Heavy Construction
The Allen and Greenough is still under construction;
so some links may not work quite the way you would expect.
287.
One adjective may belong in sense to two or
more nouns of different genders. In such cases, -
1. An Attributive Adjective agrees with the nearest noun: -
- multae operae ac laboris, of much trouble and toil.
- víta mórésque
meí, my life and character.
- sí rés, sí vir,
sí teulpus úllum dígnum fuit (Mil. 19),
if any thing, if any man, if any time was fit.
2. A Predicate Adjective may agree with the nearest noun, if the
nouns form one connected idea: -
- factus est strepitus et
admurmurátió (Verr. i. 45), a noise of assent was
made (noise and murmur).
NOTE: This is only when the copula agrees with the nearest
subject (§ 317. c).
3. But generally, a Predicate Adjective will be masculine, if nouns
of different genders mean living beings; neuter, if things
without life: -
- uxor deinde ac líberí
amplexí (Liv. ii. 40), then his wife and children
embraced him.
- labor (M.) voluptásque (F.) societáte quádam inter sé
nátúralí sunt iuncta (N.) (id. v. 4), labor and delight
are bound together by a certain natural alliance.
4. If nouns of different genders include both living beings and
things without life, a Predicate Adjective is sometimes masculine (or feminine), sometimes neuter, and Sometimes agrees in gender with the
nearest if that is plural: -
- réx régiaque classis úná profectí (Liv. xxi. 50), the king and
the royal fleet set out together.
- nátúrá
inimíca sunt líbera cívitás et
réx (id. xliv. 24), by nature a free state and a king
are hostile.
- légátós
sortésque óráculí
exspectandás (id. v. 16), that the ambassadors and
the replies of the oracle should be waited for.
a. Two or more abstract nouns of the same
gender may have a Predicate Adjective in the neuter plural (cf § 289. c): -
- stultitia et temeritás et
iniústitia ... sunt fugienda (Fin. iii. 89),
folly, rashness, and injustice are [things] to be
shunned.