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Greek · Grammars

J. N. Madvig, Syntax of the Greek Language: Chapter IV, Dative

Syntax of The Greek Language, especially of the Attic dialect, for the use of schools, Dr. J. N. Madvig, professor in the university of Copenhagen. Translated from the German by the rev. Henry Browne, M. A and edited by the rev. Thomas Kerchever Arnold, M. A, late rector of Lyndon, and formerly fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Together with an Appendix on the Greek Particles, by the Translator. 2nd edition. Rivingstons: London, Oxford, and Cambridge, 1873.

Pages 31–40 of the book.

§ 42 (257)

The dative is sometimes used to denote the manner and the accompanying circumstance (with): Παντὶ τρόπῳ πειρᾶσθαι (also πάντα τρόπον, § 30, d), οὐδενὶ κόσμῳ εἰσπίπτειν (Thuc. 7, 84), βίᾳ εἰσιέναι, κραυγῇ πολλῇ ἐπιέναι (Xen. An. 1, 7, 4). (Οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι ἀτέλει τῇ νίκῃ ἀπὸ Μιλήτου ἀνέστησαν, Thuc. 8, 27; with the victory incomplete.)

Rem. 1. Usually, however, it is only of some particular substantives that the simple dative is thus used, adverbially, e.g. δρόμῳ, at a run, at full speed, κύκλῳ, round about, ὀργῇ διώκειν, θυμῷ φέρειν τι, σιγῇ ἀκούειν, (σπουδῇ). Otherwise σύν or μετά is used, e.g. σὺν δίκῃ, μετὰ δίκης, and with addition of an adjective, μετὰ πολλῆς ἀκριβείας (ἀκριβῶς). (With joy, joyfully, ἡδέως, ἀσμένως, etc.)

Rem. 2. To this use of the dative belong also the datives of feminine adjectives and pronouns, with a substantive notion understood (such as ὁδῷ, or the like), used as adverbs of manner, e.g. δημοσίᾳ, ἰδίᾳ, πεζῇ, ταύτῃ, ἐκείνῃ, ᾗ, πῇ, etc.

Rem. 3. The military or naval force with which a movement or enterprise is conducted, is often put in the dative without a preposition: Ἀφικνεῖσθαι εἴκοσι ναυσί, πολλῷ στόλῳ, χειρὶ πολλῇ. Ἀθηναῖοι δυσχιλίοις ὁπλίταις ἑαυτῶν καὶ ἱππεῦσι διακοσίοις ἐστράτευσαν ἐπὶ Χαλκίδεας (Thuc. 2, 79). Μνάσιππος κατεστρατοπεδεύσατο τῷ πεζῷ ἐπὶ λόφον ἀπέχοντι τῆς πόλεως ὡς πέντε στάδια (Xen. Hell. 6, 2, 7). But σύν may be prefixed: Βασιλεὺς σὺν στρατεύματι πολλῷ προσέρχεται (Xen. An. 1, 8, 1). (Σύν is also omitted from the dative with αὐτός in the sense with — self and all; together with: Οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι πέντε ναῦς ἔλαβον καὶ μίαν τούτων αὐτοῖς ἀνδράσιν, Thuc. 4, 14; men and all, i.e. with its crew.)

§ 43 (270)

With comparatives, and with πρό and μετά, the measure by how much something is greater or less, earlier or later, is put in the dative: Τέτταρσι μναῖς ἔλαττον. Πολλαῖς γενεαῖς ὕστερα τῶν Τρωικῶν. Δέκα ἔτεσι πρὸ τῆς ἐν Σαλαμῖνι ναυμαχίας. (Πολλῷ, μακρῷ; ὀλίγῳ, βραχεῖ, μικρῷ μείζων, ὀλίγῳ τινὶ ἐλάττων. Τῷ παντὶ κρείττων, infinitely better. Τοσούτῳ κρείττων, ὅσῳ πρεσβύτερος.) (Μακρῷ ἄριστος, with the superlative. Πολλῷ προὔλαβον, Thuc. 7, 80, had greatly the advantage.)

Rem. But we also find πολὺ and ὀλίγον (πολὺ μείζων), and always (when no substantive is added) τί and οὐδὲν (μᾶλλόν τι, οὐδὲν μᾶλλον). (Τοσούτῳ δεινότερος, ὅσῳ καὶ ψεύδεσθαι τολμᾷ, without comparative in the second member: so much worse, as -.)

