[1154.] The accusative is used with abhinc, ago: as, quaestor fuistī abhinc annōs quattuordecim, V. 1, 34, you were a quaestor fourteen years ago. Rarely the ablative ([1393]): as, quō tempore? abhinc annīs XV, RC. 37, when? fifteen years ago; and once or twice with abhinc, meaning before ([1393]): as, comitiīs abhinc diēbus trīgintā factīs, V. 2, 130, the election having been held thirty days before.
[1155.] The accusative singular is used with ordinals, to show the number of days, months, or years since a particular event, including the day, month, or year of the event itself: as, quod annum iam tertium et vīcēsimum rēgnat, IP. 7, the circumstance that he has now been on the throne two and twenty years.
[1156.] The accusative in some pronominal expressions and adverbs passes over from ‘time through which’ to a loose ‘time at which’: as, id temporis, RA. 97, at that time. hoc noctis, Pl. Am. 163b, at this time of night. tum, then, num, nunc, now, nunc ipsum, Pl. B. 940, Att. 10, 4, 10, this very minute, commodum, just in time. For the locative ablative exceptionally used to denote duration, see [1355].
[The Accusative of the Aim of Motion.]
[1157.] (1.) Proper names of towns and of little islands or peninsulas are put in the accusative to denote the aim with expressions of motion: as,
Labiēnus Lutetiam proficīscitur, 7, 57, 1, Labienus starts for Lutetia. Leucadem vēnimus, Fam. 16, 9, 1, we came to Leucas. nocturnus introitus Zmyrnam, Ph. 11, 5, the entrance into Smyrna by night ([1129]). Plautus uses Accherūns a few times like a town name: as, vīvom mē accersunt Accheruntem mortuī, Most. 509, the dead are taking me to Acheron alive.
[1158.] With singular names of towns and little islands, Plautus has the accusative alone twenty times, and twenty times with in; Terence has, including Lēmnum, Ph. 567, and Cyprum, Ad. 224, 230, the accusative alone six times, and twice with in, in Lēmnum, Ph. 66, and in Cyprum, Ad. 278. Plural town names never have in.
[1159.] An appellative urbem or oppidum accompanying the accusative of a town name is usually preceded by in or ad: as, ad urbem Fī̆dēnās tendunt, L. 4, 33, 10, they make for the city of Fidenae. Iugurtha Thalam pervēnit, in oppidum magnum, S. I. 75, 1, Jugurtha arrived at Thala, a large town.
[1160.] When merely ‘motion towards’ or ‘nearness’ is meant, ad is used: as, trēs viae sunt ad Mutinam, Ph. 12, 22, there are three roads to Mutina. mīles ad Capuam profectus sum, CM. 10, I went to the war as a private, to the region round about Capua.