ing_; [Greek: tupso]
(typs[^o]) = _I shall beat_; [Greek: etupsa] (etypsa) = _I beat_; [Greek:
tetupha] (tetyfa) = _I have beaten_; [Greek: etetuphein] (etetyfein) = _I
had beaten_. In these words we have, of the same mood, the same voice, and
the same conjugation, six different tenses; whereas, in English, there are
but two. The forms [Greek: tetupha] and [Greek: etupsa] are so strongly
marked, that we recognise them wheresoever they occur. The first is formed
by a reduplication of the initial [tau], and, consequently, may be called
the reduplicate form. As a tense it is called the perfect. In the form
[Greek: etupsa] an [epsilon] is prefixed, and an [sigma] is added. In the
allied language of Italy the [epsilon] disappears, whilst the [sigma] (s)
remains. [Greek: Etupsa] is said to be an aorist tense. _Scripsi_ is to
_scribo_ as [Greek: etupsa] is to [Greek: tupto].

s. 295. Now in the Latin language a confusion takes place between these two
tenses. Both forms exist. They are used, however, indiscriminately. The
aorist form has, besides its own, the sense of the perfect. The perfect
has, besides its own, the sense of the aorist. In the following pair of
quotations, _vixi_, the aorist form, is translated _I have lived_, while
_tetigit_, the perfect form, is translated _he touched_.

_Vixi_, et quem dederat cursum Fortuna peregi;
Et nunc magna mei sub terras ibis imago.--_Aen._ iv.

Ut primum alatis _tetigit_ magalia plantis.--_Aen._ iv.

s. 296. When a difference of form has ceased to express a difference of
meaning, it has become superfluous. This is the case with the two forms in
question. One of them may be dispensed with; and the consequence is, that,
although in the Latin language both the perfect and the aorist forms are
found, they are, with few exceptions, never found in the same word.
Wherever there is the perfect, the aorist is wanting, and _vice vers[^a]_.
The two ideas _I have struck_ and _I struck_ are merged into the notion of
past time in general, and are expressed by one of two forms, sometimes by
that of the Greek perfect, and sometimes by that of the Greek aorist. On
account of this the grammarians have cut down the number of Latin tenses to
_five_; forms like _cucurri_ and _vixi_ being dealt with as one and the
same tense. The true view is, that in _curro_ the aorist form is replaced
by the perfect, and in _vixi_ the perfect form is replaced by the aorist.

s. 297. In the _present_ English t