bb) Sometimes Neuter; as,—­

    parentes, liberos, domos vilia habere, to hold parents, children,
    houses cheap.

      cc) Sometimes it agrees with the nearest noun; as,—­

    populi provinciaeque liberatae sunt, nations and provinces were
    liberated.

  c) Construction according to Sense.  Sometimes an Adjective does not agree
  with a noun according to strict grammatical form, but according to sense;
  as,—­

    pars bestiis objecti sunt, part (of the men) were thrown to beasts.

ADJECTIVES USED SUBSTANTIVELY.

236. 1.  PLURAL ADJECTIVES USED SUBSTANTIVELY.  Adjectives are quite freely used as Substantives in the Plural.  The Masculine denotes persons; the Neuter denotes things; as,—­

  docti, scholars; parva, small things;
  mali, the wicked; magna, great things;
  Graeci, the Greeks; utilia, useful things;
                nostri, our men.

2.  Neuter Plural Adjectives thus used are confined mainly to the Nominative and Accusative cases.  Such forms as magnorum, omnium; magnis, omnibus, would ordinarily lead to ambiguity; yet where there is no ambiguity, they sometimes occur; as,—­

    parvis componere magna, to compare great things with small

Otherwise the Latin says:  magnarum rerum, magnis rebus, etc.

237.  SINGULAR ADJECTIVES USED SUBSTANTIVELY.  Adjectives are less freely used as Substantives in the Singular than in the Plural.

1.  Masculine Adjectives occur only occasionally in this use; as,—­

    probus invidet nemini, the honest man envies nobody.

  a.  Usually vir, homo, or some similar word is employed; as,—­

    homo doctus, a scholar;

    vir Romanus, a Roman.

  b.  But when limited by a pronoun any adjective may be so used; as,—­

    hic doctus, this scholar;

    doctus quidam, a certain scholar.

2.  Neuters are likewise infrequent; as,—­

    verum, truth;

    justum, justice;

    honestum, virtue.

  a.  This substantive use of Neuter Singulars is commonest in the
  construction of the Genitive of the Whole, and after Prepositions; as,—­

    aliquid veri, something true;

    nihil novi, nothing new;

    in medio, in the midst.

238.  From Adjectives which, like the above, occasionally admit the substantive use, must be carefully distinguished certain others which have become nouns; as,—­

  adversarius, opponent; hiberna, winter
                              quarters;
  aequalis, contemporary; propinquus, relative;
  amicus, friend; socius, partner;
  cognatus, kinsman; sodalis, comrade;
                vicinus, neighbor; etc.