_virtue establishes
friendships and maintains them_ (not eas conservat).

POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS.

243. 1. The Possessive Pronouns, as a rule, are not employed except for the
purpose of _clearness_. Thus:--

patrem amo, _I love my father_;

de filii morte flebas, _you wept for the death of your son_.

But--

de morte filii mei flebas, _you wept for the death of my son_.

a. When expressed merely for the sake of clearness, the possessive
usually stands after its noun; but in order to indicate emphasis or
contrast, it precedes; as,--

sua manu liberos occidit, _with his own hand he slew his children_;

mea quidem sententia, _in my opinion at least_.

2. Sometimes the Possessive Pronouns are used with the force of an
Objective Genitive; as,--

metus vester, _fear of you_;

desiderium tuum, _longing for you_.

3. For special emphasis, the Latin employs ipsius or ipsorum, in apposition
with the Genitive idea implied in the Possessive; as,--

mea ipsius opera, _by my own help_;

nostra ipsorum opera, _by our own help_.

a. So sometimes other Genitives; as,--

mea unius opera, _by the assistance of me alone_.

REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS.

244. 1. The Reflexive Pronoun se and the Possessive Reflexive suus have a
double use:--

I. They may refer to the subject of the clause (either principal or
subordinate) in which they stand,--'Direct Reflexives'; as,--

se amant, _they love themselves_;

suos amicos adjuvat, _he helps his own friends_;

eum oravi, ut se servaret, _I besought him to save himself_.

II. They may stand in a subordinate clause and refer to the subject of the
principal clause,--'Indirect Reflexives'; as,--

me oravit ut se defenderem, _he besought me to defend him_ (lit. _that
I defend himself_);

me oraverunt, ut fortunarum suarum defensionem susciperem, _they
besought me to undertake the defense of their fortunes_.

a. The Indirect Reflexive is mainly restricted to those clauses which
express the thought, not of the author, but of the subject of the
principal clause.

2. The Genitive sui is regularly employed, like mei and tui, as an
Objective Genitive, _e.g._ oblitus sui, _forgetful of himself_; but it
occasionally occurs--particularly in post-Augustan writers--in place of the
Possessive suus; as, fruitur fama sui, _he enjoys his own fame_.

3. Se and suus are sometimes used in the sense, _one's sel