Bitmap dixit:
Imber,
why amici sui in #2? I understand suus to be reflexive to the subject, which is amici in this sentence; I don't see what's wrong with eius.
But
suus doesn't necessarily require the grammatical subject to be its antecedent. It can't, for example, when the verb is impersonal and there is no subject. It would be better to say that it refers to the principal topic of the clause. This is also necessarily the case when
suus modifies the subject itself, which would be an absurd construction otherwise. In such a construction the antecedent of the reflexive possessive is usually a direct or indirect object. See examples below.
Eius eum looks jarring to me, and I can't recall ever seeing such a juxtaposition in original Latin. But perhaps you have some references to similarly constructed sentences?
I'd certainly agree that the indicative would be called for if
heri were in the main clause, acting as an antecedent of time when. But as it is
heri does not refer to a specific time but simply limits what seems to otherwise be a circumstantial clause. At least that's how I see it, but I won't say the indicative is necessarily ruled out.
Chamæleo may also have a point about it needing to be imperfect in that case. Yet whatever the tense and mood of the verb, it should come at the end of the clause regardless. In the original it's ambiguous which clause the adverbial and prepositional modifiers go with.
CHAMÆLEO dixit:
The sense surely requires an imperfect in the last one. It certainly does in all the Romance languages.
Nesciebam, you mean? That does seem a bit more natural, but I'm not sure why. When would you use the preterite tense of an equivalent verb of knowing in the Romance languages?
Suus with accusative antecedent:
Cicero dixit:
Hunc pater suus concilium plebis habentem de templo deduxit. de Inventione
Hunc sui cives e civitate ejecerunt. pro Sestio
Sed illum ulciscentur mores sui. ad Atticum
Livy dixit:
Dein, quas sua virtus ac dii juvent, magnas opes sibi magnumque nomen facere. ab Urbe Condita liber I
Paucos nobilium superesse, quos nec sua conscientia, ut quicquam de se gravius consulerent, impulerit, nec victoris ira capitis damnaverit. ab Urbe Condita liber XXII
Seneca Minor dixit:
Sera et nepotibus demum nostris dies nota sit, qua illum gens sua caelo adserat! ad Polybium de Consolatione
And of course the famous biblical passage:
Jerome dixit:
In propria venit, et sui eum non receperunt. Evangelium secundum Ioannem 1.11
Suus with dative antecedent:
Cicero dixit:
Quid? Autronio nonne sodales, non conlegae sui, non veteres amici, quorum ille copia quondam abundarat, non hi omnes qui sunt in re publica principes defuerunt? pro Sulla
Seneca Minor dixit:
Tantum sapienti sua quantum deo omnis aetas patet. Epistulae Morales liber VI
Nemo enim est cui felicitas sua, etiam si cursu venit, satis faciat. Epistulae Morales liber XIX
Lugebat domus otium domini senis nec finivit ante tristitiam quam labor illi suus restitutus est. de Brevitate Vitae
Plautus dixit:
Placet ille meus mihi mendicus; suus rex reginae placet. Stichus
Sometimes the reflexive doesn't even modify the grammatical subject:
Cicero dixit:
Sed ego Metello non irascor neque ei suam vacationem eripio, qua ille apud omnis utitur, ut nihil malitiose neque consulto
fecisse videatur. in Verrem II liber II