Questions & Answers about Iudex dicit poenam nimiam esse.
Because Latin usually handles this idea differently from English.
In English, we say:
- The judge says that the punishment is too severe.
In Classical Latin, after a verb of saying, thinking, knowing, hearing, and so on, the usual pattern is an indirect statement:
- accusative subject + infinitive
So instead of a separate word meaning that, Latin uses:
- poenam ... esse = that the punishment is ...
This construction is often called the accusative-and-infinitive or ACI.
Because poenam is the subject of the infinitive esse, not the subject of the main verb dicit.
In the main clause:
- Iudex = the judge
- dicit = says
So iudex is the subject of dicit.
Inside the indirect statement:
- poenam nimiam esse = that the punishment is excessive
In this kind of construction, the subject of the infinitive goes into the accusative. So:
- nominative: poena = the punishment
- accusative: poenam
That is why Latin uses poenam, not poena.