1151. Extent of space or duration of time is denoted by the accusative:
as,
(_a._) #mīlia passuum XX prōcēdit#, 5, 47, 1, _he pushes on twenty
miles_. #trīduī viam prōgressī#, 4, 4, 4, _having advanced three days
journey_. #aggerem lātum pedēs CCCXXX, altum pedēs LXXX exstrūxērunt#,
7, 24, 1, _they built up a mound three hundred and thirty feet wide, and
eighty feet high_ (1130). (_b._) #mātrōnae annum lūxērunt#, L. 2, 7, 4,
_the married women wore mourning a year_. #ūndēvīgintī annōs nātus
erat#, _Br._ 229, _he was nineteen years old_. #secūtae sunt continuōs
complūrēs diēs tempestātēs#, 4, 34, 4, _there followed a good many days
a succession of storms_. #triennium vagātī#, 4, 4, 2, _having led a
nomad life three years_. #ūnum diem supplicātiō habita est#, L. 10, 47,
7, _a thanksgiving was held one day_. #diēs quīndecim supplicātiō#, 2,
35, 4, _a fortnight thanksgiving_ (1129). Sometimes #per# is added: as,
#lūdī per decem diēs factī sunt#, _C._ 3, 20, _games were celebrated ten
days long_.
1152. The idea of traversing is sometimes not expressed: as, #mīlia
passuum tria ab eōrum castrīs castra pōnit#, 1, 22, 5, _he pitches camp
three miles away from their camp_. #quadringentōs inde passūs cōnstituit
sīgna#, L. 34, 20, 4, _four hundred paces from there he set up the
standards_. See 1399.
1153. With #absum# and #distō#, the ablative of amount of difference is
sometimes used (1393): as, #certior factus est Ariovistī cōpiās ā
nostrīs mīlibus passuum quattuor et XX abesse#, 1, 41, 5, _he was
informed that Ariovistus’s troops were four and twenty miles away from
ours_. If the place is not mentioned from which distance is reckoned,
#ab# or #ā# is sometimes used before the expression of distance: as,
#positīs castrīs ā mīlibus passuum XV#, 6, 7, 3, _pitching camp fifteen
miles away_.
1154. The accusative is used with #abhinc#, _ago_: as, #quaestor fuistī
abhinc annōs quattuordecim#, _V._ 1, 34, _you were a quaestor fourteen
years ago_. Rarely the ablative (1393): as, #quō tempore? abhinc annīs
XV#, _RC._ 37, _when? fifteen years ago_; and once or twice with
#abhinc#, meaning _before_ (1393): as, #comitiīs abhinc diēbus trīgintā
factīs#, _V._ 2, 130, _the election having been held thirty days
before_.
1155. The accusative singular is used with ordinals, to show the number
of days, months, or years since a particular event, including the day,
month, or year of the event itself: as, #quod annum iam tertium et
vīcēsimum rēgnat#, _IP._ 7, _the circumstance that he has now been on
the throne two and twenty years_.
1156. The accusative in some pronominal expressions and adverbs passes
over from ‘time through which’ to a loose ‘time at which’: as, #id
temporis#, _RA._ 97, _at that time_. #hoc noctis#, Pl. _Am._ 163^b, _at
this time of night_. #tum#, _then_, #num#, #nunc#, _now_, #nunc ipsum#,
Pl. _B._ 940, _Att._ 10, 4, 10, _this very minute_, #commodum#, _just in
time_. For the locative ablative exceptionally used to denote duration,
see 1355.
[Errata:
1151a ... 4, 34, 4
4, 34. 4
1154 ... _RC._ 37
_RC,_]