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Apposition.
282.
A noun used to describe another, and
standing in the same part of the sentence with the noun described, is
called an Appositive, and is said to be in apposition: -
- externus timor, maximum concordiae
vinculum, iungébat animós (Liv. ii. 39),
fear of the foreigner, the chief bond of harmony, united their
hearts. [Here the appositive belongs to the subject.]
- quattuor híc prímum
ómen equós vídí (Aen. iii. 537),
I saw here four horses, the first omen. [Here both nouns are in the
predicate.]
- litterás Graecás senex
didicí (Cat. M. 26), I learned Greek when an old man.
[Here senex, though in apposition with
the subject of didicí, really
states something further: viz., the time, condition, etc., of the act
(Predicate Apposition).]
a. Words expressing parts may be in
apposition with a word including the parts, or vice versa (Partitive Apposition): -
- Nec P. Popilius neque Q. Metellus,
clárissimí virí atque amplissimí, vim
tribúníciam sustinére potuérunt
(Clu. 95), neither Publius Popilius nor Quintus Metellus, [both of
them] distinguished and honorable men, could withstand the power of the
tribunes.
- Gnaeus et Públius
Scípiones, Cneius and Publius Scipio (the Scipios).
b. An Adjective may be used as an
appositive: -
- ea Sex. Róscium inopem
recépit (Rosc. Am. 27), she received Sextus Roscius in his
poverty (needy).
c. An appositive generally agrees with its
noun in Gender and Number when it can: -
- sequuntur nátúram,
optimam ducem (Lael. 19), they follow nature, the best
guide.
- omnium doctrínárum
inventrícés Athénás (De Or. i. 13), Athens, discoverer of all learning.
NOTE: But such agreement is often impossible: as, - ólim truncus eram fículnus,
inútile lígnum (Hor. S. i. 8. 1), I once
was a fig-tree trunk, a useless log.
d. A common noun in apposition with a
Locative (§ 427) is put in the
Ablative, with or without the preposition in: -
- Antiochíae, celebrí quondam urbe (Arch. 4), at Antioch, once a famous
city.
- Albae cónstitérunt, in urbe munita
(Phil. iv. 6), they halted at Alba, a fortified town.
For a Genitive in apposition with a Posessive Pronoun or an Adjective,
see § 302. e.
For the so-called Appositional Genitive, see § 343. d.
For the construction with nómen
est, see § 373. a.