Let’s go back to something simple, Ablative of Manner. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever required students to know that term because it always seems pretty straight forward. After all, who hasn’t hear of cum laude, magnā cum laude, maximā cum laude, and summā cum laude? It’s not so foreign as dealing with, say, ablative absolutes, so why bother if you aren’t playing certamen at JCL?!
But it dawned on me towards the end of last year that in later stages the cum had all but disappeared. Students didn’t notice or comment, nor did I. However, students at times were struggling with all the ablatives (hence what started this summer’s project) so I wanted to see what I could find regarding Ablative of Manner through Stage 40. So here is the list, which may be imperfect:
· 15 prīncipēs, quī effigiem portābant, ad rogum magnā cum dignitāte prōcessērunt.
· 15 intereā Dumnorix, quī summā cum cūrā nāvigābat, circum mētam nāvem dīrēxit.
· 17 deus ibi magnā cum dignitāte sedet.
· 23 servī magnā cum difficultāte Cogidubnum in balneum dēmittere coepērunt.
· 24 cum equitēs corpus Domnorigis īnspicerent, Quīntus, graviter vulnerātus, magnā cum difficultāte effūgit.
· 25 mī Strythiō, quamquam occupātissimus es, dēbēs maximā cum dīligentiā mē audīre.
· 25 nōbbīs necesse est summā cum dīligentiā Vercobrigem custōdīre.
· 26 tē iubeō hunc hominem summā cum cūrā interrogāre.
· 29 postrēmō magnā vōce populum Rōmānum dētestātus sē ipsum cultrō trānsfīxit.
· 30 tum fabrīs imperāvit ut fūnēs, quī ad tignum adligātī erant, summīs vīribus traherent.
· 31 “abī, sceleste! nēmō alius hodiē admittitur,” respondit praecō superbā vōcē.
· 31 hīs verbīs audītīs, praecō, quī Eryllum haudquāquam amābat, magnā vōce,…
· 31 nōs decet rēs adversās aequō animō ferre.
· 32 magnā vōce eam appellat.
· 32 Haterius blandīs et mollibus verbīs Sabīnum adloquēbātur, ut favōrem eius conciliāret.
· 32 amphorīs inlātīs, cellārius titulōs quī īnfīxī erant magnā vōce recitāvit, “Falernum Hateriānum, vīnum centurm annōrum!”
· 32 cui respondit Eyphrosynē vōce serēnā, “omnibus autem labōrandum est.”
· 32 nihilōminus, quia Stōicus erat, rēs adversās semper aequō animō patiēbātur; neque deōs neque hominēs dētestābātur.
· 33 sed priusquam ille plūra ageret, vir quīdam statūrā brevī vultūque sevērō prōgressus magnā vōce silentium poposcit.
· 33 domō eum trahēbant magnā vōce clāmantem:…
· 33 Myropnous haudquāquam perturbātus, ubi Ephaphrodītus appropinquāvit, tapēte magnā vī dētrāxit.
· 34 quibus vīsīs, ancilla timidā vōce, “cavendum est nōbīs,” inquit.
· 34 post statuās sē cēlābat mīlitēsque vōce blandā dērīdēbat.
· 38 virum quendam cognōvī quī omnī modō fīliā tuā dignus est.
· 38 nuptiās crāstinās nūllō modō vītāre possum.
The first use is in Stage 15, I believe, and this may also be the first time that and adjective has appeared in front of a preposition in a prepositional phrase. Through Stage 26 they appear in the same format and cause no problems for students.
In Stage 29, one stage after the introduction of the Ablative of Means (not by name) (and perhaps Ablative of Cause—see previous posts), cum disappears. Students don’t react; after all, it’s Ablative so “by” or “with” does the trick in most cases, right? The only time cum shows up again in something that at first glance might look like Manner is in Stage 33:
quibus dictīs, Epaphrodītus ad tapēte cum magnō clāmōre sē praecipitāvit.
