Iudex dicit poenam non inimicis tantum, sed etiam sociis nocere posse, si nimis gravis sit.

The basic structure is:

• Iudex dicit = The judge says
• poenam ... nocere posse = that punishment can harm
• non inimicis tantum, sed etiam sociis = not only enemies, but also allies
• si nimis gravis sit = if it is too severe

So the sentence has:

1. a main clause: Iudex dicit
2. an indirect statement after dicit: poenam ... nocere posse
3. a conditional clause inside that statement: si nimis gravis sit

A very literal breakdown would be:

The judge says punishment to be able to harm not only enemies but also allies, if it be too severe.

More natural English smooths that out.

Because Latin uses the accusative + infinitive construction after verbs of saying, thinking, knowing, and so on.

Here:

• dicit = he says
• what he says is expressed as an indirect statement: poenam ... nocere posse

In that construction:

• the subject of the infinitive is put in the accusative
• the verb is put in the infinitive

So:

• direct statement: Poena nocere potest = Punishment can harm
• indirect statement after dicit: dicit poenam nocere posse = he says that punishment can harm

That is why you get poenam, not poena.

Because nocere takes the dative of the person or thing harmed.

So Latin says:

• alicui nocere = to harm someone

not

• aliquem nocere

Therefore:

• inimicis nocere = to harm enemies
• sociis nocere = to harm allies

This is a very common thing learners need to remember: nocere does not take a direct object in the accusative.

It is a standard Latin correlative expression meaning:

not only ... but also ...

So here:

• non inimicis tantum
• sed etiam sociis

means:

not only enemies, but also allies

A more word-for-word sense is:

• non = not
• tantum = only
• sed etiam = but also

Latin often uses this pattern to balance two parts of a sentence.

Because posse means to be able, and it regularly takes another infinitive with it.

So:

• nocere = to harm
• posse = to be able

Together:

• nocere posse = to be able to harm or simply can harm

Inside the indirect statement:

• poenam nocere posse = that punishment can harm

You can compare the direct version:

• Poena nocere potest = Punishment can harm

After dicit, Latin changes potest into the infinitive posse.

Because the clause si nimis gravis sit is inside reported speech after dicit.

In Latin, subordinate clauses inside indirect statement often use the subjunctive. So sit reflects that this condition belongs to what the judge is saying, not to the narrator’s own direct statement.

A direct version would be:

• Poena ... nocere potest, si nimis gravis est.

But in indirect form, Latin commonly gives:

• ... nocere posse, si nimis gravis sit.

A learner can think of this as: the whole idea is being reported, so the dependent clause gets pulled into subjunctive style.

Because inside si nimis gravis sit, the understood subject is not the accusative poenam as such, but the nominative idea poena.

That may sound strange at first, but it makes sense if you remember the sentence contains two different structures:

1. poenam ... nocere posse
   This is the accusative-and-infinitive construction, so the subject is accusative.

2. si nimis gravis sit
   This is a normal finite clause with sit, and finite clauses normally have a nominative subject.

If the subject were expressed inside that clause, it would be:

• si poena nimis gravis sit

not

• si poenam nimis gravem sit

So gravis is correct because it agrees with an understood nominative poena.

Yes. The understood subject is poena.

Latin often leaves out a subject when it is obvious from the context. Here the meaning is:

• if the punishment is too severe

The word poena does not need to be repeated, because it is already clear from poenam in the indirect statement.

It means too severe or more literally too heavy.

• nimis = too much, excessively
• gravis = heavy, and by extension serious, severe, burdensome

With poena, gravis naturally means something like severe or harsh rather than physically heavy.

So si nimis gravis sit means:

if it is too severe

Because Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order.

English relies heavily on position to show relationships. Latin usually shows relationships through endings, so it can move words around for emphasis, rhythm, or balance.

Here the phrase

• non inimicis tantum, sed etiam sociis

is placed between poenam and nocere posse for emphasis and balance.

A more English-like order would be something like:

• Iudex dicit poenam posse nocere non inimicis tantum, sed etiam sociis, si nimis gravis sit.

That is not fundamentally different in meaning; it just sounds less elegant in Latin.

Yes. A good direct version would be:

Iudex dicit: poena non inimicis tantum, sed etiam sociis nocere potest, si nimis gravis est.

This helps show the grammar clearly:

• direct: poena ... potest
• indirect: poenam ... posse

and

• direct: si ... est
• indirect/reporting style: si ... sit

Turning indirect statements back into direct ones is a very useful way to understand Latin syntax.

Probably these four:

• dicit introduces an indirect statement
• the subject of that indirect statement is accusative: poenam
• nocere takes the dative: inimicis, sociis
• the clause si nimis gravis sit uses the subjunctive because it is inside reported speech

So this sentence is a very good example of several common Latin patterns working together.