1393. The instrumental ablative is used to denote the amount of
difference.
This ablative is used with any words whatever of comparative or of
superlative meaning: as, #ūnō diē longiōrem mēnsem faciunt aut bīduō#,
_V._ 2, 129, _they make the month longer by a day, or even by two days_.
#ubī̆ adbibit plūs paulō#, T. _Hau._ 220, _when he has drunk a drop too
much_. #nummō dīvitior#, Pl. _Ps._ 1323, _a penny richer_. #bīduō post#,
1, 47, 1, _two days after_. #multīs ante diēbus#, 7, 9, 4, _many days
before_. #paucīs ante diēbus#, _C._ 3, 3, _a few days ago_. #nimiō
praestat#, Pl. _B._ 396, _‘t is ever so much better_. #multō mālim#,
_Br._ 184, _I would much rather_. #multō maxima pars#, _C._ 4, 17, _the
largest part by far_.
1394. In expressions of time, the accusative is sometimes used with
#post#, less frequently with #ante#, as prepositions, instead of the
ablative of difference: as, #post paucōs diēs#, L. 21, 51, 2, #post diēs
paucōs#, L. 37, 13, 6, #paucōs post diēs#, L. 33, 39, 2, _after a few
days_. #paucōs ante diēs#, L. 39, 28, 4, #diēs ante paucōs#, L. 31, 24,
5, _a few days before_. With this prepositional construction, ordinals
are common: as, #post diem tertium#, 4, 9, 1, _after the third day_,
according to the Roman way of reckoning, i.e. the next day but one.
1395. (1.) When the time before or after which anything occurs is
denoted by a substantive, the substantive is put in the accusative with
#ante# or #post#: as,
#paulō ante tertiam vigiliam#, 7, 24, 2, _a little before the third
watch_. #bīduō ante vīctōriam#, _Fam._ 10, 14, 1, _the day but one
before the victory_. #paucīs diēbus post mortem Āfricānī#, _L._ 3,
_a few days after the death of Africanus_.
1396. Sometimes in late writers, as Tacitus, Pliny the younger, and
Suetonius, a genitive is loosely used: as, #sextum post clādis annum#,
Ta. 1, 62, i.e. #sextō post clādem annō#, _six years after the
humiliating defeat_. #post decimum mortis annum#, Plin. _Ep._ 6, 10, 3,
_ten years after his death_. Similarly #intrā sextum adoptiōnis diem#,
Suet. _Galb._ 17, _not longer than six days after the adoption-day_.
1397. (2.) When the time before or after which anything occurs is
denoted by a sentence, the sentence may be introduced:
(_a._) By #quam#: as, #post diem tertium gesta rēs est quam dīxerat#,
_Mil._ 44, _it took place two days after he said it_. With #quam#,
#post# is sometimes omitted. Or (_b._) less frequently by #cum#: as,
#quem trīduō, cum hās dabam litterās, exspectābam#, Planc. in _Fam._ 10,
23, 3, _I am looking for him three days after this writing_ (1601). For
a relative pronoun sentence, see 1354.
1398. Verbs of surpassing sometimes have an accusative of extent (1151):
as, #mīrāmur hunc hominem tantum excellere cēterīs?# _IP._ 39, _are we
surprised that this man so far outshines everybody else?_ With
comparatives, the accusative is rare: as, #aliquantum inīquior#, T.
_Hau._ 201, _somewhat too hard_. Similarly #permultum ante#, _Fam._ 3,
11, 1, _long long before_.
1399. In numerical designations of distance, the words #intervāllum# and
#spatium# are regularly put in the ablative: as, #rēx VI mīlium passuum
intervāllō ā Saburrā cōnsēderat#, Caes. _C._ 2, 38, 3, _the king had
pitched six miles away from Saburra_. So sometimes #mīlle#: as, #mīlibus
passuum VI a Caesaris castrīs sub monte cōnsēdit#, 1, 48, 1. See 1152.
[Errata:
1393 ... #multīs ante diēbus#, 7, 9, 4
diēbus.
1395 ... #bīduō ante vīctōriam#
vĭctōriam]