"Cantare et apponere" to sing and apply, is the maxim we would here
inculcate on our youthful readers.
Every verb admits a genitive case of the name of a city or town in which
any thing takes place, so that it be of the first or second declension,
and of the singular number, as
Quid Romæ faciam? mentiri nescio:
What shall I do at Rome? I know not how to lie.
What a bare-faced perversion of the truth that cock and bull story is of
Curtius jumping into the hole in the forum. How the Romans managed to
get _credit_ from any body but the tailors is to us a mystery.
These genitive cases, humi, on the ground, domi, at home, militiæ, in
war, belli, in war, follow the construction of proper names, as
Parvi sunt foris arma nisi est consilium domi:
Arms are of little worth abroad unless there be wisdom at home.
Cicero must have said this with a prospective eye to Canada.
But if the name of a city or town shall be of the plural number only, or
of the third declension, it is put in the ablative case, as
Aiunt centum portas Thebis fuisse:
They say there were an hundred gates at Thebes.
You needn't believe it unless you like.
Egregia Tibure facta videnda sunt:
Fine doings are to be seen at Tivoli.
The name of a place is often put after verbs signifying motion to a
place in the accusative case without a preposition, as
Concessi Cantabrigiam ad capiendum ingenii cultum: