Peculiar Genitive constructions are the following:—
A poetical genitive occurs rarely in exclamations, in imitation of the Greek (
Genitive of Exclamation
):—
-
dī immortālēs,
mercimōnī
lepidī
;
(
Pl. Most. 912
),
good heavens! what a charming bargain!
-
foederis
heu tacitī
;
(
Prop. 4.7.21
),
alas for the unspoken agreement!
The genitive is often used with the ablatives
causā
,
grātiā
,
for the sake of;
ergō
,
because of;
and the indeclinable
īnstar
,
like;
also with
prīdiē
,
the day before;
postrīdiē
,
the day after;
tenus
,
as far as:
-
honōris
causā
,
with due respect
(for the sake of honor).
-
verbī
grātiā
,
for example.
-
êius
lēgis
ergō
,
on account of this law.
-
equus īnstar
montis
(Aen. 2.15)
,
a horse huge as a mountain
(the image of a mountain).
-
laterum
tenus
(
id
. 10.210),
as far as the sides.
Of these the genitive with
causā
is a development from the possessive genitive and resembles that in
nōmen īnsāniae
(§
343
.
d
). The others are of various origin.
In prose of the Republican Period
prīdiē
and
postrīdiē
are thus used only in the expressions
prīdiē
(
postrīdiē
)
êius diēī
,
the day before
(
after
)
that
(cf. “the eve, the morrow of that day”). Tacitus uses the construction with other words: as,—
postrīdiē īnsidiārum
,
the day after the plot.
For the accusative, see §
432
.
a.
Tenus
takes also the ablative (p. 136).
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