You can take a look here again, John:
THREAD: relative-tenses-of-the-infinitive
But maybe you need a fuller explanation.
The tense of the infinitive being "relative" means that it's relative to the main verb. In practice, as far as indirect statements are concerned, that means the following:
No matter the tense of the main verb—whether it's present, past, or future, the same rule always applies. And the rule is only logical when you consider the literal meanings (given here after the first =).
- A
present infinitive denotes something that is the case
at the same time as the main verb. For example:
Dicit se legere = he says himself to read = he says he's reading.
Dixit se legere = he said himself to read = he said he was reading.
Dicet se legere = he will say himself to read = he will say he's reading.
- A
perfect infinitive denotes something that happened
before the main verb. For example:
Dicit se legisse = he says himself to have read = he says he read (or has read, or was reading... basically anything that's past relatively to the time when he says it).
Dixit se legisse = he said himself to have read = he said he had read.
Dicet se legisse = he will say himself to have read = he will say he has read (or read, or was reading... anything that's past relatively to the time when he says it).
- A
future infinitive denotes something that will (or would) happen
later than the main verb. For example:
Dicit se lecturum (esse) = he says himself (to be) going to read = he says he will read.
Dixit se lecturum (esse) = he said himself (to be) going to read = he said he would read.
Dicet se lecturum (esse) = he will say himself (to be) going to read = he'll say he will read.