§407. Uses of the Ablative Proper

The comparative may be followed by quam, than. When quam is used, the two things compared are put in the same case<*>

• nōn callidior es quam hīc (Rosc. Am. 49), you are not more cunning than he.
• cōntiōnibus accommodātior est quam iūdiciīs (Clu. 2), fitter for popular assemblies than for courts.
• misericordiā dīgnior quam contumēliā (Pison. 32), more worthy of pity than of disgrace.

a. The construction with quam is required when the first of the things compared is not in the Nominative or Accusative.

b. In sentences expressing or implying a general negative the ablative (rather than quam) is the regular construction when the first member of the comparison is in the nominative or accusative:—

• nihil dētestābilius dēdecore, nihil foedius servitūte (Phil. 3.36), nothing is more dreadful than disgrace, nothing viler than slavery.
• nēminem esse cāriōrem tē (Att. x. 8A. 1), that no one is dearer than you.

c. After the comparatives plūs, minus, amplius, longius, without quam, a word of measure or number is often used with no change in its case:—

• plūs septingentī captī; (Liv. 41.12), more than seven hundred were taken. [Nominative.]
• plūs tertiā parte interfectā; (B. G. 3.6), more than a third part being slain. [Ablative Absolute.]
• aditus in lātitūdinem nōn amplius ducentōrum pedum relinquēbātur (id. 2.29), an approach of not more than two hundred feet in width was left. [Genitive of Measure: § 345. b.]

d. Alius is sometimes followed by the ablative in poetic and colloquial use; in formal prose it is followed by ac ( atque), et, more rarely by nisi, quam:—

• nec quicquam aliud lībertāte commūnī; (Fam. 11.2), nothing else than the common liberty.
• alius Lȳsippō (Hor. Ep. 2.1.240), another than Lysippus.
• num aliud vidētur esse ac meōrum bonōrum dīreptiō; (Dom. 51), does it seem anything different from the plundering of my property?
• erat historia nihil aliud nisi annālium cōnfectiō; (De O<*>. 2.52), history was nothing else but a compiling of records.

e. The comparative of an adverb is usually followed by quam, rarely by the ablative except in poetry:—

• tempus tē citius quam ōrātiō dēficeret (Rosc. Am. 89), time would fail you sooner than words. But,—
• cur olīvum sanguine vīperīnō cautius vītat (Hor. Od. 1.8.9), why does he shun oil more carefully than viper's blood?