Breakdown of Imperator pacis causa nuntium mittit.
imperator
the emperor
pax
the peace
mittere
to send
nuntium
the message
Questions & Answers about Imperator pacis causa nuntium mittit.
What case is imperator, and what is it doing in the sentence?
Imperator is nominative singular. It is the subject of the sentence: the person who is doing the action of mittit.
Depending on context, imperator can mean commander, general, or later emperor, but grammatically here it is simply the subject.
Why is pacis in the genitive?
Because of the expression pacis causa.
When causa means for the sake of or because of, Latin regularly uses:
genitive + causa
So:
- pax = peace
- pacis = of peace
That is why Latin says pacis causa, literally for the sake of peace.
Why does causa come after pacis instead of before it?
In this expression, causa behaves almost like a postposition rather than a normal noun.
So Latin usually says:
- pacis causa = for the sake of peace
- pecuniae causa = for the sake of money
- belli causa = for the sake of war
This word order is standard in this idiom.
If you said causa pacis, that would more naturally sound like rather than .