GRAMMAR 418 
A ea rs Pe a SSindicotew detieeoatoettnanteioeed tke eave corer meee 
ay. Rae i. Bs of the noun. All the circumstances brought together 1s eee 
Antonius —— levsit _ Ciceronem. by words in a sentertce may be represented as concomi- «44. 
“ Antony did harm to Cicero,” tant. Something further seems n for the pur- tance by the 
aX is poses of precision. The peculiarity of the ablative seems noun alove. 
Thus the verb which the accusative is more to be, that it is the only case which expresses a conco- 
om wy prepared for the intended transition than mitant circumstance by a noun alone. It is an abbrevi- 
_ that which governs the dative. This view of the cases ating contrivance for dispensing with the introduction 
is not, we confess, in the t instance, support- 
ed by the ive brevity of the Latin dative and 
accusative, which is in favour of the dative. It depends 
for its proof on res a of them oe e. Their com- 
i ity, however, in ish 
ornate th illustration pe yiess are8 poi 
as it consists in a difference of the entire word to, and 
therefore is less liable to be ascribed to accident. 
The Latin ~— ay on the pp - be - 
propriately employed where the verb a de 0 
transitiveness intecenatliale betwixt those saddens 
the accusative and those which do not govern any 
case. The latter may express actions in themselves tran- 
sitive, though they have not been formed for the pur- 
pose of transition, but merely for attaching the accident 
, j “* implied in the verb to the subject mentioned in the no- 
minative. After such verbs the object affected may be 
introduced, but it requires, even in the Latin language, 
an intervening ition; we say, Lutetiam versus 
contendit, and, Av prelium progressus est. 
aan intermediate ete of the dative case betwixt 
accusative and the use of a governi ition is 
confirmed by this Givetiiimaoer fom oe _ is ap- 
ly accidental,) that, in the English language, which 
no termination or peculiar form of the noun for ex- 
; es the dative case, it is sometimes expressed by 
.the preposition ¢o, and at other times by the noun in the 
same form which constitutes the accusative. We say, 
“I sent a letter to him,” or, “I sent him a letter.” 
“ Give him the money,” or, “‘ Give the money ¢o him.’ 
The Ablative case of the Latin language has been 
often considered as possessing a variety of powers. 
Sometimes one of these, sometimes another, has been 
selected as its original characteristic. Those who first 
i this case its present name, have considered its 
original’ or at least its most conspicuous application, as 
equivalent to the English p ition from, represent- 
ing the object expressed by the noun as the point of 
commencement of motion. The author of Grammar 
in Rees’s C ia, describes it as denoting the in- 
strument or medium by which an action is effected, and, 
of course, considers its meaning as most clearly expressed 
in such sentences as scribo calamo, “ 1 write witha 
pen.” This account of that case, however, will not apply 
to every sentence in which it occurs. We suspect 
any detailed attempt to make pr erie megpien the uni- 
versal characteristic of the ablative would involve 
the subject in inextricable confusion. The writer in 
the Encyclopedia Britannica, impressed with the hope- 
lessness of all attempts to reduce the meaning of the 
ablative to any one species of relation, describes it as im- 
plying ngs | more than the simple mention of con- 
comitance. The noun which is put in the ablative 
may either represent a cause, an instrument, some cir- 
cumstance of manner, a portion of time, or some other 
relation ; but any one of these is inferred from the 
nouns employed, and from the evident mutual relations 
of the words composing the sentence, and not simply 
from the ablative case. These aids to the meaning are 
also rather to be regarded as limiting the generality of 
the case than as correcting any ambiguity, The objec~ 
of another verb. Scribo calamo is used instead of scribo 
et habeo calamum, calamus est mihi, or moveo calamum. 
The pen is merely mentioned in the ablative to supply 
the place of these circumlocutions. 
In an example quoted by the last mentioned author, The man+ 
templum clamore petebant, clamour is represented only ™ 
as concomitant with the action of going to the temple. 
These mere concomitances are called by grammarians 
the manner. 
When we say palleo metu, fear is merely mentioned The cance, 
as a concomitant circumstance with the paleness. Yet 
it is intended to signify, from the natural connection 
betwixt paleness and fear, that the latter is the cause, 
and the inference is instantly made. It is because such 
inferences are drawn with the utmost readiness, and 
without any sensible interval of time, that marians 
have been deceived into the belief that the meaning 
inferred is fully expressed by the ablative case, 
The expression of this variety of concomitant circum- 
stances by the ablative without the intervention of an 
intermediate word, for the sake of connecting the noun 
with the preceding words, has obtained for some of 
its uses the designation of the ablative absolute ; as in 
the phrases I//o mortuo ; Caio et Cassio consulibus. 1t 
might be considered as absolute in its other uses, as In 
the annexation of cause, manner, instrument, or time. 
When an historian says hoc anno floruit, it is from the 
word annus, and not simply from. the ablative-case, that 
the idea of time is inferred by the hearer. 
Attempts are sometimes made in the English lan- 
guage to follow the Latin idiom of using nouns in a 
orm thus absolute; and the nominative or simple 
form of the noun, is employed instead of the abla: 
tive; but when we ress the cause, the manner, 
or the instrument, we always introduce definite prepo- 
sitions ; hence it is translated in our language some- 
times in, sometimes by, with, or from, and its meaning 
is rendered. more special than in the original Latin. 
It is scarcely necessary to mention, however, that even 
in Latin it may also be preceded by prepositions, 
though it does not necessarily require them. We may 
ae either segessit summa cum prudentia, or summa pru- 
ntid. 
Some verbs govern: the ablative asa single case, that 
is, with the apparent meaning of the accusative. These 
are chiefly neuter or deponent verbs. They seem to have 
originally been of the intransitive kind, and afterwards 
made to govern a noun in this slightly connected and least 
d lent of the cases. As gaudere “ to rejoice,” gaudere 
Selicitate alicujus “to rejoice, the happiness of another 
being a concomitant event,” which evidently would not 
be mentioned in this connection except as_ the cause of 
the joy. The verb fruor in all probability, was ori- 
ginall passive in meaning as well as in form, and is 
capable of being transla « T am privileged,” or “ I 
am rendered happy ;” frwor vita, “ 1 am rendered hap- 
py in life,” or “ I enjoy life.” Potiri viribus, “to be 
made rich by, or to possess, power.’” 
The abla- 
tive abso- 
lutee 
Governed 
by verbs. 
The ablative is sometimes subordinate to an adjec- By adjec- 
tive, as inops ratione, * needy with respect to reason,’ Sve 
translated “ void of reason.” 
