Quibus rebus cognitis..

[Hermes Trismegistus]

What's the exactly meaning of that construction?


Thanks in advance!

 

[Pacifica]

It's an ablative absolute meaning literally: "Which things having been learned..."

Depending on context, it could be translated less literally as "after learning these things", "when he/she/they... learned those things", or the like.

 

[Hermes Trismegistus]

It's an ablative absolute meaning literally: "Which things having been learned..."

Depending on context, it could be translated less literally as "after learning these things", "when he/she/they... learned those things", or the like.

By the way, Reading Caesar's "De bello civili" and "De bello gallico", I've noticed that Caesar was fond of using Ablative absolutes, many of which beginning with "Relative pronouns" such as: "Quo facto, qua re congnita, quibus verbis dictis etc. However, I've seen many other constructions which are not 'Abl.Abs.' such as: "Quo facilius.. Qui cum eum in itinere convenissent.. Quod ubi Caesar comperit.. Quod ubi Caesar animadvertit.. Quod cum animadvertisset Caesar.. Ei cum ad castra venissent.. Quas cum Caesar aliquamdiu frustra exspectasset.. Eo cum venisset.. my question is: "Do they have any literal meaning or one may ignore them? Quod ubi? Quas cum? Eo cum? Ei cum? i.d., what are those constructions?


Thank you very very... (100x) very much..

 

[Pacifica]

They have literal meanings, of course, but those usually don't work well in English. Take this, for example:

Quod ubi comperit, iratus est.
A very literal translation would be: "Which when he learned, he got angry."
But to make it normal present-day English you have to turn it into "When he learned that, he got angry", or the like.

Relatives used that way are called connective (or connecting) relatives. They serve to make one sentence flow smoothly into the other by connecting them loosely. It is often said that a connective relative is roughly equivalent to et or sed followed by a form of is.

Ei cum ad castra venissent..

Eo cum venisset..

Those aren't examples of connective relatives, though. Ei and eo aren't relatives at all.

 

[Hermes Trismegistus]

They have literal meanings, of course, but those usually don't work well in English. Take this, for example:

Quod ubi comperit, iratus est.
A very literal translation would be: "Which when he learned, he got angry."
But to make it normal present-day English you have to turn it into "When he learned that, he got angry", or the like.

Relatives used that way are called connective (or connecting) relatives. They serve to make one sentence flow smoothly into the other by connecting them loosely. It is often said that a connective relative is roughly equivalent to et or sed followed by a form of is.


Those aren't examples of connective relatives, though. Ei and eo aren't relatives at all.

When he got there <Eo>
When they came <Ei>, is it ok?!

 

[Pacifica]

Yes.