But the word order is different with cum in front and I think what we really have here is Accompaniment. Compare it with this sentence from Stage 39:
simulatque Notus ēvolāvit, nimbī dēnsī ex aethere cum ingentī fragōre effūsī sunt.
where a thing (fragor) is governed by cum because “the crash” (of thunder) accompanied the thunderstorm. This is a subtle thing, which in English doesn’t really sound different in translation, and maybe not worth bringing to the attention of students, but for the student who has learned that people get prepositions and things don’t, having a full understanding of what’s happening here is worthwhile.
One last sentence is worthy of attention when discussing Ablative of Manner. In Stage 40 we have
vōce ferōcī, vultū minantī, oculīs ardentibus, verbīs īnfestissimīs Salvium vehementer oppugnāvit.
I had pondered whether this would be considered Ablative of Manner or Ablative of Means, not that it matters if you are simply checking English translations because you would translate both using “with.” In all the other examples of the Ablative of Manner that I have provided above, the adjective came first. Here the adjective is second. Ok, adjectives of size and number usually precede the noun being modified, which would explain magnā, maximā, summā, etc. But that wouldn’t explain aequō animō nor timidā vōce. So now I’m wondering whether it’s traditional for the adjective to come first in Manner? And if that’s so, then verbīs īnfestissimīs is Means. And this particular question may never ever come up with my students. No one may care because they comprehend the sentence which is most important. But in case I am asked, or in case I want to insure that when I am addressing them in Latin or even conversing with them in Latin, I want to have the idiom right.
So is any of this worth pointing out explicitly to students? Maybe. If, for instance, I did make a bigger deal about Ablative of Manner earlier on, I could then point out in Stage 29 that the easy Ablative of Manner is in a flimsy disguise now without cum. Just to raise awareness. After all, in Stage 26 students get their first Ablative Time When (trēs continuōs diēs labōrābant; quārtō diē Sīlānus adventum Agricolae nūntiāvit.) even though it is not discussed in the About the Language section until Stage 28. From a student’s point of view there are a lot of ablatives doing things without prepositions suddenly and any clarity may be greatly appreciated.
But it dawned on me towards the end of last year that in later stages the cum had all but disappeared. Students didn’t notice or comment, nor did I. However, students at times were struggling with all the ablatives (hence what started this summer’s project) so I wanted to see what I could find regarding Ablative of Manner through Stage 40. So here is the list, which may be imperfect:
· 15 prīncipēs, quī effigiem portābant, ad rogum magnā cum dignitāte prōcessērunt.
· 15 intereā Dumnorix, quī summā cum cūrā nāvigābat, circum mētam nāvem dīrēxit.
· 17 deus ibi magnā cum dignitāte sedet.
· 23 servī magnā cum difficultāte Cogidubnum in balneum dēmittere coepērunt.
· 24 cum equitēs corpus Domnorigis īnspicerent, Quīntus, graviter vulnerātus, magnā cum difficultāte effūgit.
· 25 mī Strythiō, quamquam occupātissimus es, dēbēs maximā cum dīligentiā mē audīre.
· 25 nōbbīs necesse est summā cum dīligentiā Vercobrigem custōdīre.
· 26 tē iubeō hunc hominem summā cum cūrā interrogāre.
· 29 postrēmō magnā vōce populum Rōmānum dētestātus sē ipsum cultrō trānsfīxit.
· 30 tum fabrīs imperāvit ut fūnēs, quī ad tignum adligātī erant, summīs vīribus traherent.
· 31 “abī, sceleste! nēmō alius hodiē admittitur,” respondit praecō superbā vōcē.
· 31 hīs verbīs audītīs, praecō, quī Eryllum haudquāquam amābat, magnā vōce,…
· 31 nōs decet rēs adversās aequō animō ferre.
· 32 magnā vōce eam appellat.
· 32 Haterius blandīs et mollibus verbīs Sabīnum adloquēbātur, ut favōrem eius conciliāret.
