2254. The dative of the gerundive construction is used with adjectives,
verbs, and phrases of ability, attention, and adaptation, with titles of
office, and with #comitia#, _election_.
This construction is not very common in classical Latin, where few verbs
and substantives take it instead of the usual #ad# and the accusative
(2252). In old Latin, it is also joined to adjectives and participles;
in Cicero it is thus used only with #accommodātus#. From Livy on, the
construction becomes a very favourite one. Caesar has it only as below
and 3, 4, 1.
#tālīs iactandīs tuae sunt cōnsuētae manūs#, Pl. _Vid._ _your hands are
used to throwing dice_. #optumum operī faciundō#, Pl. _R._ 757, _most
suitable for carrying on his trade_. #praeesse agrō colendō#, _RA._ 50,
_to superintend farm managing_. #cum diēs vēnisset rogātiōnī ferendae#,
_Att._ 1, 14, 5, _when the day came for proposing the bill_. #hībernīs
oppugnandīs hunc esse dictum diem#, 5, 27, 5, _that this was the day set
for attacking the winter quarters_. #cōnsul plācandīs dīs habendōque
dīlēctū dat operam#, L. 22, 2, 1, _the consul devotes himself to
propitiating the gods and raising troops_. #Dēmosthenēs cūrātor mūrīs
reficiendīs fuit#, _OG._ 19, _Demosthenes was commissioner for repairing
the walls_. #IIIvirī rē̆ī pūblicae cōnstituendae#, L. _Epit._ 120,
_a commission of three for reorganizing the state_. #comitia collēgae
subrogandō habuit#, L. 2, 8, 3, _he held an election for appointing a
colleague_.
2255. In the dative, a transitive gerund with an object in the
accusative is found four times in Plautus; in Ovid, Livy, and Vitruvius
once each.
2256. Late writers sometimes use the dative of the gerundive
construction instead of a final clause (1961): as,
#subdūcit ex aciē legiōnem faciendīs castrīs#, Ta. 2, 21, _he withdraws
a legion from the field to build a camp_. #nīdum mollibus plūmīs
cōnsternunt tepē̆faciendīs ōvīs, simul nē dūrus sit īnfantibus pullīs#,
Plin. _NH._ 10, 92, _they line the nest with soft feathers to warm the
eggs, and also to prevent it from being uncomfortable to their young
brood_.
2257. The dative of the gerund is used chiefly by old and late writers,
and is confined in the best prose to a few special phrases.
#ōsculandō meliust pausam fierī#, Pl. _R._ 1205, _’tis better that a
stop be put to kissing_. #tū nec solvendō erās#, _Ph._ 2, 4, _you were
neither solvent_. SC · ARF, i.e. #scrībendō arfuērunt#, CIL. I, 196, 2,
_there were present when the document was put in writing_. #quod
scrībendō adfuistī#, _Fam._ 15, 6, 2, _because you were present at the
writing_.
[Erratum:
2254 ... IIIvirī
printed as shown, without space]