Defn: Of or pertaining to the protasis of an ancient play; introductory.
Here we regularly have the Indicative in both Protasis and Apodosis.
The Protasistakes those tenses of the Subjunctive demanded by the sequence of tenses.
The protasis in Conditional Sentences of this type always remains unchanged.
The protasis takes those tenses of the Subjunctive which are required by the Sequence of Tenses.
The consequent clause or conclusion in a conditional sentence, expressing the result, and thus distinguished from the protasis or clause which expresses a condition.
Some grammarians extend the terms protasis and apodosis to the introductory clause and the concluding clause, even when the sentence is not conditional.
Of or pertaining to the protasisof an ancient play; introductory.
A protasis with #cum# is often followed by an emphatic apodosis introduced by #tum#.
An indicative protasis with #sī# often assumes a fact which is declared in the apodosis to be no reason for another fact.
The subjunctive present is used in a protasis introduced by #dum#, until, when the main verb denotes either indefinite or present time, and the subjunctive imperfect when the main verb is past.
Naturally such a protasisgenerally contains an actual or a virtual negative; but positive protases are found here and there, chiefly in late writers.
Metellus had not prevented, the mothers of those people were just coming; here the protasis may be held to contain a virtual negative; so in the last example on this page.
A conditional period in which the non-occurrence of the action is implied takes the imperfect or pluperfect subjunctive both in the protasisand in the apodosis.
The verb of the protasis is either indicative or subjunctive; but the indicative is the prevailing construction, especially with #etsī#.
