1181. (1.) Many verbs of intransitive use, particularly such as denote a
state, disposition, feeling, or quality, take the dative: as,
#quodne vōbīs placeat, displiceat mihī?# Pl. _MG._ 614, _shall that
which pleases you, displeasing be to me?_ #sī Asiciō causa plūs prōfuit
quam invidia nocuit#, _Cael._ 23, _if his case has been more helpful to
Asicius than the hostility has been damaging_. #imperat aut servit
collēcta pecūnia cuique#, H. _E._ 1, 10, 47, _for every man his garnered
hoard or master is or slave_. #nōnne huic lēgī resistētis?# _Agr._ 2,
85, _will you not stand out against this law?_ #gymnasiīs indulgent
Graeculī#, Traj. in Plin. _Ep._ 40 [49], 2, _our Greek cousins are
partial to gymnasiums_. #īgnōscās velim huic festīnātiōnī meae#, in a
letter, _Fam._ 5, 12, 1, _please excuse haste_. #huic legiōnī Caesar
cōnfīdēbat maximē#, 1, 40, 15, _Caesar trusted this legion most of all_.
#an C. Trebōniō ego persuāsī? cui nē suādēre quidem ausus essem#, _Ph._
2, 27, _or was it I that brought conviction to Trebonius? a man to whom
I should not have presumed even to offer advice_. In the passive, such
verbs are used impersonally, the dative remaining (1034); personal
constructions are rare and poetical.
1182. This dative is used with such verbs or verbal expressions as mean
_am pleasing_ or _displeasing_, _helpful_ or _injurious_, _command_,
_yield_, or _am obedient_, _am friendly_, _partial_, or _opposed_;
_spare_, _pardon_, _threaten_, _trust_, _advise_, _persuade_, _happen_,
_meet_. But the English translation is not a safe guide: many of the
verbs used with a dative are represented transitively in English; and
some verbs of the meanings above are used transitively in Latin: as,
#dēlectō#, #iuvō#, #laedō#, &c., &c.
1183. The dative is rarely used with a form of #sum# and a predicate
noun corresponding in meaning with the verbs above (1181): as, #quid
mihi scelestō tibī̆ erat auscultātiō?# Pl. _R._ 502, i.e. #quid tibī̆
auscultābam?# _why did I, ill-starred wretch, lend ear to thee?_ #quī
studiōsus re͡i nūllī aliaest#, Pl. _MG._ 802, i.e. #quī studet#, _who
lends his soul to nothing else_. Or immediately with a noun: as,
#servitūs opulentō hominī#, Pl. _Am._ 166, _slavery to a millionaire_.
#optemperātiō lēgibus#, _Leg._ 1, 42, _obedience to the laws_. #aemula
labra rosīs#, Mart. 4, 42, 10, _lips rivalling the rose_.
1184. Some verbs have a variable use without any difference of meaning:
thus, #cūrō#, #decet#, and #vītō#, have sometimes the dative in old
Latin, but usually the accusative. In Cicero, #adūlor# has the
accusative; from Nepos on, the dative as well. #medeor#, #medicor#, and
#praestōlor# take either the accusative or the dative.
1185. Some verbs have an accusative with one meaning, a dative of the
complement, essential or optional, with another: see #aemulor#, #caveō#,
#comitor#, #cōnsulō#, #conveniō#, #cupiō#, #dēspērō#, #maneō#, #metuō#,
#moderor#, #prōspiciō#, #temperō#, #timeō#, and the different uses of
#invideō#, in the dictionary.
1186. In poetry, verbs of union, of contention, and of difference, often
take a dative: as, (_a._) #haeret laterī lētālis harundō#, V. 4, 73,
_sticks to her side the deadly shaft_. So with #coëō#, #concurrō#,
#haereō#, and similarly with #iungō#, #misceō#. (_b._) #quid enim
contendat hirundō cycnīs?# Lucr. 3, 6, _for how can swallow cope with
swans?_ So with #bellō#, #certō#, #contendō#, #pugnō#. (_c._) #īnfīdō
scurrae distābit amīcus#, H. _E._ 1, 18, 4, _a friend will differ from a
faithless hanger-on_. So with #differō#, #discrepō#, #dissentiō#,
#distō#.
1187. A verb often takes the dative, when combined with #adversum#,
#obviam#, or #praestō#, also with #bene#, #male#, or #satis#, and the
like: as,
#fit ob viam Clōdiō#, _Mil._ 29, _he runs across Clodius_. #cui bene
dīxit umquam bonō?# _Sest._ 110, _for what patriot had he ever a good
word?_ #nōs, virī fortēs, satis facere rē̆ī pūblicae vidēmur#, _C._ 1,
2, _we doughty champions flatter ourselves we are doing our whole duty
by the state_. Similarly with verbs of transitive use.
1188. (2.) Many verbs of intransitive use compounded with a preposition
take a dative connected in sense with the preposition: as,
#manus extrēma nōn accessit operibus eius#, _Br._ 126, _the last touch
was not put upon his works_. #omnibus adfuit hīs pugnīs Dolābella#,
_Ph._ 2, 75, _Dolabella was on hand in all these battles_. #pontō nox
incubat ātra#, V. 1, 89, _over the deep, night broodeth black_.
#cōgnitiōnibus dē Chrīstiānīs interfuī numquam#, Plin. _Ep. ad Trai._ 96
[97], 1, _I have never been to any of the trials of the Christians_.
1189. The prepositions are chiefly #ad#, #ante#, #com-#, #in#, #inter#,
#ob#, #prae#, #sub#, or #super#. In many compounds of these
prepositions, however, the dative is due to the general meaning of the
verb, as in #cōnfīdit mihī̆#, _he puts all trust in me_ (1181), as
contrasted with #cōnsentit mihī̆#, _he feels with me_, nearly equivalent
to #sentit mēcum# (1188).
1190. Instead of the dative, such verbs often have a prepositional
construction, particularly when place, literal or figurative, is
distinctly to be expressed: as,
#accēdere in fūnus#, _Leg._ 2, 66, _to go to a funeral_. #in morbum
incidit#, _Clu._ 175, _he fell ill_.
1191. Some verbs of intransitive use take, when compounded, either the
dative or the accusative. See #adiaceō#, #antecēdō#, #anteeō#,
#praecurrō#, #praestō#, #incēdō#, #inlūdō#, #īnsultō#, #invādō#, in the
dictionary. And some compounds acquire a transitive use altogether, as
#obeō#, #oppugnō#: see 1137.
[Errata:
1188 ... _Ph._ 2, 75, _Dolabella was on hand in all these battles_.
_Ph_ 2, 75,
#pontō nox incubat ātra#, V. 1, 89
#pontō nox incubat ātra#.]