niveos pulsata lacertos Sat 124

[cinefactus]

Still on the Bellum Civile

Pāx prīma ante aliās niveōs pulsāta lacertōs
abscondit galeā vīctum caput

Presumably she is beaten in regards to her snowy arms, but how does the grammar work?

 

[Pacifica]

It's an accusative of respect, and means literally what you say, "in regards to..." I'm not sure what more there is to say about the grammar. If you're wondering about the origin of the construction, my idea would be that it's a figurative extension of the accusative of end of motion, "towards something" ---> "in respect to something". The accusative of respect is especially frequent in poetry and most of the time involves body parts, though there are exceptions. It is sometimes called "Greek accusative" because the construction is much more widespread in Greek than in Latin. Whether it was actually borrowed, I don't know.

 

[cinefactus]

Thanks That is why I couldn't find it, I had filed it under Greek Accusative.