LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
Allen & Greenough · Part Second — Syntax › Construction of Cases

§380. Ethical Dative

The Dative of the Personal Pronouns is used to show a certain interest felt by the person indicated.1

This construction is called the Ethical Dative.2 It is really a faded variety of the Dative of Reference.

  • quid mihi Celsus agit (Hor. Ep. 1.3.15), pray what is Celsus doing?
  • suō sibi servit patrī; (Plaut. Capt. 5), he serves his own father.
  • at tibi repente venit mihi Canīnius (Fam. 9.2), but, look you, of a sudden comes to me Caninius.
  • hem tibi talentum argentī; (Pl. Truc. 60), hark ye, a talent of silver.
  • quid tibi vīs, what would you have (what do you wish for yourself)?

J. H. Allen and J. B. Greenough, New Latin Grammar (Boston: Ginn, 1903). Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.