· 32 amphorīs inlātīs, cellārius titulōs quī īnfīxī erant magnā vōce recitāvit, “Falernum Hateriānum, vīnum centurm annōrum!”
· 32 cui respondit Eyphrosynē vōce serēnā, “omnibus autem labōrandum est.”
· 32 nihilōminus, quia Stōicus erat, rēs adversās semper aequō animō patiēbātur; neque deōs neque hominēs dētestābātur.
· 33 sed priusquam ille plūra ageret, vir quīdam statūrā brevī vultūque sevērō prōgressus magnā vōce silentium poposcit.
· 33 domō eum trahēbant magnā vōce clāmantem:…
· 33 Myropnous haudquāquam perturbātus, ubi Ephaphrodītus appropinquāvit, tapēte magnā vī dētrāxit.
· 34 quibus vīsīs, ancilla timidā vōce, “cavendum est nōbīs,” inquit.
· 34 post statuās sē cēlābat mīlitēsque vōce blandā dērīdēbat.
· 38 virum quendam cognōvī quī omnī modō fīliā tuā dignus est.
· 38 nuptiās crāstinās nūllō modō vītāre possum.
The first use is in Stage 15, I believe, and this may also be the first time that and adjective has appeared in front of a preposition in a prepositional phrase. Through Stage 26 they appear in the same format and cause no problems for students.
In Stage 29, one stage after the introduction of the Ablative of Means (not by name) (and perhaps Ablative of Cause—see previous posts), cum disappears. Students don’t react; after all, it’s Ablative so “by” or “with” does the trick in most cases, right? The only time cum shows up again in something that at first glance might look like Manner is in Stage 33:
quibus dictīs, Epaphrodītus ad tapēte cum magnō clāmōre sē praecipitāvit.
But the word order is different with cum in front and I think what we really have here is Accompaniment. Compare it with this sentence from Stage 39:
simulatque Notus ēvolāvit, nimbī dēnsī ex aethere cum ingentī fragōre effūsī sunt.
where a thing (fragor) is governed by cum because “the crash” (of thunder) accompanied the thunderstorm. This is a subtle thing, which in English doesn’t really sound different in translation, and maybe not worth bringing to the attention of students, but for the student who has learned that people get prepositions and things don’t, having a full understanding of what’s happening here is worthwhile.
One last sentence is worthy of attention when discussing Ablative of Manner. In Stage 40 we have
vōce ferōcī, vultū minantī, oculīs ardentibus, verbīs īnfestissimīs Salvium vehementer oppugnāvit.
I had pondered whether this would be considered Ablative of Manner or Ablative of Means, not that it matters if you are simply checking English translations because you would translate both using “with.” In all the other examples of the Ablative of Manner that I have provided above, the adjective came first. Here the adjective is second. Ok, adjectives of size and number usually precede the noun being modified, which would explain magnā, maximā, summā, etc. But that wouldn’t explain aequō animō nor timidā vōce. So now I’m wondering whether it’s traditional for the adjective to come first in Manner? And if that’s so, then verbīs īnfestissimīs is Means. And this particular question may never ever come up with my students. No one may care because they comprehend the sentence which is most important. But in case I am asked, or in case I want to insure that when I am addressing them in Latin or even conversing with them in Latin, I want to have the idiom right.
So is any of this worth pointing out explicitly to students? Maybe. If, for instance, I did make a bigger deal about Ablative of Manner earlier on, I could then point out in Stage 29 that the easy Ablative of Manner is in a flimsy disguise now without cum. Just to raise awareness. After all, in Stage 26 students get their first Ablative Time When (trēs continuōs diēs labōrābant; quārtō diē Sīlānus adventum Agricolae nūntiāvit.) even though it is not discussed in the About the Language section until Stage 28. From a student’s point of view there are a lot of ablatives doing things without prepositions suddenly and any clarity may be greatly appreciated.