Pedantic grammarians
might argue that natus being a
participle ought not to govern a genitive
case, but should be followed by a preposition
with the ablative case, and that we
ought to say "e Bacone nati" or "de
Bacone nati." Other pedants have declared
that natus is properly, i.e., classically, said
of the mother only, although in low Latin,
such as the Vulgate, we find 1 John v. 2,
"Natos Dei," "born of God." But the
Author of the plays, who instead of having
"small Latin and less Greek" knew "_All_
Latin and very much Greek," was well aware
that Vergil, Aeneid i. 654 (or 658 when the
four additional lines are inserted at the
beginning) gives us "Maxima natarum
Priami," "greatest of the daughters of
Priam," and in Aeneid ii. 527 "Unus natorum
Priami," "one of the sons of Priam." There
exists therefore the highest classical authority
for the use of "Nati" in the sense of "Sons"
or "offspring" governing a genitive case.
"F.
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