a) Time, as in the foregoing examples.

  b) Condition; as,—­

    omnes virtutes jacent, voluptate dominante, all virtues lie prostrate,
    if pleasure is master.

  c) Opposition; as,—­

    perditis omnibus rebus, virtus se sustentare potest, though everything
    else is lost, yet Virtue can maintain herself.

  d) Cause; as,—­

    nullo adversante regnum obtinuit, since no one opposed him, he secured
    the throne.

  e) Attendant circumstance; as,—­

    passis palmis pacem petiverunt, with hands outstretched, they sued for
    peace.

3.  An Infinitive or clause sometimes occurs in the Ablative Absolute construction, especially in Livy and later writers; as,—­

    audito eum fugisse, when it was heard that he had fled.

4.  A noun or pronoun stands in the Ablative Absolute construction only when it denotes a different person or thing from any in the clause in which it stands.  Exceptions to this principle are extremely rare.

LOCATIVE USES OF THE ABLATIVE.

Ablative of Place.

A.  Place where.

228.  The place where is regularly denoted by the Ablative with a preposition; as,—­

    in urbe habitat, he dwells in the city.

1.  But certain words stand in the Ablative without a preposition; viz.—­

  a) Names of towns,—­except Singulars of the First and Second Declensions
  (see Sec. 232, 1); as,—­

    Carthagini, at Carthage;

    Athenis, at Athens;

    Vejis, at Veii.

  b) The general words loco, locis, parte; also many words modified by
  totus or even by other Adjectives; as,—­

    hoc loco, at this place;

    totis castris, in the whole camp.

  c) The special words:  foris, out of doors; ruri, in the country,
  terra marique, on land and sea.

  d) The poets freely omit the preposition with any word denoting place;
  as,—­

    stant litore puppes, the sterns rest on the beach.

B.  Place from which.[50]

229.  Place from which is regularly denoted by the Ablative with a preposition; as,—­

    ab Italia profectus est, he set out from Italy;

    ex urbe rediit, he returned from the city.

1.  But certain words stand in the Ablative without a preposition; viz.—­

  a) Names of towns and small islands; as,—­

    Roma profectus est, he set out from Rome;

    Rhodo revertit, he returned from Rhodes.

  b) domo, from home; rure, from the country.

  c) Freely in poetry; as,—­

    Italia decessit, he withdrew from Italy.