1350. (1.) The locative ablative is used to denote the point of time at
which action occurs.
So particularly of substantives denoting periods or points of time,
thus: #hieme#, 5, 1, 1, _in the winter_. #Kalendīs#, H. _Epod._ 2, 70,
_upon the first_, i.e. of the month. Generally with an attribute: as,
#prīmō vēre#, 6, 3, 4, _in the first month of spring_. #Mārtiīs
Kalendīs#, H. 3, 8, 1, _upon the first of March_. With a parallel
locative (1341): #vesperī eōdem diē#, _Att._ 8, 5, 1, _the evening of
the same day_.
1351. Words not in themselves denoting periods or points of time, are in
the same way put in the ablative: as,
#patrum nostrōrum memoriā#, 1, 12, 5, _in the memory of our fathers_.
#nōn modo illīs Pūnicīs bellīs, sed etiam hāc praedōnum multitūdine#,
_V._ 4, 103, _not only in the Punic wars of yore, but also in the
present swarm of pirates_. #proxumīs comitiīs#, 7, 67, 7, _at the last
election_. #spectāculīs#, _Att._ 2, 19, 3, _at the shows_. Especially
substantives of action in #-tus# or #-sus# (235): as, #sōlis occāsū#, 1,
50, 3, _at sunset_. #adventū in Galliam Caesaris#, 5, 54, 2, _at
Caesar’s arrival in Gaul_. #eōrum adventū#, 7, 65, 5, _after these
people came_. #discessū cēterōrum#, _C._ 1, 7, _when the rest went
away_.
1352. (2.) The locative ablative is used to denote the space of time
within which action occurs: as,
#paucīs diēbus opus efficitur#, 6, 9, 4, _the job is finished up in a
few days_. #tribus hōris Aduātucam venīre potestis#, 6, 35, 8, _in three
hours you can get to Aduatuca_. #quae hīc mōnstra fīunt, annō vix possum
ēloquī#, Pl. _Most._ 505, _what ghost-transactions take place here I
scarce could tell you in a year_. #cum ad oppidum Senonum Vellaunodūnum
vēnisset, id bīduō circumvāllāvit#, 7, 11, 1, _arriving at
Vellaunodunum, a town of the Senons, in two days time he invested it_.
#quicquid est, bīduō sciēmus#, _Att._ 9, 14, 2, _whatever it may be, we
shall know in a couple of days_.
1353. The ablative of the time at or within which action occurs is
sometimes accompanied by #in#: as, #in bellō#, 6, 1, 3, _in the war_.
#in tempore#, T. _Hau._ 364, _in the nick of time_. #in adulēscentiā#,
Pl. _B._ 410, _in my young days_. #in tālī tempore#, Lucr. 1, 93, L. 22,
35, 7, _in such a stress, at such an hour_. #in hōc trīduō#, Pl. _Ps._
316, _within the next three days_. Especially of repeated action, in the
sense of _a_ or _every_, with numerals: as, #ter in annō#, Pl. _B._
1127, _RA._ 132, _three times a year_. #in hōrā saepe ducentōs versūs
dictābat#, H. _S._ 1, 4, 9, _two hundred verses in an hour he’d often
dictate off_. But occasionally without #in#: as, #mē deciēns diē ūnō
extrūdit aedibus#, Pl. _Aul._ 70, _ten times a day he thrusts me from
the house_. #septiēns diē#, L. 28, 6, 10, _seven times a day_.
1354. An ablative of the time within which action occurs is sometimes
followed by a relative pronoun sentence, with the relative pronoun
likewise in the ablative: as, #quadrīduō, quō haec gesta sunt, rēs ad
Chrȳsogonum dēfertur#, _RA._ 20, _within the four days space in which
this occurred, the incident is reported to Chrysogonus_, i.e. four days
after this occurred. #diēbus decem, quibus māteria coepta erat
conportārī, omnī opere effectō#, 4, 18, 1, _the job being all done ten
days after the carting of the stuff had begun_.
1355. The ablative is exceptionally used to denote duration of time: as,
#tōtā nocte continenter iērunt#, 1, 26, 5, _they went on and on all
night without interruption_. Regularly, however, the accusative (1151);
but the ablative is common in inscriptions.