The Subjunctive in Independent Sentences in Plautus

In this essay Prof. Morris makes a survey of the independent subjunctive in Plautus and suggests better ways for understanding the circumstances under which such sentences are used. The independent subjunctive is still a matter of controversy in advanced Latin courses since the standard books of Latin grammar often fail to account adequately for the uses found in the surviving literature and, at worst, entirely fail to correspond to actual usage. This paper does much to correct the deficiencies of modern Latin grammar texts and is useful to the beginner, yet thorough enough to satisfy the advanced.