§349. Genitive with Adjectives

Adjectives requiring an object of reference govern the Objective Genitive.

a. Adjectives denoting desire, knowledge, memory, fulness, power, sharing, guilt, and their opposites govern the genitive:—

• avidī laudis (Manil. 7), greedy of praise.
• fastīdiōsus litterārum, disdaining letters.
• iūris perītus, skilled in law. [So also the ablative, iūre, cf. § 418.]
• memorem vestrī, oblītum suī (Cat. 4.19), mindful of you, forgetful of himself.
• ratiōnis et ōrātiōnis expertēs (Off. 1.50), devoid of sense and speech.
• nostrae cōnsuētūdinis imperītī; (B. G. 4.22), unacquainted with our customs.
• plēnus fideī, full of good faith.
• omnis speī egēnam (Tac. Ann. 1.53), destitute of all hope.
• tempestātum potentem (Aen. 1.80), having sway over the storms.
• impotēns īrae (Liv. 29.9.9), ungovernable in anger.
• coniūrātiōnis participēs (Cat. 3.14), sharing in the conspiracy.
• affīnis reī capitālis (Verr. 2.2.94), involved in a capital crime.
• īnsōns culpae (Liv. 22.49), innocent of guilt.

b. Participles in -ns govern the genitive when they are used as adjectives, i.e. when they denote a constant disposition and not a particular act:—

• sī quem tuī amantiōrem cōgnōvistī; (Q. Fr. 1.1.15), if you have become acquainted with any one more fond of you.
• multitūdō īnsolēns bellī (B. C. 2.36), a crowd unused to war.
• erat Iugurtha appetēns glōriae mīlitāris (Iug. 7), Jugurtha was eager for military glory.

c. Verbals in -āx (§ 251) govern the genitive in poetry and later Latin:—

• iūstum et tenācem prōpositī virum (Hor. Od. 3.3), a man just and steadfast to his purpose.
• circus capāx populī (Ov. A. A. 1.136), a circus big enough to hold the people.
• cibī vīnīque capācissimus (Liv. 9.16.13), a very great eater and drinker (very able to contain food and wine).

d. The poets and later writers use the genitive with almost any adjective, to denote that with reference to which the quality exists (Genitive of Specification):—

• callidus reī mīlitāris (Tac. H. 2.32), skilled in soldiership.
• pauper aquae (Hor. Od. 3.30.11), scant of water.
• nōtus animī paternī (id. 2.2.6), famed for a paternal spirit.
• fessī rērum (Aen. 1.178), weary of toil.
• integer vītae scelerisque pūrus (Hor. Od. 1.22.1), upright in life, and unstained by guilt.

For the Ablative of Specification, the prose construction, see § 418. For Adjectives of likeness etc. with the Genitive, apparently Objective, see § 385. c. For Adjectives with animī (locative in origin), see § 358.

Genitive with Verbs