In many cases I encounter situations where an adjective could be modifying different words in the same sentence. For example, in the famous play Miles Gloriosus there is the line:
Mala mulier mers est.
It would appear Mala could be modifying either mulier or mers, so it could apparently be translated as either:
A bad woman is a commodity.
or,
A woman is a bad piece of merchandise. (the conventional reading)
So, is the right procedure to assume the adjective modifies the noun to which it is closest, or is it more complex than that? For example, if it were "Mulier mala mers est." then the adjective is adjacent to both nouns.
