The author of the article attempts to determine whether the word order in the Latin language is influenced by discourse factors. The author considers the initial, medial and final positions of linguistic expressions of four relevant referents ( matrona , miles , vir , ancilla ) in the story of a widow of Ephesus (Petron. Sat . 111-112). The analysis reveals the most frequent position of the Subject, Direct and Indirect Objects. The analysis of occurrences with less common orderings takes into account the pragmatic factors, e.g., Focus, Topic and Contrast, and discourse factors, e.g., Discourse Topic. The study shows that the order of the constituents in the Latin language is the result of the influence of pragmatic, discourse, syntactic, stylistic or deictic factors. Some orderings also demonstrate the effect of animacy hierarchy.