§ 44 (264)

a) Verbs which denote an affection of the mind, at and because of something, take this object in the dative: thus ἥδομαι, χαίρω, ἄχθομαι, ἀθυμῶ, ἀγάλλομαι, ἐπαίρομαι: Ἄχθομαι τοῖς παροῦσιν, τοῖς γεγενημένοις. Ἐπαιρόμενος ἢ πλούτῳ ἢ ἰσχύϊ ἢ ἄλλῳ τῳ τοιούτῳ (Pl. Rep. 4, 434). But ἐπί is also added: Ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν Ἀρκαδίων τύχῃ οὐχ ἧττον τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἥσθησαν οἱ Θηβαῖοι (Xen. Hell. 7, 1, 32).

Rem. Some verbs most frequently take ἐπί (χαίρω), with others it is rare (ἐπαίρομαι). The dative is also found with ἀγαπᾶν and στέργειν, e.g. στέργειν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ τύχῃ (Pl. Hipp. Maj. 295); but usually the accusative, e.g. στέργειν τὰ παρόντα. We also find βαρέως (χαλεπῶς) φέρειν τί, ἐπί τινι.

b) The verb χρῶμαι, use, and νομίζω, when it has the same meaning, govern the dative: Σωματοφύλαξι χρῶνται βαρβάροις. Χρῶμαί τινι φίλῳ. Οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι ἀγῶσι καὶ θυσίαις διετησίοις ἐνόμιζον (Thuc. 2, 38).

§ 45 (276)

a) The dative serves to mark the time at which (when) a thing takes place, when a definite point of time (day, night, month, year), or a festival is assigned (and with ὥρᾳ, e.g. χειμῶνος ὥρᾳ): Τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ (ταύτῃ τῇ νυκτὶ) ἀπέθανεν. Τῷ τρίτῳ ἔτει οἴκαδε ἀπέπλευσα. Τῇ ὑστεραίᾳ ὁ Κῦρος τὸ στράτευμα ἀνέπαυεν (Xen. Cyr. 3, 3, 29). Τοῖς Παναθηναίοις, τοῖς Διονυσίοις, at [the festival of] the Panathenea, the Dionysia. (Τῇ νουμηνίᾳ, ταῖς πομπαῖς.) With other words ἐν is added: Ἐν τούτῳ τῷ χρόνῳ, ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ καιρῷ, ἐν τῷ παρόντι, ἐν τῷ τότε, sometimes also with the words above named: ἐν τῇδε τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, ἐν τῷ Θαργηλιῶνι μηνί (Dem. 49, 60). (The omission of ἐν is very rare with words which in themselves do not denote a point of time but an event, e.g. Ἐς τὸ πεδίον Ἀρχίδαμος ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἐσβολῇ οὐ κατέβη, in that invasion, Thuc. 2, 20.)

Rem. On the genitive in notes of time, see § 66.

b) To denote the place where a thing takes place, the poets sometimes use the dative without ἐν, e.g. ἀγροῖς τυγχάνειν (Soph. Pl. 313). Ἐτέοκλος πλείστας τιμὰς ἔσχεν Ἀργείᾳ χθονί (Eur. Suppl. 874), especially of names of cities, e.g. Δωδῶνι, Μυκήναις. In prose the name of the city is thus put: Μαραθῶνι (Μαραθῶνι καὶ Σαλαμῖνι καὶ Πλαταιαῖς, Pl. Menex. 245), and besides, the adverbial forms derived from the ancient dative plural, in the sense at the place, e.g. Ἀθήνησι, Πλαταιᾶσιν; see the Accidence. (Ὀλυμπίασι καὶ Δελφοῖς, Thuc. 1, 143.) (So too Σφηττοῖ, Ἰσθμοῖ, Πυθοῖ.)

Rem. (To § 39 seqq.) A dative, denoting circumstance or appurtenance, may sometimes be attached to an individual substantive, instead of to the predicate, e.g. ὁ γόνῳ πατήρ (Lys. 13, 91); sometimes even without the article: Ἱπποθάλης λέγει περὶ τῶν προγόνων Λύσιδος πλούτους τε καὶ ἱπποτροφίας καὶ νίκας Πυθοῖ καὶ Ἰσθμοῖ τεθρίπποις τε καὶ κέλησιν (Pl. Lys. 205).

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