The first objects that strike the attention of man in be coming acquainted with his fellows are their motions. In other respects, one man is not more interesting to another than any piece of dead unchangeable matter. He first ob serves voluntary motions of the most palpable kind, and then gradually becomes acquainted with more delicate phe nomena, such as the motions and changes of the human countenance, from which he infers the existence of thoughts in other persons, and judges of their nature. In acquiring this knowledge, he is guided by experience, and by a com parison betwixt the motions of others and those of which he is conscious, as the natural accompaniments of his own thoughts.
The helplessness of man as an individual, and the sup port which he is capable of deriving from the services of his fellows, create perpetual occasions on which he wish es for their assistance ; and one of the earliest as well as the most frequent objects of his wishes is, to influence them to perform those motions for which he finds occasion. These necessities are prior to the mere luxury of a mutual communication of knowledge and opinion. This fact seems to point out imperative sentences as the earliest forms of language.
On this account, it is not historically correct to con sider the imperatives I, veni, fac, and dic, as brief modes invented in the progress of language for expressing thoughts originally conveyed by means of such affirma tive sentences as jubeo or firecor to ire, venire, facere, and dicere. The act of commanding, or requesting, does not require to be mentioned. It is actually exhibited. Jubeo le ire is something more than I. It is a pleonasm in the form of an affirmative sentence ; and has the same rela tion to this imperative which the sentence "I affirm that man is mortal," has to the shorter one, " Man is mortal." When we speak, there is no meaning in affirming that we speak; and in like manner, when we give a command, or make a request, there is no meaning in telling that we do so, unless we intend to enforce a compliance with our wishes by an additional idea contained in the verb prefixed, as by addressing ourselves particularly to the fears of ano ther in the verb jubeo, or to his kindness in the verb nrecor. A command ought, in strict propriety, to be given, before it can become the subject of an affirmation.
As the imperative is an immediate consequence of our wishes, advantage might be taken of that circumstance to re present it as an "assertion that such wishes exist." But
the circumstance of being the consequence of our wishes is common to it with all our actions, as well as all our words. It is rather, however, to be considered as an exe cution of our wishes, than an assertion of their existence. It is a call of attention ; a mode of influencing the volitions of other persons, and thus producing, on their part, cer tain trains of action.
In corroboration of this view of the subject, we find that words signifying voluntary motion exist in the short est form in the imperative of the verb. This is the case in all the languages, ancient and modern, which we have had access to examine. Exemplifications of this in the Latin language are afforded in the words already named, I, veni, lac, dic, and duc ; or the common examples of the conjugations in elementary grammars, ama, dote, lege,. audi. The same comparative brevity takes place in the English language, as in the words, g4 go," " come," 4t do," 44 say," " bring, ""love," "teach," 44 read," and "hear," which never stand by themselves except in the imperative mood. Even when the idea expressed by any verb, in either language, is introduced as an object regarding which an assertion is to be made, the word employed is longer than the imperative. In Latin, the syllable re is in this case added to those which constitute the imperative. From ama we have ama-ax, and from the other imperatives, doce-RE lege-RE, and audi-RE; also, 1-RE, veal-RE dic-ERE, fac-ERE, duc-ERE. In English, we prefix the word To, or add the syllable 'Nu ; as, 44 To read, or read-mg, is an improving occupation." 44 Men of intellectual refinement delight in reading, or delight to read." In some instances, the word is equally short in its application to other uses as in the imperative. Of this the noun " love" is an example, being equally short, and indeed the same word, with the impera tive of the corresponding verb. Such instances, however, are rare. Brevity, therefore, appears to be an original character of imperatives ; a circumstance conformable with the theory, that they ought to be considered as origi nal modes of speech, and not as abbreviations of affirma tive sentences. The affirmative form, instead of illustra ting the imperative mood, renders it cumbersome, and destroys its characteristic animation.