With Verbs of Intransitive Use.
[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,