sive

sī-ve or seu

conj, or if (cf. vel si): postulo, sive aequomst, te oro, ut, etc., T.: ut mihi Platonis illud, seu quis dixit alius (i. e. vel si quis), or whoever else said it: Bis denas Italo texamus robore navīs, Seu plurīs complere valent, etc., V.: turdus, Sive aliud privum dabitur tibi, devolet illuc, H.— When, of two or more suppositions, it is indifferent which is true or accepted; in the formula, si . . . sive, or si . . . seu, if . . . or if: Si ista uxor sive amica est, T.: si nocte sive luce, si servus sive liber faxit, L.: si arborum trunci, sive naves essent a barbaris missae, Cs.—In the formula, sive . . . sive, or seu . . . seu (poet. also sive . . . seu, or seu . . . sive), be it that . . . or that, if . . . or if, whether. . . or: sive retractabis; sive properabis: sive regi sive optimatibus serviant: seu periculi magnitudine seu animi mobilitate inpulsi, S.: Sive deae seu sint dirae volucres, V.—Often more than twice: sive Sulla sive Marius sive uterque sive Octavius sive qui alius . . . eum detestabilem iudico.—With ellips. of sive in the first clause (poet.): Quo non arbiter Hadriae Maior, tollere seu ponere volt freta, H.—The suppositions are sometimes followed, each by its own conclusion: nam sive timuit, quid ignavius? sive meliorem suam causam fore putavit, quid iniustius?: eos seu dedi placeat, dedere se paratos esse, seu supplicio adfici, daturos poenas, L.—When the second supposition is presented as contrary to the first, it may be introduced, after sive, by sin or si vero: sive sensus exstinguitur . . . quis me beatior? sin vera sunt, etc.: sive enim abscedant, cui dubium esse quin . . . sin autem manendum ibi nihilo minus sit, L.: sive enim Zenonem sequare, magnum est efficere . . . si vero Academiam veterem persequamur, etc.—Correl. with aut or ne (poet.): (saxum) seu turbidus imber Proluit, aut annis solvit sublapsa vetustas, whether . . . or, V.: Substitit, erravitne viā, seu lassa resedit, Incertum, whether . . . or, V.—As a simple disjunctive, or: quid perturbatius hoc ab urbe discessu, sive potius turpissimā fugā?: remotis sive omnino missis lictoribus: te rogo . . . resistas sive etiam occurras negotiis.— Introducing an alternative which is preferred, or rather, or more accurately, or as I should say: eiecto sive emisso iam ex urbe Catilinā, ille arma misit: urbem matri seu novercae relinquit, L.: quam (sagittam) Parthus sive Cydon torsit, V.