mé animi fallit (Lucr. i. 922), my mind deceives me.
So, by analogy, désipiébam mentis (Pl. Epid. 138), I was out of my head.
aeger animi, sick at heart; confiisus animi, disturbed in spirit.
sanus mentis aut animi (Pl. Trin. 454), sound in mind or heart.
PECULIAR GENITIVES
359. Peculiar Genitive constructions are the following : —
a. A poetical genitive occurs rarely in exclamations, in imitation


of the Greek (Genitive of Exclamation) : —


di immortalés, mercimGni lepidi (Pl. Most. 912), good heavens! what a charm-
ing bargain!
foederis heu taciti (Prop. iv. 7. 21), alas for the unspoken agreement !


224 - SYNTAX: CONSTRUCTION OF CASES [$$ 359, 360


b. The genitive is often used with the ablatives causa, gratia, for
the sake of; ergs, because of; and the indeclinable instar, like; also
with pridié, the day before; postridié, the day after; tenus, as far as:

honoris causa, with due respect (for the sake of honor).
verbi gratia, for example.
éius légis ergd, on account of this law. :

equus instar montis (Aen. ii. 15), a horse huge as a mountain (the image of
a mountain).
laterum tenus (id. x. 210), as far as the sides.
Nore 1.— Of these the genitive with causa is a development from the possessive
genitive and resembles that inndmen insaniae (§ 345.d). The others are of various origin.
Nore 2.— In prose of the Republican Period pridié and postridié are thus used only
in the expressions pridié (postridié) éius diéi, the day before (after) that (cf. ‘‘ the eve, the
morrow of that day’’). Tacitus uses the construction with other words: as, — postridié
insidiarum, the day after the plot. For the accusative, see § 432. a. Tenus takes also
the ablative (p. 136).
