| (1) A man of great courage, or (2) A man with great courage (3) A forest of tall trees, or (4) A forest with tall trees |
Each of these sentences contains a phrase of quality or description. In the first two a man is described; in the last two a forest. The descriptive phrases are introduced by the prepositions of and with.
In Latin the expression of quality or description is very similar.
The prepositions of and with suggest the genitive and the ablative respectively, and we translate the sentences above
| (1) Vir magnae virtūtis, or (2) Vir magnā virtūte (3) Silva altārum arborum, or (4) Silva altīs arboribus |
There is, however, one important difference between the Latin and the English. In English we may say, for example, a man of courage, using the descriptive phrase without an adjective modifier. In Latin, however, an adjective modifier must always be used, as above.
a. Latin makes a distinction between the use of the two cases in that numerical descriptions of measure are in the genitive and descriptions of physical characteristics are in the ablative. Other descriptive phrases may be in either case.
[442.] EXAMPLES
| 1. Fossa duodecim pedum, a ditch of twelve feet. 2. Homō magnīs pedibus et parvō capite, a man with big feet and a small head. 3. Rēx erat vir summā audāciā or rēx erat vir summae audāciae, the king was a man of the greatest boldness. |
[443.] Rule. Genitive of Description. Numerical descriptions of measure are expressed by the genitive with a modifying adjective.