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Forerunners of Romance -mente adverbsinLatin 351
as in the sentence he goes to London, which is unspecified in terms of how
he is getting there; by contrast he walks to London is specific. In Horace we
find instances in which the verb as such is non-specific, as:
(24) iniurioso ne pede proruas | stantem columnam (Hor. Carm. 1.35.13–14)
lest you overturn the standing pillar with criminal foot.
The verb proruo conveys the generic notion of reversing, but as such does
not specify the way it is done. It is the ablative construction that provides
this specification. Similarly:
(25) ferebar incerto pede
I was moving with uncertain foot/uncertainly
(Hor. Epod. 11.20)
(26) pallida Mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas | regumque turris
(Hor. Carm. 1.4.13)
pale Death knocks with impartial foot at the doors of poor huts and at
the gates of royal palaces.
In some of these instances the lexical interpretation is clear, as in:
(27) puerumminaci | voce dum terret (Hor. Carm. 1.10.10–11)
he terrified you as a boy with a threatening voice.
In other instances adverbial value is stronger, as in:
(28) et sacrilega manu | produxit
and he reared you with a sacrilegious hand
(Hor. Carm. 2.13.2–3)
(29) si quis impia manu | senile guttur fregerit . . . (Hor. Epod. 3.1–2)
if anyone will strangle an old man’s throat with impious hand . . .
These examples are interesting not only because the type of activity is
specified by the occurrence of the noun, but also because the adjective that
is added reveals the manner in which the specified action is carried out. As
a result adjective + noun in this instance has at the same time instrumental
and adverbial value. In instances of this type may reside the origins of the
adverbial innovation.
4 conclusions
Reflecting a tendency observed for the development of mente, examples
of ablative uses of animo and of nouns conveying body parts reveal an