De brevitate vitae 9.5

[Charlie Parker]

I am having a bit of trouble understanding the syntax of the infinitive pervenisse in the following passage:

Quemadmodum aut sermo aut lectio aut aliqua intentior cogitatio iter facientis decipit et pervenisse ante sentiunt quam adpropinquasse, sic hoc iter vitae adsiduum et citatissimum, quod vigilantes dormientesque eodem gradu facimus, occupatis non apparet nisi in fine.

I think I understand the sense of the passage: It is as if one lost in thought discovers that he has already reached his destination before he even realized that he was drawing near to it. Literally, "…and to have arrived before they sense that they had approached…" The infinitive seemed to be left hanging. The second, I think, is indirect speech after the finite verb sentiunt. Can anyone explain? I would be especially thankful if somebody could refer me to the relevant section in Allen and Greenough.

 

[Pacifica]

Both pervenisse and adpropinquasse depend on sentiunt. Literally "they feel (themselves) to have arrived before (they feel themselves) to have approached".

I don't know about Allen and Greenough, sorry.

 

[AoM]

Yeah, they just meant if it was a different construction.

 

[Charlie Parker]

Thanks Pacifica. I should have thought of that.

 

[Dantius]

Literally, "…and to have arrived before they sense that they had approached…"

Note for future reference that it is the quam in ante...quam that properly introduces the subordinate clause (literally "they do x earlier than they do y"), so since sentiunt comes before the quam, you can know for a fact that it has to be a main verb rather than exclusively in the "before" clause.

 

[Charlie Parker]

Thank you Dantius. That is very helpful.