The Genitive Case after the Verb.
Sum requires a genitive case as often as it signifies possession, duty, sign, or that which relates to any thing; as
Quod rapidam trahit Ætatem pecus est Melibœi,
The cattle wot drags the Age, fast coach, is Melibœus’s.
Alas! that such an Age should be banished by the Age of rail-roads!—let us hear the
Coachman’s Lament.
Air.—“Oh give me but my Arab steed.”
Farewell my ribbons, and, alack!
Farewell my tidy drag;