(5) In translating, try to bring out the exact force of the +Ablative Absolute+, by which a Latin writer shows the time or circumstances of the action expressed by the Predicate. The Ablative Absolute is an adverbial enlargement of the Predicate, and is not grammatically dependent on any word in the sentence. It is, therefore, called +absolutus+ (i.e. _freed from_ or _unconnected_). It should very seldom be translated literally. Your best plan will be to consider carefully what the Ablative Absolute seems to suggest about the action of the Principal Verb. For example:-- +Capta Troia, Graeci domum redierunt.+ _The Greeks returned home after the capture of Troy._ +Regnante Romulo, Roma urbs erat parva.+ _When Romulus was reigning, Rome was a small city._ +Exercitu collecto in hostes contenderunt.+ _They collected an army and marched against the enemy._ +Nondum hieme confecta in fines Nerviorum contendit.+ _Though the winter was not yet over, he hastened to the territory of the Nervii._ +Tum salutato hostium duce, ad suos conversus, subditis equo calcaribus, Germanorum ordines praetervectus est, neque expectatis legatis, nec respondente ullo.+ _Thereupon, after saluting the enemy’s general, he turned to his companions, and setting spurs to his horse, rode past the ranks of the Germans, without either waiting for his staff, or receiving an answer from anyone._ HELPS TO STYLE. Though Style cannot perhaps be taught, it can certainly be formed and improved. There are several ways of improving your Style. For example:-- +14. Through the Best English Literature.+--+Read good Literature+, the best English Authors in prose and verse. You will know something, perhaps, of Shakespeare and Scott, of Macaulay and Tennyson. Though you may not be able to attack the complete works of any great author, you ought not to have any difficulty in finding good books of selections from the English Classics. +15. Through good Translations.+--Study a few +good English Versions+ of passages from the best Latin writers. You may often have a good version of the passage you translate read to you in your Division after your mistakes have been pointed out to you, and to this you should pay great attention. You will thus learn eventually to suit your style to the Author you are translating, while at the same time you render the passage closely and accurately. +16. Be Clear.+--Remember that the first characteristic of a good style is +clearness+--that is, to say what you mean and to mean what you say. Quintilian, the great critic, says that the aim of the translator should be, not that the reader may understand if he will, but that he _must_ understand whether he will or not. The more you read the greatest Authors the more you will see that, as Coleridge says, ‘there is a reason assignable not only for every word, but for the position of every word.’