§282. Apposition

A noun used to describe another, and standing in the same part of the sentence with the noun described, is called an Appositive, and is said to be in apposition:—

• externus timor, maximum concordiae vinculum, iungēbat animōs (Liv. 2.39), fear of the foreigner, the chief bond of harmony, united their hearts. [Here the appositive belongs to the subject.]
• quattuor hīc prīmum ōmen equōs vīdī; (Aen. 3.537), I saw here four horses, the first omen. [Here both nouns are in the predicate.]
• litterās Graecās senex didicī; (Cat. M. 26), I learned Greek when an old man. [Here senex, though in apposition with the subject of didicī, really states something further: viz., the time, condition, etc., of the act (Predicate Apposition).]

a. Words expressing parts may be in apposition with a word including the parts, or vice versa (Partitive Apposition):—

• Nec P. Popilius neque Q. Metellus, clārissimī virī atque amplissimī, vim tribūnīciam sustinēre potuērunt (Clu. 95), neither Publius Popilius nor Quintus Metellus, [both of them] distinguished and honorable men, could withstand the power of the tribunes.
• Gnaeus et Pūblius Scīpiōnēs, Cneius and Publius Scipio (the Scipios).

b. An Adjective may be used as an appositive:—

• ea Sex. Rōscium inopem recēpit (Rosc. Am. 27), she received Sextus Roscius in his poverty (needy).

c. An appositive generally agrees with its noun in Gender and Number when it can:—

• sequuntur nātūram, optimam ducem (Lael. 19), they follow nature, the best guide.
• omnium doctrīnārum inventrīcēs Athēnās (De Or. 1.13), Athens, discoverer of all learning.

d. A common noun in apposition with a Locative (§ 427) is put in the Ablative, with or without the preposition in:—

• Antiochīae, celebrī quondam urbe (Arch. 4), at Antioch, once a famous city.
• Albae cōnstitērunt, in urbe mūnītā; (Phil. 4.6), they halted at Alba, a fortified town.

For a Genitive in apposition with a Possessive Pronoun or an Adjective, see § 302. 6

For the so-called Appositional Genitive, see § 343. d.

For the construction with nōmen est, see § 373. a.