]. INSTRUMENTAL DATIVE PROPER
The dative denotes instrument or means, manner, and cause.
Instrument or Means.— -- 347 --
L. 3.8, ἵ_ησι τῇ ἀξί_νῃ he hurls his ax at him (hurls with his ax) X. A. 1.5.12, ταῖς μαχαίραις
ἔβαλλέ με λίθοις he hit me with stones
κόπτοντες hacking them with their swords 4. 6. 26,
D. 21.104, ἐζημίωσαν χρήμασιν they punished him by a fine T. 2.65, ὕ_οντος πολλῷ (ὕδατι) during a heavy rain X. H. 1.1.16 ( cross934). So with δέχεσθαι: τῶν πόλεων οὐ δεχομένων αὐτοὺς ἀγορᾷ οὐδὲ ἄστει, ὕδατι δὲ καὶ ὅρμῳ as the cities did not admit them to a market nor even into the town, but (only) to water and anchorage T. 6.44. Often with passives:
οὐδὲν ἤνυε τούτοις he accomplished nothing by this
X. A. 2.4.12.
ᾠκοδομημένον πλίνθοις built of bricks
a. The instrumental dative is often akin to the comitative dative:
ἀλώμενος νηί τε καὶ ἑτάροισι wandering with his ship and companions
νηυσὶν οἰχήσονται they shall go with their ships
θυ_μῷ καὶ ῥώμῃ τὸ πλέον ἐναυμάχουν ἢ ἐπιστήμῃ they fought with passionate violence and brute force rather than by a system of tactics
b. Persons may be regarded as instruments:
X. A. 6.4.27. Often in poetry (S. Ant. 164).
φυλαττόμενοι φύλαξι defending themselves by pickets
c. Verbs of raining or snowing take the dative or accusative ( cross1570 a).
Under Means fall:
a. The dative of price (cp. cross1372):
μέρει τῶν ἀδικημάτων τὸν κίνδυ_νον ἐξεπρίαντο they freed themselves from the danger at the price of a part of their unjust gains
b. Rarely, the dative with verbs of filling (cp. cross1369):
δάκρυσι πᾶν τὸ στράτευμα πλησθέν the entire army being filled with tears
c. The dative of material and constituent parts:
X. C. 6.1.29.
κατεσκευάσατο ἅρματα τροχοῖς ἰσχυ_ροῖς he made chariots with strong wheels
χρῆσθαι use (strictly employ oneself with, get something done with; cp. uti), and sometimes νομίζειν, take the dative. Thus, οὔτε τούτοις (τοῖς νομίμοις)
T. 1.77. A predicate noun may be added to the dative:
χρῆται οὔθ' οἷς ἡ ἄλλη Ἑλλὰς νομίζει neither acts according to these institutions nor observes those accepted by the rest of Greece
X. Hi. 5.3. The use to which an object is put may be expressed by a neuter pronoun in the accus. ( cross1573); τί χρησόμεθα τούτῳ; what use shall we make of it? D. 3.6.
τούτοις χρῶνται δορυφόροις they make use of them as a body-guard
The instrumental dative occurs after substantives:
P. R. 397b.
μί_μησις σχήμασι imitation by means of gestures
The instrumental dative of means is often, especially in poetry, reinforced by the prepositions ἐν, σύν, ὑπό:
S. Ph. 1393,
ἐν λόγοις πείθειν to persuade by words
X. A. 6.1.31;
οἱ θεοὶ ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἐσήμηναν the gods have shown by the victims
S. O. T. 17; πόλις χερσὶν ὑφ' ἡμετέρῃσιν ἁλοῦσα a city captured by our hands B 374.
σὺν γήρᾳ βαρεῖς heavy with old age
Dative of Standard of Judgment.—That by which anything is measured, or judged, is put in the dative: ξυνεμετρήσαντο ταῖς ἐπιβολαῖς τῶν πλίνθων they measured the ladders by the layers of bricks. T. 3.20, -- 348 --
X. A. 2.3.1,
τῷδε δῆλον ἦν it was plain from what followed
D. 9.10, τίνι χρὴ κρί_νεσθαι τὰ μέλλοντα καλῶς κριθήσεσθαι; ἆρ' οὐκ ἐμπειρίᾳ τε καὶ φρονήσει καὶ λόγῳ; by what standard must we judge that the judgment may be correct? Is it not by
οἷς πρὸς τοὺς ἄλλους πεποίηκε δεῖ τεκμαίρεσθαι we must judge by what he has done to the rest
experience and wisdom and reasoning? P. R. 582a. With verbs of judging ἐκ and ἀπό are common.
