Concessive Clauses
Concessive clauses are the Latin "although" — but Latin makes you commit, with the choice of conjunction AND the choice of mood, to whether you're conceding a fact, granting a hypothetical, or shrugging off a possibility.
Quamquam + INDICATIVE concedes a real fact: quamquam abest, gaudet — "although he IS away, he's glad." Quamvīs and licet + SUBJUNCTIVE grant something hypothetically: quamvīs sit malus — "granted he be wicked," "however wicked he may be." Etsī, etiamsī, tametsī mean "even if" and behave like sī-conditions, indicative or subjunctive depending on whether the concession is real or imagined.
Cum + subjunctive in past narrative also drifts concessive (often with tamen in the main clause). The trap: the conjunction tells you the speaker's stance — fact you're admitting, or possibility you're granting.
All four families translate as "although" or "even if" — but the conjunction signals the speaker's stance (real fact vs. granted possibility), and the mood follows.
Poets and Tacitus loosen the rules: quamvīs + indicative (Vergil) and quamquam + subjunctive (Livy, Tacitus) treat the conjunctions like etsī, mood following reality.
See It In Action
— Cic. Phil. xiv. 8
Quamquam + indicative ruit — Cicero is conceding a fact he asserts: Antony IS collapsing, and yet he's still dangerous. The indicative signs the concession as Cicero's own claim.
— Verg. Ecl. iii. 84
Vergil breaks the classical rule: quamvīs normally takes the subjunctive, but here with est (indicative) it acts like quamquam. This is the poetic loosening A&G § 527. e flags — common in Vergil, Livy, Tacitus.
— Cic. Rosc. Am. 31
Licet literally means "it is granted/allowed," so the subjunctive is doing what it does after impersonal verbs of granting. Sequence of tenses pins it to present or perfect — never imperfect or pluperfect with licet.
— Cic. Fam. vi. 18. 4
Etsī with the indicative abest mirrors the simple-fact sī — Cicero asserts the lack of maturity as real, then concedes around it. The tamen in the main clause is the canonical concessive partner.
Both translate "although," but the conjunction encodes the speaker's stance: quamquam concedes a fact, quamvīs grants a possibility.
concedes an ADMITTED FACT — speaker asserts it
quamquam abest, gaudet
although he IS away, he's glad (and he really is away)
grants a hypothetical — "however much it may be"
quamvīs sit malus
however wicked he may be (granted, for argument's sake)
Tip: Ask yourself: is the writer asserting the concession as a fact she stands behind, or just granting it for the sake of argument? Indicative = fact admitted. Subjunctive = possibility granted. (Poets break this — see § 527. e.)
Cicero writes licet omnēs mihi terrōrēs perīculaque impendeant (Rosc. Am. 31). Why is impendeant in the subjunctive — and why specifically the present?
Study Tips
- •Read the conjunction first: quamquam signals "yes, this is true"; quamvīs and licet signal "granted it might be true"; etsī and friends signal "even supposing it's true."
- •When you see quamvīs or licet, expect the subjunctive — they were originally hortatory ("let it be as much as you wish, let it be granted") and the subjunctive carries that grant-it-for-the-sake-of-argument flavor.
- •Look for tamen ("nevertheless") in the main clause — it's the giveaway that the surrounding clause is concessive, especially with bare cum + subjunctive, where mood alone can't tell you concessive from causal.
- •Poets and post-classical prose loosen the rules: quamvīs with the indicative (Vergil) and quamquam with the subjunctive (Livy, Tacitus) are common. Don't reject a parsing just because it breaks the classical pairing.