[1797.] In old Latin, rarely in classical poetry, a sentence sometimes begins with an emphasized antecedent put before the relative, and in the case of the relative: as, urbem quam statuō vostra est, V. 1, 573, the city which I found is yours; for quam urbem statuō, ea vostra est. In the main sentence, is, hīc, iste, or ille, is often used; less frequently, as in this example, an appellative.
[1798.] The main sentence often has the determinative or demonstrative, or the substantive, or both omitted: as,
([a.]) ubī̆ intellēxit diem īnstāre, quō diē frūmentum mīlitibus mētīrī oportēret, 1, 16, 5, when he saw the day was drawing nigh, on which day the grain was to be measured out to his men. (b.) quōs āmīsimus cīvīs, eōs Mārtis vīs perculit, Marc. 17, what fellow-citizens we have lost, those the fury of the War-god smote down. (c.) Sabīnus quōs tribūnōs mīlitum circum sē habēbat, sē sequī iubet, 5, 37, 1, Sabinus ordered what tribunes of the soldiers he had about him, to follow him.
[1799.] The antecedent is often omitted when it is indefinite, or is obvious from the context: as,
sunt quī mīrentur, V. 1, 6, there be who wonder. dēlēgistī quōs Rōmae relinquerēs, C. 1, 9, you picked out people to leave in Rome. quod periīt, periīt, Pl. Cist. 703, gone is gone. Caesar cōgnōvit Cōnsidium, quod nōn vīdisset, prō vīsō sibī̆ renūntiāvisse, 1, 22, 4, Caesar ascertained that Considius had reported to him as seen what he had not seen.
[1800.] An ablative or nominative abstract in the relative sentence sometimes represents an ablative of manner or quality omitted from the main sentence: as, quā prūdentiā es, nihil tē fugiet, Fam. 11, 13, 1, with what sense you have, nothing will elude you, i.e. eā quā es prūdentiā, nihil tē fugiet. spērō, quae tua prūdentia est, tē valēre, Att. 6, 9, 1, I hope that, with your characteristic caution, you are well. at Āiāx, quō animō trāditur, mīlliēs oppetere mortem quam illa perpetī māluisset, Off. 1, 113, Ajax, on the contrary, with his traditional vehemence, would have chosen rather to die a thousand deaths than to submit to such indignities. This ellipsis begins with Cicero, and is found a few times only in later writers.
[Agreement of the Relative.]
[1801.] The agreement of the relative has already been spoken of in a general way ([1082-1098]). For convenience, however, it may be set forth here more explicitly.
[1802.] A relative pronoun agrees with its antecedent in gender and number, but its case depends on the construction of the sentence in which it stands: as,