ABLATIVE ABSOLUTES

An ablative absolute is a construction with a participle and a noun/pronoun both in the ablative case.

The most literal translation would be ‘with…having been…’

E.g. ‘with these words having been said’ = his verbis dictis (both the noun/pronoun and the participle are in the ablative case)

The translation can then be altered to make it flow better by saying ‘having said these things’ 'or ‘after saying these things’

Ablative absolutes are independent and thus aren’t affected by any grammatical constraints in the rest of the sentence.

*Note, the verb ‘to be’ (esse) doesn’t have a participle and so this is left out

e.g. Caesare duce… = with Caesar as leader….