01/10/93


                             CHAPTER 35

               "Dative With Special Verbs; Dative With
                             Compounds"



There is nothing conceptually challenging in this chapter, but
that doesn't make it any easier.  Chapter involves a lot of very
precise memorization, and a little advice.  There's not much help
I can give you.

DATIVE WITH SPECIAL VERBS

You see before that Latin sometimes conceives actions differently
from the way we with English as native language might expect.
For example, remember the verb "careo, -ere, carui, cariturus"?
For us it means "to lack", and when we use the verb "to lack" in
English, it is followed by the direct object case.  We might be
tempted to assume, therefore, that the Latin verb "careo" will
also take the accusative case.  But it doesn't.  "Careo" is
construed with the ablative case in Latin.  Similarly, our verb
"to use" is followed by a direct object, but the Latin
equivalent, "utor, uti, usus sum", takes the ablative case,
obviously because Latin simply doesn't conceive of the action of
using something in quite the same way we do in English.  So the
point of all this is that you got to be careful not to rely to
heavily on your English instincts as you try to feel your way
through Latin constructions.  But you've known that for some time
now.

In this chapter, you're presented with several very common verbs
which take the dative case instead of the accusative case, as we
might expect simply by examining their English translations.
There is no connection between the kinds of actions represented
in these verbs and the fact that they take the dative case.
There is no rule we can concoct in advance that will tip you off
whether a certain verb in Latin will take the dative case.  You
simply must memorize, as you've been doing before, the case the
verb takes when you learn the verb itself.  The only helpful
advice is that you memorize the verbs with a definition which
will make the dative case object obvious.  Here's the list:


credo        (3)   credidi      creditus     "to believe in" (not
                                             "to trust)
ignosco      (3)   ignovi       ignotus      "to grant pardon to"
                                             (not "to forgive")
impero       (1)   -avi         -atus        "to give order to"
                                             (not "to order")
noceo        (2)   nocui        nocitus      "to do harm to" (not
                                             "to harm"
parco        (3)   peperci      parsurus     "to be lenient to
                                             (not "to spare")
pareo        (2)   parui        --------     "to be obedient to
                                             (not "to obey"
persuadeo    (2)   -suasi       -suasus      "to be persuasive to
                                             (not "to persuade")
placeo       (2)   placui       placitus     "to be pleasing to
                                             (not "to please")
servio       (4)   -ivi         -itus        "to be a slave to
                                             (not "to serve")
studeo       (2)   studui       -------      "to be eager for"
                                             (not "to study")

COMMENTS:

(1)  Now obviously, the translations Wheelock offers (e.g. "to be
     eager for) are only to aid memorization of the case
     structures these verbs take.  They're only crutches, which
     should be discarded when you're actually finishing off a
     translation.  You wouldn't translate "Adulescentes litteris
     Graecis studebant" as "The youths were eager for Greek
     literature."  But if in your mind you think "studebant --
     they were eager for" as you're reading the sentence, you'll
     know immediately what case "litteris Graecis is in and why.
     Then you can smooth out the English: "The youths used to
     study Greek literature."

(2)  This is quite a list of verbs, but as you can see, almost
     all have clear English derivatives, which gives you some
     insight into their meanings.  "Pareo" and "ignosco are going
     to be a little tricky, especially "ignosco", since it looks
     like it ought to be "not to recognize" (from a negative
     prefix + "nosco").  Actually, this can be used to your
     advantage, if you think of it this way: "forgive and forget
     (i.e. "to put out of mind").

(3)  Another aid to memorizing these verbs might be to cluster
     them together into groups of actions and their opposites, or
     into groups of related ideas.  Something like this:

     I.    command, obey, serve
     II.   harm, forgive, spare
     III.  persuade, trust, please

           (because you trust in and are persuaded by what you
           find pleasing)

(4)  Wheelock omits an important detail about these verbs: none
     of these verbs can be used in the passive voice.  Only verbs
     which are truly transitive (i.e. take an accusative object)
     can be used both in the active and in the passive voices.
     To say "he is trusted" in Latin, consquently, it would be
     wrong to say "Creditur."  Instead, Latin uses the verb
     impersonally: "Trust is shown to him," which would be "Ei
     creditur."  Similarly for all these verbs.  Here are some
     examples:

     Nobis non parebitur.                 We will not be obeyed
                                          (lit. Obedience will not
                                          given to us).

     Eis ignotum est.                     They were forgiven.

     Militibus imperatum est...           The soldiers were
                                          ordered...


DATIVE WITH COMPOUND VERBS

The point of this section is simple: sometimes root verbs alter
their configuration of objects when prefixes are added.  And
that's all really that can be said.  You've seen already that
root verbs can pick up prefixes which slightly change the meaning
of the verb.  Most of these changes have been trivial:

     capio:     recipio (take back); accipio (accept)

Sometimes, however, the addition of a prefix will substantially
change the way a verbal root has to be understood.  Look at some
English examples of this phenomenon:

     refer, defer, prefer, differ, infer
     revoke,    invoke, prevoke

And we could go on like this for days.  Latin is similiarly able
to change the meaning of a root verb with its differing prefixes;
furthermore, sometimes the change of meaning also involves a
change in contruction.  The verb "sum", as you know, means "to
be", and is instranstive.  But add the preposition "prae" to it,
and it means "to be in command of" and it takes the dative case.
For example, "Dumnorix equitatui praeerat" means "Dumnorix was in
charge of the cavalry."  Further, add the preposition "ad", and
"sum" means "to support" and takes the dative case (not, as we
might expect from the English equivalent, the accusative case):
"Caesar amicis aderat" means "Caesar supported his freinds.

     Wheelock gives you a list of examples on page 170 where you
can see the change of meaning and change of object prefixes often
create in verbs.  You should look them over, but it will not be
necessary for you to memorize them.  As you gather more
experience reading Latin, you'll begin to recognize compound
verbs like this which take the dative case.  For your purposes
now, you should simply think about this.  If you're reading a
sentence which seems to lack a needed direct object for a verb,
check to see whether the verb you're considering is compound
(made up of a root and a prefix).  If it is, then look for a
dative case, since this may be one of those occasions where the
meaning of the verb has been altered by the prefix and now calls
for a dative case.


VOCABULARY PUZZLES

antepono (3), -posui, -positus       Obviously this is a compound
                                     of the verb you already know
                                     "pono" and the preposition
                                     "ante": "to place before",
                                     hence to prefer.  The meaning
                                     is completed with an
                                     accusative direct object and
                                     the dative: "Antepono
                                     veritatem pecuniae" (I place
                                     truth before money = I prefer
                                     truth to money).

