a. Observe that magnitūdine, multitūdine, corpore, and animō tell in what respect something is true. The relation is one covered by the ablative case, and the construction is called the ablative of specification.
[398.] Rule. Ablative of Specification. The ablative is used to denote in what respect something is true.
[399.] IDIOMS
| aliquem certiōrem facere, to inform some one (lit. to make some one more certain) certior fierī, to be informed (lit. to be made more certain) iter dare, to give a right of way, allow to pass obsidēs inter sē dare, to give hostages to each other |
[400.] EXERCISES
I. 1. Helvētiī cum patrum nostrōrum tempore domō prefectī essent, cōnsulis exercitum in fugam dederant. 2. Cum Caesar in Galliam vēnit, Helvētiī aliōs agrōs petēbant. 3. Caesar cum in citeriōre Gallia esset, tamen dē Helvētiōrum cōnsiliīs certior fīēbat. 4. Cum Helvētiī bellō clārissimī essent, Caesar iter per prōvinciam dare recūsāvit. 5. Lēgātus cum haec audīvisset, Caesarem certiōrem fecit. 6. Cum principēs inter sē obsidēs darent, Rōmānī bellum parāvērunt. 7. Caesar, cum id nūntiātum esset, mātūrat ab urbe proficīscī. 8. Nē virtūte quidem Gallī erant parēs Germānis. 9. Caesar neque corpore neque animō īnfīrmus erat. 10. Illud bellum tum incēpit cum Caesar fuit cōnsul.
Observe in each case what mood follows cum, and try to give the reasons for its use. In the third sentence the cum clause is concessive, in the fourth and sixth causal.
II. 1. That battle was fought at the time when (tum cum) I was at Rome. 2. Though the horsemen were few in number, nevertheless they did not retreat. 3. When the camp had been sufficiently fortified, the enemy returned home. 4. Since the tribes are giving hostages to each other, we shall inform Cæsar. 5. The Gauls and the Germans are very unlike in language and laws.