is, that Greyhound had canceled the through-bus connection, had scheduled connecting service so as to preclude reasonable connections with Mt. Hood, had directed Greyhound's agents and independent joint ticket agents to send traffic around Mt. Hood's routes through use of longer all-Greyhound routes, and had interfered in various ways with the distribution of Mt. Hood's schedules and the quotation of Mt. Hood's rates and services, all with the intent of injuring Mt. Hood. Id., at 10-11.

Slightly more than two months later, on December 14, 1964, the United States petitioned for leave to intervene in the ICC proceeding. Id., at 36. In its petition, the United States stated it had an interest in the proceeding and it urged that the Commission hold a hearing on Mt. Hood's allegations. The Government's petition observed that Mt. Hood's allegations "make a serious charge," id., at 37, but added: "We have no way of knowing whether those of Mt. Hood's allegations which Greyhound denies are true or false; resolution of such controversies is a typical function of a hearing." Id., at 37-38.

On May 27, 1965, the United States and others were granted permission to intervene in the ICC proceeding. Id., at 43. Such permission, however, was on condition that it "shall not be construed to allow intervenors to introduce evidence which will unduly broaden the issues raised in this proceeding." Ibid.

After an extensive evidentiary hearing, the examiner resolved all factual issues against Greyhound and recommended entry of an order requiring Greyhound to abide by the representations it had made in the acquisition proceedings. Mt. Hood

• Reiterating this point, the United States' petition stated: "Mt. Hood's grave allegations, whether true or false, as well as Greyhound's answer raise issues too serious and important to be disposed of summarily without a full adversary hearing in which allegation and denial can be put to the test of proof and cross-examination." App. 38.

Stages, Inc., 104 M. C. C., at 464-496. On April 5, 1968, Division 3 of the ICC sustained the examiner's findings but deferred entry of a supplemental order to allow voluntary negotiations between the parties. Id., at 462-463.

On July 5, 1968, Mt. Hood filed this action in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon for damages and injunctive relief, alleging violations of the antitrust laws and common-law and statutory unfair competition. App. 46. Mt. Hood's complaint alleged, as to the antitrust violations, that, beginning before 1947 and continuing to the date of the complaint, Greyhound had restrained and monopolized commerce in the carriage by motorcoach of passengers and their luggage between points in the Western United States, including Oregon, Idaho, and Utah, by means essentially the same as those that were the subject of the ICC proceeding. Id., at 49-52.

In the Commission proceeding, meanwhile, the efforts of the parties to agree upon an order failed. The entire Commission therefore entered an order requiring Greyhound to restore the practices and traffic patterns existing when the acquisitions at issue were authorized and, specifically, to eliminate the anticompetitive practices of which Mt. Hood had complained. See Greyhound Lines, Inc. v. United States, 308 F. Supp. 1033, 1037 (ND IIl. 1970). A three-judge United States District Court denied Greyhound's motion to set aside the Commission's order and granted the counterclaim of the United States and the ICC by the issuance of its own order in similar terms, thus granting injunctive relief. Id., at 1040-1041. Following entry of the District Court's order enforcing the ICC decision, Mt. Hood amended its complaint in this antitrust suit to eliminate its prayer for injunctive relief.10 App. 57.

10 Greyhound thereafter disobeyed the three-judge District Court's order and was adjudged in criminal contempt. Certain of its officers were adjudged in civil contempt. Fines aggregating $600,000 were imposed. United States v. Greyhound Corp., 363 F. Supp. 525 (ND Ill. 1973), and 370 F. Supp. 881 (ND Ill. 1974), aff'd, 508 F. 2d 529 (CA7 1974).

In the present action, interrogatories were submitted to the jury. By its special verdict returned in May 1973, the jury found that, as alleged by Mt. Hood, Greyhound had violated both §§ 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act; that Greyhound had fraudulently concealed these antitrust violations during the period from January 1, 1953, to July 4, 1964; but that Mt. Hood knew or should have known of the violation on December 14, 1960. App. 82. The trial court held that the Government's petition to intervene in the ICC modification proceeding on December 14, 1964, served to toll the statute of limitations under § 5 (i) of the Clayton Act. App. 80. The result was that the Act's four-year period of limitations extended back to December 14, 1960, where it was combined with the fraudulent concealment to create a 20-year damages period." Damages of $13,146,090 (after trebling) were awarded Mt. Hood, plus attorneys' fees of $1,250,000 and costs. Id., at 83, 104, 106.

On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed. 555 F. 2d 687 (1977). We granted certiorari limited to the issue of the correctness of the interpretation of § 5 (i) by the District Court and the Court of Appeals.12 434 U. S. 1008 (1978).

