I would like to understand the meaning and usage of those two sets of
particles in here.

> 左の腋窩と右の脇腹に箆深く射された矢がなかったなら、 それはともすると羅馬の競技者が、 薄暮の庭樹に凭って疲れを休めている姿かとも見えた。

ともすると: I've read it works as an adverb "[subject] tends to/is prone to...
[verb]". It's composed of とも, which basically means "even if" and could be
replaced with やや as in ややすると, and すると "if [it is] done", just as すれば, in
ともすれば, and したら, in ともしたら. I would like, however, a more literary translation
of this adverb.

かとも: I think it has, not a conjunct, but a separate meaning, that would be
[dubitation] + [conjunction-quotation] + [inclusion], and so, it can't be
effectively translated. It marks a response to なかったなら in the first sentence.
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2019-12-06T16:11:07.080
73388
2019-12-07T15:52:27.970
36117
question
translation meaning particles adverbs
What's the meaning of ともすると and かとも in this sentence?
For the nuance of ともすると, please see
[this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/62523/5010). This is a [very old
fixed
phrase](https://kobun.weblio.jp/content/%E3%81%A8%E3%82%82%E3%81%99%E3%82%8C%E3%81%B0),
and basically you should remember it without analyzing it too much. But
according to the link, this と means "like this/that", and も is "even", so it
literally means something like "if things go even like this".

かとも is, yes, か ("may", "can it be") + と (quotative) + も ("even"). So ～かとも見えた
can be translated like "(without the arrow, the person) even might have looked
like ～".
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-07T04:17:00.110
73393
2019-12-07T04:17:00.110
5010
73388
answer