[*] 523. Either the Protasis or the Apodosis may be a complex idea in which the main statement is made with expressed or implied qualifications. In such cases the true logical relation of the parts is sometimes disguised:—
- “sī quis hōrum dīxisset ... sī verbum dē rē pūblicā fēcisset ... multa plūra dīxisse quam dīxisset putārētur ” (Rosc. Am. 2) , if any of these had spoken, in case he had said a word about politics he would be thought to have said much more than he did say. [Here the apodosis of dīxisset is the whole of the following statement (sī ... putārētur), which is itself conditioned by a protasis of its own: sī verbum , etc.].
- quod sī in hōc mundō fierī sine deō nōn potest, nē in sphaerā quidem eōsdem mōtūs sine dīvīnō ingeniō potuisset imitārī; (Tusc. 1.63), now if that cannot be done in this universe without divine agency, no more could [Archimedes] in his orrery have imitated the same revolutions without divine genius. [Here sī potest (a protasis with nothing implied) has for its apodosis the whole clause which follows, but potuisset has a contraryto-fact protasis of its own implied in sine ... ingeniō .]
- “peream male sī nōn optimum erat ” (Hor. S. 2.1.6) , confound me (may 1 perish wretchedly) if it would n't be better. [Here peream is apodosis to the rest of the sentence, while the true protasis to optimum erat , contrary to fact, is omitted.]