§414. Uses of the Ablative As Instrumental

With Comparatives and words implying comparison the ablative is used to denote the Degree of Difference:—

• quīnque mīlibus passuum distat, it is five miles distant.
• ā mīlibus passuum circiter duōbus (B. G. 5.32), at a distance of about two miles. [For ā as an adverb, see § 433. 3.]
• aliquot ante annīs (Tusc. 1.4), several years before.
• aliquantō post suspexit (Rep. 6.9), a while after, he looked up.
• multō mē vigilāre ācrius (Cat. 1.8), that I watch much more sharply.
• nihilō erat ipse Cyclōps quam ariēs prūdentior (Tusc. 5.115), the Cyclops himself was not a whit wiser than the ram.

a. The ablatives quō ... eō ( hōc), and quantō ... tantō, are used correlatively with comparatives, like the English the ... the ¹:—

• quō minus cupiditātis, eō plūs auctōritātis (Liv. 24.28), the less greed, the more weight (by what the less, by that the more).
• quantō erat gravior oppūgnātiō, tantō crēbriōrēs litterae mittēbantur (B. G. 5.45), the severer the siege was, the more frequently letters were sent.

• eōque mē minus paenitet (N. D. 1.8), and for that reason I regret less, etc. (by so much the less I regret).
• haec eō facilius faciēbant, quod (B. G. 3.12), this they did the more easily for this reason, because, etc. [Cf. hōc mâiōre spē, quod (id. 3.9).]

b. The Ablative of Comparison (§ 406) and the Ablative of Degree of Difference are sometimes used together with the same adjective:—

• paulō minus ducentīs (B. C. 3.28), a little less than two hundred.
• patria, quae mihi vītā meā multō est cārior (Cat. 1.27), my country, which is much dearer to me than life.

But the construction with quam is more common.

Ablative of Quality