[Dative.]
[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.