Dative of Reference.

188. 1.  The Dative of Reference denotes the person to whom a statement refers, of whom it is true, or to whom it is of interest; as,—­

    mihi ante oculos versaris, you hover before my eyes (lit. hover
    before the eyes to me);

    illi severitas amorem non deminuit, in his case severity did not
    diminish love (lit. to him severity did not diminish);

    intercludere inimicis commeatum, to cut of the supplies of the enemy.

  a.  Note the phrase alicui interdicere aqua et igni, to interdict one
  from fire and water.

NOTE.—­The Dative of Reference, unlike the Dative of Indirect Object, does not modify the verb, but rather the sentence as a whole.  It is often used where, according to the English idiom, we should expect a Genitive; so in the first and third of the above examples.

2.  Special varieties of the Dative of Reference are—­

  a) Dative of the Local Standpoint.  This is regularly a participle; as,—­

    oppidum primum Thessaliae venientibus ab Epiro, the first town of
    Thessaly as you come from Epirus (lit. to those coming from Epirus).

  b) Ethical Dative.  This name is given to those Dative constructions of
  the personal pronouns in which the connection of the Dative with the rest
  of the sentence is of the very slightest sort; as,—­

    tu mihi istius audaciam defendis? tell me, do you defend that man’s
    audacity?

    quid mihi Celsus agit? what is my Celsus doing?

  c) Dative of Person Judging; as,—­

    erit ille mihi semper deus, he will always be a god to me (i.e. in my
    opinion);

    quae ista servitus tam claro homini, how can that be slavery to so
    illustrious a man (i.e. to his mind)!

  d) Dative of Separation.  Some verbs of taking away, especially
  compounds of ab, de, ex, ad, govern a Dative of the person, less often of
  the thing; as,—­

    honorem detraxerunt homini, they took away the honor from the man;

    Caesar regi tetrarchiam eripuit, Caesar took the tetrarchy away from
    the king;

    silici scintillam excudit, he struck a spark from the flint.

Dative of Agency.

189.  The Dative is used to denote agency—­

1.  Regularly with the Gerundive; as,—­

    haec nobis agenda sunt, these things must be done by us;

    mihi eundum est, I must go (lit. it must be gone by me).

  a.  To avoid ambiguity, a with the Ablative is sometimes used with the
  Gerundive; as,—­

    hostibus a nobis parcendum est, the enemy must be spared by us.

2.  Much less frequently with the compound tenses of the passive voice and the perfect passive participle; as,—­