[2417.] In compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-seven inclusive, except those which end in eight or nine ([2416]), the smaller number with et usually comes first or the larger number without et, as in the list. But rarely the larger number comes first with et: as, vīgintī et septem, V. 4, 123, twenty and seven.
[2418.] In numbers from a hundred and one upwards, the larger number comes first, either with or without et; but with distributives et is not used. With cardinals and ordinals the smaller number sometimes comes first with et; as, iīs rēgiīs quadrāgintā annīs et ducentīs praeteritīs, RP. 2, 52, after these two hundred and forty years of monarchy were ended.
[SOME USES OF NUMERALS.]
[Cardinals and Ordinals.]
[2419.] Dates are expressed either by cardinals with a plural substantive or by ordinals with a singular substantive: as,
dictātor factus est annīs post Rōmam conditam CCCCXV, Fam. 9, 21, 2, he was made dictator 415 U. C. ([1393]). annō trecentēsimō quīnquāgēsimō post Rōmam conditam, Nōnīs Iūnīs, RP. 1, 25, on the 5th of June, 350 U. C. ([1350]). The ordinal is also used with a substantive not used in the singular: as, mancipia vēnībant Sāturnālibus tertiīs, Att. 5, 20, 5, the slaves were sold on the third day of the Saturnalia. As the Romans, however, had no fixed official era, they had no dates in the modern sense, and marked the year by the names of the consuls.
[Distributives.]
[2420.] Distributives are used to denote an equal division among several persons or things, and in expressions of multiplication: as,
bīnī senātōrēs singulīs cohortibus praepositī, L. 3, 69, 8, two senators were put over every cohort: sometimes when singulī is added, the cardinal is used, thus: singulīs cēnsōribus dēnāriī trecentī imperātī sunt, V. 2, 137, every censor was assessed 300 denars. bis bīna, DN. 2, 49, twice two. Poets use multiplication freely, partly for variety, but mainly from metrical necessity.
[2421.] Distributives are also used with substantives which have no singular, or which have a different meaning in the singular; but in this use one is always ūnī, not singulī, and three is often trīnī, not ternī: as,