A Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges

by George Martin Lane

[1412.] Of the above named words some are not used as prepositions till a relatively late period.

Thus, īnfrā is first used as a preposition by Terence and once only; circā somewhat before and citrā about Cicero’s time; ultrā first by Cato; iūxtā by Varro. In Cicero iūxtā is still used only as an adverb, in Caesar and Nepos as a preposition.

[1413.] The substantive forms prīdiē, the day before, and postrīdiē, the day after, are sometimes used with an accusative like prepositions, mostly in Cicero, to denote dates: as, prīdiē nōnās Māiās, Att. 2, 11, 2, the day before the nones of May, i.e. 6 May. postrīdiē lūdōs Apollinārīs, Att. 16, 4, 1, the day after the games of Apollo, i.e. 6 July. For the genitive with these words, see [1232].

[1414.] The adverb vorsus or versus, wards, occurs as a post positive ([1434]) preposition rarely: once in Sallust, Aegyptum vorsus, J. 19, 3, Egyptwards, in Cicero a few times, twice in Pliny the elder. usque, even to, occurs with names of towns in Terence (once), Cicero, and later; with appellatives in Cato (once) and late writers.

[1415.] clam, secretly, is ordinarily an adverb. But in old Latin it is used often as a preposition, unknown to, with an accusative of a person. Terence has once the diminutive form clanculum, Ad. 52. With the ablative only in the MSS. of Caesar, once, clam vōbīs, C. 2, 32, 8, without your knowledge, and in Bell. Afr. 11, 4.

[1416.] subter, under, is used in poetry, once by Catullus and once by Vergil, with the locative ablative: as, Rhoetēō subter lītore, Cat. 65, 7, beneath Rhoeteum’s strand.

[Prepositions used with the Ablative.]

[1417.] The ablative is accompanied by the following prepositions:

abs, ab, or ā, from, cōram, face to face, dē, down from, from, of, ex or ē, out of, prae, at the fore, in front of, prō, before, quom or cum, with, sine, without. In official or legal language, also sēd or sē, without. For the different classes of ablatives with these prepositions, see [1297-1300]; for the various shades of meanings and applications, see the dictionary.