"Et dixi: Nunc coepi"

Latin Learning Latin
1

“Et dixi: Nunc coepi”, a quote from Psalm 76, verse 11 in the Vulgate.

In classical Latin, how would the same phrase be written?

  1. “Et dixi me nunc coepisse”? Or does this not work, because the perfect infinitive here would mean that ‘coepisse’ precedes ‘dixi’?

  2. “Et dixi me nunc incipere”, with the present rather than the perfect infinitive?

  3. I heard that ‘dico’ doesn’t introduce direct speech in classical Latin. But ‘inquam’ and ‘aio’ don’t have a perfect tense in use (exception made for third person ‘inquit’). So, in classical Latin, would it be possible at all to write that phrase using direct speech?

Thanks in advance, and I appreciate all corrections

2

It could stay in direct speech in classical Latin. And in indirect speech it would be dixi me coepisse,