Latin Words and Grammar

A Guide to Distance in Latin: The Accusative of Extent of Space (and Ablative)

This article has been reviewed in accordance with our editorial policy.

Contents

1. A Note on Roman Measurements
2. How Far? Distance Traversed
- Pop Quiz: How Do You Translate The Following?
  - Answers:
3. How Far Away? At What Distance?
- Pop Quiz: How Do You Translate The Following?
4. The Apparent Exceptions
5. Summary & Review

Over the years, many students have asked about the so-called accusative of extent and of space and how Latin expresses distance. In this guide, I will answer these questions, explaining how Latin uses the accusative and ablative for these purposes. After reading this, you’ll know how to interpret and describe distance in Latin.

In Latin, the distance covered by an act of motion, or the distance at which something is located or takes place, is commonly expressed by the accusative and, sometimes, by the ablative case. The preposition ab with the ablative is regularly used when the point from which a person or object is separated is not mentioned explicitly.

Although all this might seem like a lot, we’ll take it step-by-step, using many examples from Latin literature to make sure everything is clear.

First, we’ll examine how Latin uses the accusative case to express distance traversed (‘How far?’) by an act of motion as well as distance separating things (‘How far away? At what distance?’). Next, we’ll touch upon some conditions when the ablative is used instead of the accusative. I will treat the use of the ablative to express the degree of difference in distance in another article.

1. A Note on Roman Measurements

Before we begin, it is useful to know some common Roman units of measurements, which we will see in the examples used in this guide.

White marble statue of Roman foot from the Museo Nationale Romano in Rome.

A Roman pes (‘foot’) is 29.6 cm or 0.97 ft
A Roman cubitum (‘cubit’) is 44.4 cm or 1.456 ft
And a Roman passus (‘pace’) is 1.48 m or 4.85 ft

When measuring longer distances, a common measurement used by authors such as Caesar is mille passus:

Mille passus (‘a thousand paces’) is 1.48 km or 4856 ft (0.919 mi)

Mille is neuter, so the nominative and the accusative are the same: mille (singular) and milia (plural). Note that if we count two thousand or more paces, mille is placed in the plural, milia, while passus remains in the plural but is placed in the genitive case:

Mille passus (‘a thousand paces’ = ca. 1 mile)
Duo milia passuum (‘two thousand (of) paces’ = ca. 2 miles)
Centum milia passuum (‘one hundred thousand (of) paces’ = ca. 100 miles.

Let’s get back to how distances are expressed in Latin.

2. How Far? Distance Traversed

The bare accusative, i.e., without preposition, is used with verbs of motion (or implied motion) to describe the traversed distance, moving from point A to point B. It answers the question ‘How far?’. In the literature, we find the common units of measurements such as passus (exx. 1–3), but also other words indicating distance (exx. 4–5).

Nemo potest triduo septingenta milia passuum ambulare (‘No one can walk seven hundred miles in three days.’ Cic. Att. 13.20.6)
flagrantis in tantum ut (Aetna) centena milia passuum harenas flammarum globo eructet. (‘being so hot that it (Aetna) belches out sands in a ball of flame over a space of 100 miles at a time.’ Plin. Hist. 2.234)
ipse noctu progressus milia passuumcirciter xii hostium copias conspicatus est. (‘He himself advancing about twelve miles in the night, caught sight of the enemy’s forces.’ Caes. BG 5.9.2)
Tridui viam progressi rursus reverterunt. (‘They proceeded for a three days’ journey, and then returned’ Caesar BG 4.4)
Si ex istoc loco digitum transvorsum aut unguem latum excesseris… (‘If you leave your place by just a finger’s or a nail’s breadth…’ Pl. Aul. 1.1.18)

In all these examples people or objects are traversing a distance and this distance is expressed by the accusative case (milia passuum, viam, digitum).

Note. From around the time of Livy (ca. 59 BC–17 AD) and onwards, we also find the construction with the preposition per with the accusative with verbs of motion:

Nec non et Tityon, Terrae omniparentis alumnum, / cernere erat, per tota novem cui iugera corpus. (‘Likewise, one might see Tityon, nursling of Earth, the mother of all; his body is stretched over nine full acres.’ Verg. Aen. 6.595–657)

One might, in these instances, perhaps, also understand some emphasis expressed by the preposition per.

