abs-que, prep. gov. abl. [from abs and the generalizing -que, like susque deque from sub and de; cf. Prisc. 999 P.] (ante- and post - class.), without. Ante-class. Denoting defect in conception, while the class. sine indicates defect in reality. In Plaut. and Ter. only in conditional clauses: absque me, te, eo, etc., esset = nisi or si ego, tu, is, etc.. non fuissem; without me, i. e. without my agency, if it had not been for me: nam hercle absque me foret et meo praesidio, hic faceret te prostibilem, if I had not stood by you, Plaut. Pers. 5, 2, 56; cf. id. Trin. 5, 2, 3: nam absque ted esset, numquam hodie ad solem occasum viverem, if you had not aided me, etc., id. Men. 5, 7, 33; cf. id. Bacch. 3, 3, 8; id. Trin. 4, 1, 13: absque eo esset, recte ego mihi vidissem, Ter. Phorm. 1, 4, 11. Somewhat different is, quam fortunatus ceteris sum rebus, absque una hac foret, if it were not for this one thing, id. Hec. 4, 2, 25. After Plaut. and Ter., absque appears in the classic lang. only a few times in a kind of jurid. formula: absque sententiā, without judgment, contrary to it: nullam a me epistulam ad te sino absque argumento ac sententiā pervenire, Cic. Att. 1, 19, 1; cf.: an etiamsi nullā ratione ductus est, impetu raptus sit et absque sententiā? Quint. 7, 2, 44. Post-class. Likewise in jurid. lang., i. q. sine, without: decerni absque libelli documento, Cod. Th. 11, 30, 40; so, absque praejudicio, Gell. 2, 2, 7: absque ullā observatione, Cod. Th. 13, 5, 38: absque omni praerogativā principum, Amm. 23, 5. I. q. praeter, except: apud Aeschylum eundem esse versum absque paucis syllabis, Gell. 13, 18 (19), 4; so, absque paucis, Symm. Ep. 2, 36: absque his, Cod. Th. 6, 4, 18; 11, 16, 17: purpureus absque caudā, except the tail, Sol. 46.—Adv., = praeterquam, nisi: absque labra, except the lips, Amm. 23, 5; so, absque illud nomen, Jul. Val. Rer. Gest. Alex. M. 1, 18.