Heavy Construction
The Allen and Greenough is still under construction;
so some links may not work quite the way you would expect.
348.
Nouns of action, agency, and feeling
govern the Genitive of the Object: -
- cáritás
tuí, affection for you.
- désíderium oti,
longing for rest.
- vacatió múneris,
relief from duty.
- gratia benefici, gratitude for
kindness.
- fuga malorum, refuge from
disaster.
- precátió deorum,
prayer to the yods.
- contentió honorum,
struggle for office.
- opinió virtútis,
reputation for valor.
NOTE: This usage is an extension of the idea of belonging
to (Possessive Genitive). Thus in the phrase odium Caesaris, hate of Caesar, the hate in
a passive sense belongs to Caesar, as odium, though in its
active sense he is the object of it, as hate. (cf. a). The
distinction between the Possessive (subjective) and the Objective Genitive
is very unstable and often lost sight of. It is illustrated by the
following example: the phrase amor patris,
love of a father, may mean love felt by a father, a father's
love (subjective genitive), or love towards a father (objective genitive).
a. The objective genitive is sometimes
replaced by a possessive pronoun or derivative adjective: -
- mea invidia, my
unpopularity (the dislike of which I am the object). [Cf. odium mei (Har. Resp. 5), hatred of me.]
- laudátor meus
(Att. i. 16. 5), my eulogist (one who praises me). [Cf. nostr=i
laud=ator (id. i. 14. 6)]
- Clódiánum
crímen (Mil. 72), the murder of Clodius (the Coldian charge). [As we say, the Nathan murder.]
- metus hostílis, (Iug. 41),
fear of the enemy (hostile fear).
- ea quae faciebat, tuá sé
fidúcia facere dícébat (Verr. v. 176), what
he was doing, he said he did relying on you (with your reliance).
- neque neglegentia tuá, neque id
odió fécit tuó (Ter. Ph. 1016), he did this
neither from neglect nor from hatred of you.
b. Rarely the objective genitive is used
with a noun already limited by another genitive: -
- animí multarum rérum
percursió (Tusc. iv. 31), the mind's traversing of many
things.
c. A noun with a preposition is often used
instead of the objective genitive: -
- odium in Antonium
(Fam. x. 5. 3), hate of Antony.
- merita ergá mé
(id. i. 1. 1), services to me.
- meam in té pietátem
(id. i. 9. 1), my devotion to you.
- impetus in urbem (Phil. xii. 29),
an attack on the city.
- excessus é vítá
(Fin. iii. 60), departure from life. [Also, excessus vítae, Tusc. i. 27.]
- adoptió in Domitium
(Tac. Ann. xii. 25), the adoption of Domitius. [A late and bold
extension of this construction.]
NOTE: So also in later writers the dative of reference
(cf. § 366. b.): as, - longó belló máteria
(Tac. H. i. 89), resources for a long war.