11 The four-year period of limitations, as already noted, n. 2, supra, is contained in § 4B of the Clayton Act, 15 U. S. C. § 15b (1976 ed.). Tolling of the statute was essential to the award of all damages beyond the normal four-year period, that is, back beyond July 5, 1964, the date four years prior to the date of filing of the antitrust complaint. The sum of $5,194,617, after trebling, is involved in the tolling issue.

12 Other issues advanced by Greyhound in its petition for certiorari, review of which was not granted, were (a) whether § 5 (12) of the Interstate Commerce Act, 49 U. S. C. § 5 (12), and applicable antitrust principles permitted the treble-damages award by the jury's application of antitrust standards to acquisitions approved by the ICC and to the manner of operation of the acquired companies which is subject to the Commission's "exclusive and plenary" regulatory authority; (b) whether § 5 (a) of the Clayton Act, as amended, 15 U. S. C. § 16 (a) (1976 ed.), permitted the jury to base a finding of violation of the Sherman Act on consent decrees that expressly denied any antitrust violation and were

In holding that the United States' intervention in the ICC proceeding served to toll, by reason of § 5 (i), the Clayton Act's period of limitations, the Court of Appeals stated that "[t]he literal wording of section [5 (i)] is not controlling." 555 F. 2d, at 699. The court, therefore, sought to identify the congressional purpose behind § 5 (i) and to effectuate that purpose. 555 F. 2d, at 699. In the court's view, the purpose of § 5 (i) "is to further effective enforcement of the antitrust laws by permitting private litigants to have the benefits that may flow from governmental antitrust enforcement efforts." 555 F. 2d, at 699. The Court of Appeals, quoting the District Court (App. 80), declared that this purpose would be advanced by ""treating intervention by Antitrust Division lawyers as the functional equivalent of a direct action by them.'" 555 F. 2d, at 700.

We find this reasoning unpersuasive. In particular, we are unable to agree that the language of § 5 (i) is so unhelpful. Neither do we agree that the congressional purpose behind § 5 (i) is advanced by the holdings of the District Court and the Court of Appeals.

A

Logic and precedent dictate that "[t]he starting point in every case involving construction of a statute is the language itself.'" Santa Fe Industries, Inc. v. Green, 430 U. S. 462, 472 (1977), and Ernst & Ernst v. Hochfelder, 425 U. S. 185, 197 (1976), each quoting Blue Chip Stamps v. Manor Drug Stores, 421 U. S. 723, 756 (1975) (POWELL, J., concurring). Examination of the language of § 5 (i) prevents acceptance of respondent's position.

Section 5 (i) begins: "Whenever any civil or criminal proceeding is instituted by the United States . . (Emphasis

entered before any testimony was taken; and (c) whether § 4B of the Clayton Act was tolled by fraudulent concealment.

added.) The ICC proceeding at issue here plainly was not one instituted by the United States. As the foregoing statement of facts demonstrates, and as the Court of Appeals acknowledged, "Mt. Hood rather than the United States instituted the proceedings." 555 F. 2d, at 699. It strains accepted usage to argue that a party who intervenes in a proceeding instituted by someone else has also "instituted" that proceeding. This Court has observed:

"When the term [to intervene] is used in reference to legal proceedings, it covers the right of one to interpose in, or become a party to, a proceeding already instituted.. Rocca v. Thompson, 223 U. S. 317, 330 (1912) (emphasis added).

In truth, the United States not only did not institute the proceeding, but also was not in a position to do so. As its petition to intervene stated, the Government had "no way of knowing" whether Mt. Hood's allegations, which Greyhound denied, were "true or false," and thus it could not in good faith have made the charging allegations necessary to institute the proceeding. At least in this case, therefore, the question is not primarily one of form, that is, who reached the ICC first; it is one of substance, that is, who investigated the facts enabling it to make charging allegations and seek relief and thereby to "institute" the proceeding.

Just as the United States cannot be said to have "instituted" the ICC proceeding, neither had it "complained of," within the meaning of § 5 (i), anything on which the present action is based. The cases in which the applicability of § 5 (i) has been considered establish that the determination of whether a private action is based on matters "complained of" in a prior Government action "[i]n general . . . must be limited to a comparison of the two complaints on their face." Leh v. General Petroleum Corp., 382 U. S. 54, 65 (1965); accord, Luria Steel & Trading Corp. v. Ogden Corp., 484 F. 2d 1016, 1022 (CA3 1973), cert. denied, 414 U. S. 1158 (1974); Rader v.