Image: a portrait bust of the Emperor Trajan.

The Ablative Absolute

In the previous lessons, we have seen how incredibly versatile the Latin participle can be. By using a participle, a Roman writer could create an entire dependent clause with just that one word. Because of this fact, and its inherent ambiguity, participles are quite common in Latin writing, and they will provide an excellent opportunity for you to experience the great variety that can come with different translations. Think of participles as a blank canvas, and you get to be the artist creating great work on that canvas!

What is the Ablative Absolute?

The image depicts a statue bust of the Emperor Trajan. With the Roman people in great turmoil, Trajan was made emperor in 98 CE.

The ultimate expression of the versatility of participles comes in a special type of dependent clause called the Ablative Absolute. The ablative absolute is a construction which is grammatically independent from any content of the independent clause. In the example above, the Roman people (being) in great turmoil is grammatically separate from the independent clause: Trajan was made emperor. Compare this to a relative clause, which is designed specifically to refer back to a particular noun. The ablative absolute adds meaningful information for the sentence.

Formation of the Ablative Absolute

Image: Ablative Absolute = a noun in the ablative case and a participle agreeing with the noun. At a minimum, the ablative absolute contains two pieces: a noun in the ablative case and a participle, agreeing with that noun.

These items are often placed at the beginning of a sentence and separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma, though it is not required to be that way. The ablative absolute does not use a preposition. The most common form of the ablative absolute uses the perfect passive participle, but any participle can be used for the construction. The participle can have associated objects and prepositional phrases, just like any other participle.

Translation of the Ablative Absolute

Let's examine an example of the ablative absolute, and explore the possible translations available:

Nuntio invento, Pseudolus librum ad Maecenas cepit.
- Nuntio = neuter, ablative, singular; noun
- invento = neuter, ablative, singular; perfect passive participle

Nota bene:

The noun and participle agree in case, number and gender
The noun and participle are both in the ablative case
The ablative absolute is located at the beginning of the sentence and is set off by commas.

Here we see the noun nuntio in the ablative case followed by the perfect passive participle invento. In terms of position and style, this is a classic example of the ablative absolute. At the most basic level (plain translation), this means: the message having been found. However, because the phrase contains a participle, the same possibilities for translation exist.

The Flexibility of the Ablative Absolute

Let's look at that example sentence containing an ablative absolute to see all the ways we could translate it.

Nuntio invento, Pseudolus librum ad Maecenas cepit.

Plain
- The message having been found, Pseudolus took the book to Maecenas.
Plain using with
- With the message having been found, Pseudolus took the book to Maecenas.
Two Clauses
- Pseudols found the message and took the book to Maecenas.*
Temporal (time) - before, when, after
- After the message was found, Pseudolus took the book to Maecenas.
- Before the message was found, Pseudolus took the book to Maecenas.
- When the message was found, Pseudolus took the book to Maecenas.
Causal - because, since
- Because the message was found, Pseudolus took the book to Maecenas.
Concessive - although, though, even though
- Although the message was found, Pseudolus took the book to Maecenas.
Conditional - if
- If the message was found, Pseudolus took the book to Maecenas.

Nota bene

*In the "two clauses" example, notice that some of the grammar was changed. Pseudolus became the subject of both actions (finding and taking). Take care to maintain the original meaning if you choose to translate in this fashion.

Which of those options do you think fits the context of the sentence? Perhaps the temporal translation seems the best to you, or maybe it is the causal that works best in your estimation. As you can see, several of these translations would be appropriate, so you have a great degree of flexibility in approaching these clauses.