Translating ablative absolutes: when, since, although Using…
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Trаnslаting аblative absоlutes: when, since, althоugh Using the prepоsition "with" to translate ablative absolutes is a fairly straightforward way of rendering these constructions literally in English, but it doesn't sound very good, so it's worth thinking about less literal possibilities for translation. This gets to the core of what the ablative absolute does: providing circumstantial information to the action of the sentence. Consider, for example, the following sentence, with a straightforward "with" translation of the ablative absolute: Verbīs Caesaris audītīs, cōpiae petent. With the words of Caesar having been heard, the forces will attack. In the sentence, the ablative absolute provides the circumstance (Caesar's words get heard) in which the action of the main verb happens (the forces attack). Now, we might describe the relationship between the two sentences as temporal: that is, one action happens first (Caesar's words having been heard), followed by another action (the attack). This means we can translate the ablative absolute as a separate clause, using "when": When the words of Caesar have been heard, the forces will attack. Note that now, the participle ("having been heard") has become a finite verb ("have been heard") to form a complete clause. Using this temporal translation is common, but it might be even be said that the relationship between the two clauses is causal: that is, one action (Caesar's words getting heard) causes the main clause action. If we determined that this were the case, we could use the conjunction "since": Since the words of Caesar have been heard, the forces will attack. Again, this is a common -- and accurate! -- rendering of the same sentence at the top. A third possibility is to recognize that the action of the main clause in fact goes contrary to expectation -- we might call this relationship adversative or concessive. Consider, for example, the following sentence (with a literal "with" translation): Signīs magnī perīculī vīsīs, Caesar tamen in senātum hodiē veniet. With many signs of great danger having been seen, Caesar will nevertheless come into the senate today. In this case, the action of the main clause -- Caesar's fateful visit to the senate -- goes contrary to the circumstance of the ablative absolute -- that there were many warnings of danger. This relationship is also signaled by tamen, "nevertheless, however", which is often used to denote this adversative structure. In this case, we might translate: Although many signs of great danger have been seen, Caesar will nevertheless come into the senate today. In sum, although a strictly literal translation using "with" is always possible, it's very useful to start thinking about exactly what circumstance is being established with an ablative absolute, so we can apply a more natural sounding translation using "when", "since", or "although"!