Footsteps on a beach towards the sea and the setting sun to illustrate distance.

Pop Quiz: How Do You Translate The Following?

(You’ll find the answers below.)

Marc walked ten miles yesterday.
The wolf chased the boy for five miles.
The bear jumped 5 feet.
The tree has grown one foot.

Answers:

Marcus decem milia passum heri ambulavit.
Lupus puerum quinque milia passuum insecutus est.
Ursus quinque pedes saliit.
Arbor pedem crevit.

How’d it go? Good? Pulchre!

Now we know how Latin expresses movement across space, but what about the distance separating things?

Let’s continue.

3. How Far Away? At What Distance?

In Latin, adverbs and nouns can describe the distance separating point A from point B, answering the questions ‘How far away? At what distance?’. The exact measurement of the distance is regularly placed in the accusative case and occurs perhaps most commonly with the verbs distare (‘to be separate, distant’) and abesse (‘to be away from, separate from’) (exx. 1–3), but with others as well (exx. 4).

edixitque ut urbe abesset milia passuum ducenta (‘and he issued an edict that he keep two hundred miles away from the city’ Cic. Sest. 29)
Turres toto opere circumdedit, quae pedes LXXX inter se distarent. (‘and all round the works he set turrets at intervals of eighty feet.’ Caes. B.G. 7.72)
Cum tamen abessent aliquot dierum viam […] (‘although they were several days’ journey distant’ Cic. Planc. 98)
Milia passum tria ab hostium castris castra ponit (‘He made camp three miles from the camp of the enemy’ Caes. B.G. 1.22.5)
Quam longe est hinc in saltum vestrum Gallicanum? – DCC milia passuum. (‘How far is it from here to your pastures in Gaul? –Seven hundred miles.’ Cic. Quinct. 79)

As you can see, the units of measurements are placed in the accusative case. In the third example, the measurement of separation is not the length of the road but rather the temporal length of the journey aliquot dierum viam (‘a few day’s journey’). In such contexts, the noun viam or iter is sometimes omitted leaving only the genitive qualifying it, as in the following example:

hanc epistulam dictavi sedens in raeda cum in castra proficiscerer, a quibus aberam bidui. (‘I am dictating (epistolary tense) this letter as I sit in my carriage on my way to join the army, which is two days’ journey away.’ Cic. Att. 5.17)

Here we have to read it as if it said aberam bidui viam/iter.

In all these examples we see that the accusative (milia passuum, pedes, viam) is used to express the distance separating people or objects.

Pop Quiz: How Do You Translate The Following?

(Answers Below)

The temple is two miles from the mountain.
He built a house twenty miles from the city.
The girl is standing two feet from the lion.

Answers:

Templum duo milia passuum a monte abest.
Aedes viginti milia passuum ab urbe aedificavit.
Puella duo pedes a leone stat.

4. The Apparent Exceptions

So far so good, fairly straightforward, but this is Latin and few things are straightforward as you know. The accusative is indeed the typical way to designate distances, but it is not the only one, unfortunately. Like so often in languages, there are variations.

Let’s have a look at them.

Exception 1: Ablative

First, above we saw that the accusative is used to express the distance between places. However, we also find the ablative in contexts where the accusative usually occurs:

Eodem die castra promovit et milibus passuum sex a Caesaris castris sub monte consedit. (‘On the same day he advanced and pitched his camp under a hill-side six miles from Caesar’s.’ Caes. B.G. 1.48.1)

Let’s compare this sentence to one of the examples quoted above:

Milia passum tria ab hostium castris castra ponit (‘He made camp three miles from the camp of the enemy’ Caes. B.G. 1.22.5)

We see that both sentences are very similar but that the first has the ablative milibus passuum sex, whereas the second has the accusative milia passum tria. Now, the ablative case is generally associated with rest or location and in the first example, one could say that the emphasis is on the location rather than the space separating the two points. The first example can thus be read as answering the question “where?” rather than “how far?”

