90                  THE  WRITING  OF NARRATIVE  LATIN

hand and the sword in the right. 13. I advise you not to use
infantry for ^ this march, so that you may return more quickly
after the battle and may not be compelled to delay. 14. He
suddenly asked a soldier for a javelin, and took from him his
sword also.^ 15. Use both infantry and cavalry in order to gain
possession of this camp the more quickly. 16. I will both keep
the enemy away from your towns and set you free from all fear.

I. ' kept asking'; what tense ? 2. This English form here ex¬
presses the attitude of continuous opposition and refusal; hence the
imperfect. 3. 82. 4. 99, n. i. 5. Here, of course, ^battle line';
see also n. 4.    6.  86, III.    7.  per.    8.  ad.   9.  quoque.
 

LESSON  XX

IDIOMS OF CASE CONSTRUCTION  (Continued)

105.  Idioms of possession.

a.   The fact of possession, involving the verbs have, possess,
own, is regularly expressed in Latin by the dative of the pos¬
sessor with sum.

Traders have no access to them, nullus aditus est ad eos merca-
toribus.

I. This is a variety of the dative of reference (18); for the
bare fact of possession simply means that something exists or
does not exist with reference to a particular person.

b.   The idea belong to, whether literal or figurative, is expressed
by a possessive genitive in the predicate after sum. In its
figurative sense the idea is extended to include such expressions
as duty of, characteristic of, mark of, etc.

The decision belongs to the commander (or is the prerogative of the
commander), iudicium imperatoris est; for this is characteristic of
Gallic custom, est enim hoc Gallicae consuetudinis.