Henle: ex 121

[edblouin]

I wonder if someone could help me with this:

In exercise 121 #3 Henle translates "a large number of Gauls"
as "magnum Gallorum numerum" where Gallorum is bracketed by the noun
numerum and its adjective magnum. Though in an intuitive way this
makes sense I would like it more explicitly explained. Is this a
neccessary construction or would "magnum numerum Gallorum" serve as
well?

Yours,

John

[Maria]

John,

Magnum numerum Gallorum would actually be the more normal word order since 1) adjectives of quantity precede their nouns, and 2) genitives usually (but not always) follow their nouns. However, Latin word order is quite flexible; this flexibility allows the speaker to use word order for expressive conversation. As no. 469 of the grammar manual says, "Words are put in unusual positions for emphasis, balance, or other rhetorical effects."

Maria