This, however, is not all. Read on.

Exception 2: Unknown Starting Point

There is another apparent exception where the ablative is used instead of the accusative. Above, we learned that the accusative is used to indicate the distance separating objects. However, if the place from which the distance is measured is not mentioned in the sentence (but often inferable), then ab + ablative is commonly used instead.

Positis castris a milibuspassuum xv, auxilia Germanorum exspectare constituunt. (‘They pitched their camp at a distance of fifteen miles, and determined to await their German auxiliaries.’ Caes. B.G. 6.7)
Collocatis insidiis bipertito in silvis opportuno atque occulto loco a milibuspassuumcirciter duobus, Romanorum adventum exspectabant. (‘They posted a double ambush in the woods, in a convenient and covert spot about two miles away and there they waited for the arrival of the Romans.’ Caes. B.G. 3.2)
Postquam inceptum non succedebat, castra propius hostem movit rex et a quinque milibus passuum communiit. (‘After the attempt failed of success, the king moved his camp nearer the enemy and fortified it at five miles’ distance.’ Liv. 42.58)

In these examples, it does not say from what point the various numbers of miles are measured: there is no ab urbe or a flumine to designate the point from which the measurement is done. In these cases, ab + ablative is the norm, though not without exception:

unis castris factis III milia passuum longe considunt. (‘they established themselves in a single camp three miles away’ Bell. Afr. 24.2.1)
Tridui viam aberat (‘He was at a distance of three days’ march,’ Liv. 25.8.12)

If we were to make up an example and add a point from which the measurement was taken, we would no longer use ab with the ablative but merely the accusative.

Exception 3: Intervallum & Spatium

Our third and final apparent exception to the tendency to use the accusative in relation to distances concerns the words intervallum and spatium. These words are commonly placed in the ablative when designating distance:

Castraque Cleopatrae non longo spatio ab eius castris distabant. (‘Cleopatra’s camp was not far from his.’ Caes. B.C. 3.103)
Rex cum omnibus copiis insequebatur et vi milium passuum intervallo ab Saburra consederat. (‘the king was pursuing with all his forces and had made camp at a distance of six miles from Saburra.’ Caes. B.C. 2.38)

Using what we have learned above, we can rewrite the second example (2) using the bare accusative. All we have to do is take the distance vi milium(genitive) and place it in the accusative vi milia and we get:

Rex … vi milia passuum ab Saburra consederat. (‘the king had made camp six miles from Saburra’)

5. Summary & Review

To sum up, Latin normally uses the accusative case to express the distance covered by an act of motion or the distance separating places. In the latter case, instead of the accusative, the ablative with ab is used if the point from which measurement is taken is not mentioned. The words spatium and intervallum are also commonly used in the ablative to express distance.

Let’s recap with some short sentences to see how the accusative expresses the length of a movement (1) and the distance separating things (2). In (3), the starting point of the measuring is not mentioned, so we use ab with the ablative. And finally, in (4), we use the noun intervallum in the ablative with the genitive.

Tullia duo milia passuum cottidie ambulat. (‘Tullia walked two miles yesterday.’)
Domus mea a templo tria milia passuum abest. (‘My house is three miles from the temple.’)
Amica ab decem pedibus me exspectat. (My friend is waiting for me ten feet away.’)
Arbores intervallo duorum pedum ab aedibus distant. (‘The trees are at a distance of two feet from the house.’)

Remember that what we’ve treated today are tendencies, not rules. As often with Latin, we can see what authors do most of the time and learn to interpret that correctly and, perhaps, imitate it.

Now you know how Latin expresses distance. It may be a lot to take in, but take it one thing at a time. Read through this guide again, look at the examples a couple of times, and try to write your own sentences describing distances.

Next time we’ll talk about dimensions and size in Latin!

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Daniel Pettersson

Teacher, author, and CEO of Legentibus Daniel Pettersson, M.A., is co-founder of Legentibus and Latinitium. He is also working on his Ph.D. dissertation on Humanist Colloquia. Daniel believes in the importance of Latin literature in the modern world and that you can teach yourself Latin with the right motivation, method, and material.