Heavy Construction
The Allen and Greenough is still under construction;
so some links may not work quite the way you would expect.
Verbs of Accusing, Condemning, and Acquitting.
352.
Verbs of accusing, condemning, and
acquitting, take the Genitive of the Charge or Penalty:
- arguit mé furtí,
he accuses me of theft.
- pecúlátús
damnátus (pecúniae públicae damnátus)
(Flacc. 43), condermed for embezzlent.
- videó nón té
absolútum esse improbitátis, sed illós
damnatós esse caedio (Verr. ii. 1. 72), I see, not that
you were acquitted of outrage, but that they were condemned for
homicide.
a. Peculiar genitives, under this
construction, are
- capitis, as in damnare capitis, to sentence to death.
- mâiestitis [laesae],
treason (crime against the dignity of the state).
- repetundirum [rérum],
extortion (lit. of an action for reclaiming money).
- votí damnatus (or reus), bound [to the payment] of one's
vow, i.e. successful in one's effort.
- pecúniae (damnáre, iúdicare, see note).
- duplí etc., as in duplí condemnáre, condemn to pay
twofold.
NOTE: The origin of these genitive constructions is pointed at
by pecúriae damnáre (Gell xx. 1. 38), to condemn to pay money, in a case of injury to the
person; quantae pecuniae iúdicati
cesserit (id. xx. 1. 47), how much money they were adjudged to
pay, in a mere suit for debt; confessí
aeris ac debití iúdicati (id. xx. 1. 42),
adjudged to owe an admitted sum due. These expressions show that
the genitive of the penalty comes from the use of the genitive of value
to
express a sum of money due either as a debt or as a fine. Since
in early civilizations all offences could be compounded by the payment of
fines, the genitive came to be used of other punishments, not pecuniary.
From this to the genitive of the actual crime is an easy transition,
inasmuch as there is always a confusion between crime and penalty
(cf. Eng. guilty of death). It is quite unnecessary to assume an
ellipsis of crímine or iúdicio.