. 235 “nam quom sedulo munditer nos habemus” (cf. I. 4). We find a combination of Adjective and Adverb in lines like Capt. 271 “proxumum quod sit bono quodque a malo longissime”² (compare Epid. 409, “plane hercle hoc quidem est”, with Capt. 564, etc., “pol planum id quidem est”; and see above, III. 1). The same use of the Adverb is found with fio and facio, e.g.

• Mil. 1348 “ne hoc tandem propalam fiat nimis”,
• Capt. 754 “qui mihi hoc fecit palam.”