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378.
The Dative is used of the person from whose
point of view an opinion is stated or a situation is defined.
This is often called the Dative of the Person Judging[1][Datívus iúdicantis.], but is
merely a weakened variety of the Dative of Reference. It is used -
1. Of the mental point of view (in my opinion, according to me, etc.): -
- Plató mihi únus
ínstar est centum mílium (Brut. 191), in my
opinion (to me) Plato alone is worth a hundred thousand.
- erit ille mihi semper deus
(Ecl. i. 7), he will always be a god to me (in my regard).
- quae est ista servitús tam
cláró hóminí (Par. 41), what
is that slavery according to the view of this distinguished man?
2. Of the local point of view (as you go in etc.). In this
use the person is commonly denoted indefinitely by a participle in the
dative plural: -
- oppidum prímum Thessaliae
venientibus ab Épíró (B.C. iii. 80),
the first town of Thessaly as you come from Epirus (to those coming, etc.).
- laevá parte sinum
intrantí (Liv. xxvi. 26), on the left as you sail
up the gulf (to one entering).
- est urbe égressís
tumulus (Aen. ii. 713), there is, as you come out of the city,
a
mound (to those having come out).
NOTE: The Dative of the Person Judging is (by a Greek idiom)
rarely modified by nóléns,
vóléns (participles of nóló, vóló), or by
some similar word: -
- ut quibusque bellum
invítís aut cupientibus erat
(Tac. Ann. i. 59), as each might receive the war reluctantly or
gladly.
- ut mílítibus
labós volentibus esset (Iug. 100), that the
soldiers might assume the task willingly.