FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75  
76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   >>  
A PLACE. The space of a place is put in the accusative, and sometimes also in the ablative, as Caesar jam mille passus processerat, summa diligentia. Caesar had now advanced a mile with the greatest diligence-- not on the top of the vehicle so named, as a young gentleman was once flogged for saying. Qui non abest a schola centenis millibus passuum, balatronem novi. I know a blackguard who is not absent a hundred miles from the school. "Cantare et apponere" to sing and apply, is the maxim we would here inculcate on our youthful readers. Every verb admits a genitive case of the name of a city or town in which any thing takes place, so that it be of the first or second declension, and of the singular number, as Quid Romae faciam? mentiri nescio: What shall I do at Rome? I know not how to lie. What a bare-faced perversion of the truth that cock and bull story is of Curtius jumping into the hole in the forum. How the Romans managed to get _credit_ from any body but the tailors is to us a mystery. These genitive cases, humi, on the ground, domi, at home, militiae, in war, belli, in war, follow the construction of proper names, as Parvi sunt foris arma nisi est consilium domi: Arms are of little worth abroad unless there be wisdom at home. Cicero must have said this with a prospective eye to Canada. But if the name of a city or town shall be of the plural number only, or of the third declension, it is put in the ablative case, as Aiunt centum portas Thebis fuisse: They say there were an hundred gates at Thebes. You needn't believe it unless you like. Egregia Tibure facta videnda sunt: Fine doings are to be seen at Tivoli. The name of a place is often put after verbs signifying motion to a place in the accusative case without a preposition, as Concessi Cantabrigiam ad capiendum ingenii cultum: I went to Cambridge to become a fast man. After this manner we use domus, a house, and rus, the country, as Rus ire jussus sum, I was rusticated. Domum missus eram, I was sent home. Going _too fast_ at Cambridge sometimes necessitates, in two senses, a dose of country air. The name of a place is sometimes added to verbs signifying motion from a place, in the ablative case without a proposition, as Arbitror te Virginia veteri venisse: I reckon you've come from old Virginny. VERBS IMPERSONAL. Verbs impersonal have no nominative case, as
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75  
76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   >>  



Top keywords:

ablative

 

genitive

 
hundred
 
Cambridge
 
country
 

number

 

signifying

 

motion

 

Caesar

 

declension


accusative

 

Egregia

 

videnda

 

Tibure

 

doings

 
portas
 

prospective

 
Canada
 

plural

 
abroad

Cicero

 

wisdom

 
Thebes
 

centum

 

Thebis

 

fuisse

 

capiendum

 

proposition

 

Arbitror

 

Virginia


necessitates

 
senses
 

veteri

 

venisse

 

IMPERSONAL

 

impersonal

 

nominative

 

Virginny

 

reckon

 

cultum


ingenii

 

consilium

 

preposition

 

Concessi

 

Cantabrigiam

 

manner

 
jussus
 
rusticated
 
missus
 

Tivoli