Manner (see also cross1527).—The dative of manner is used with comparative adjectives and other expressions of comparison to mark the degree by which one thing differs from another (Dative of Measure of Difference).
κεφαλῇ ἐλά_ττων a head shorter (lit. by the head) P. Ph. 101a,
X. H. 1.1.1,
οὐ πολλαῖς ἡμέραις ὕστερον ἦλθεν he arrived not many days later
ἰόντες δέκα ἡμέραις πρὸ Παναθηναίων coming ten days before the Panathenaic festival
X. C. 8.3.40,
τοσούτῳ ἥδι_ον ζῶ ὅσῳ πλείω κέκτημαι the more I possess the more pleasant is my life
X. A. 4.7.23. So with πολλῷ by much, ὀλίγῳ by little, τῷ παντί in every respect (by all odds).
πολλῷ μείζων ἐγίγνετο ἡ βοὴ ὅσῳ δὴ πλείους ἐγίγνοντο the shouting became much louder as the men increased in number
a. With the superlative:
P. L. 858e.
μακρῷ ἄριστα by far the best
With comparatives the accusatives ( cross1586) τί, τὶ, οὐδέν, μηδέν without a substantive are always used:
X. A. 7.5.9. In Attic prose (except in Thuc.) πολύ and ὀλίγον are more common than πολλῷ and ὀλίγῳ with comparatives. Hom. has only πολὺ μείζων.
οὐδὲν ἧττον nihilo minus
Measure of difference may be expressed by ἔν τινι; εἴς τι, κατά τι; or by ἐπί τινι.
The dative of manner may denote the particular point of view from which a statement is made. This occurs chiefly with intransitive adjectives but also with intransitive verbs (Dative of Respect). (Cp. cross1600.)
T. 5.43, τοῖς σώμασι τὸ πλέον ἰσχύ_ουσα ἢ τοῖς χρήμασιν a power stronger in men than in money 1. 121,
ἀνὴρ ἡλικίᾳ ἔτι νέος a man still young in years
ἀσθενὴς τῷ σώματι weak in body
X. A. 2.6.9,
τῇ φωνῇ τρα_χύς harsh of voice
X. C. 2.3.5,
φρονήσει διαφέρων distinguished in understanding
T. 1.9, ὀνόματι σπονδαί a truce so far as the name goes 6. 10.
τῶν τότε δυνάμει προύχων superior in power to the men of that time
a. The accusative of respect ( cross1600) is often nearly equivalent to the dative of respect.
Cause.—The dative, especially with verbs of emotion, expresses the occasion (external cause) or the motive (internal cause).
Occasion: -- 349 --
T. 3.97, θαυμάζω τῇ ἀποκλῄσει μου τῶν πυλῶν I am astonished at being shut out of the gates 4. 85,
τῇ τύχῃ ἐλπίσα_ς confident by reason of his good fortune
X. A. 1.9.26, ἠχθόμεθα τοῖς γεγενημένοις we were troubled at what had occurred 5. 7. 20, χαλεπῶς φέρω τοῖς παροῦσι πρά_γμασιν I am troubled at the present occurrences 1. 3. 3. Motive:
τούτοις ἥσθη he was pleased at this
X. A. 2.6.13. Occasion and motive: οἱ μὲν ἀπορίᾳ ἀκολούθων, οἱ δὲ ἀπιστίᾳ some (carried their own food) because they lacked servants, others through distrust of them T. 7.75,
φιλίᾳ καὶ εὐνοίᾳ ἑπόμενοι following out of friendship and good will
ὕβρει καὶ οὐκ οἴνῳ τοῦτο ποιῶν doing this out of insolence and not because he was drunk
Some verbs of emotion take ἐπί (with dat.) to denote the cause; so always μέγα φρονεῖν to plume oneself, and often χαίρειν rejoice, λυ_πεῖσθαι grieve, ἀγανακτεῖν be vexed, αἰσχύ_νεσθαι be ashamed. Many verbs take the genitive ( cross1405).
The dative of cause sometimes approximates to a dative of purpose ( cross1473): Ἀθηναῖοι ἐφ' ἡμᾶς ὥρμηνται Λεοντί_νων κατοικίσει the Athenians have set out against us (with a view to) to restore the Leontines T. 6.33. This construction is common with other verbal nouns in Thucydides.
Cause is often expressed by διά with the accusative, ὑπό with the genitive, less frequently by ἀμφί or περί with the dative (poet.) or ὑπέρ with the genitive (poet.).