Is it idiomatic in classical Latin to combine the verb abesse with hinc, inde, or other such pronouns meaning "from somewhere"? This is surely an at least intelligible way to say "to be away from here/there", but what I do not know is whether that would strike anyone as odd. Of course I could find a way around such combinations, but I would like to know whether they are possible, not least because inde abest is such a compact expression.
asked Jun 24, 2018 at 10:16
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I could find a couple of examples for hinc+abesse. At least, the construction is attested in Classical times. Not sure whether there were other more frequent, equivalent constructions.
Cicero:
nunc contra et vidisse mihi multum videris, cum prope desperatis his rebus te in Graeciam contulisti, et hoc tempore non solum sapiens, qui hinc absis, sed etiam beatus. (Cic. Fam. 7.28)
Now, however, on the contrary you seem to me to have been long-sighted for having settled in Greece when things here were in a desperate condition, and at the present crisis not only to be wise for being abroad, but happy as well (Shuckburgh, 1908)
Plautus:
Quo nihil invitus addas: talentum magnum. non potest triobolum hinc abesse. proin tu vel aias vel neges. (Pl. Rud. 5.2.40:45)
That you mayn't be adding anything against your inclination, a great talent; it's not possible for three obols to be bated thence; then do you say either "yes" or "no" at once. (Riley, 1912)
