These prepositions are often used in English in expressions of motion, such as She went to town, He ran towards the horse, Columbus sailed for America.  In such cases the dative is not used in Latin, as motion through space is foreign to the dative relation.  But the dative is used to denote that to or towards which a benefit, injury, purpose, feeling, or quality is directed, or that for which something serves or exists.

    a. What dative relations do you discover in the following?

The teacher gave a prize to John because he replied so promptly to all her questions—­a good example for the rest of us.  It is a pleasure to us to hear him recite.  Latin is easy for him, but it is very hard for me.  Some are fitted for one thing and others for another.

44. The Indirect Object.  Examine the sentence

  Nauta fugam nuntiat,
    the sailor announces the flight

Here the verb, nuntiat\, governs the direct object, fugam\, in the accusative case.  If, however, we wish to mention the persons to whom\ the sailor announces the flight, as, _The sailor announces the flight to the farmers\_, the verb will have two objects: 

  1.  Its direct object, flight (fugam)
  2.  Its indirect object, farmers

According to the preceding section, to the farmers is a relation covered by the dative case, and we are prepared for the following rule: 

45. RULE.  Dative Indirect Object. The indirect object of a verb is in the Dative.

    a. The indirect object usually stands before the direct object.

46. We may now complete the translation of the sentence The sailor announces the flight to the farmers, and we have

  Nauta agricolis fugam nuntiat

47. EXERCISES

First learn the special vocabulary, p. 283.

Point out the direct and indirect objects and the genitive of the possessor.

I. 1.  Quis nautis pecuniam dat? 2.  Filiae agricolae nautis pecuniam dant. 3.  Quis fortunam pugnae nuntiat? 4.  Galba agricolis fortunam pugnae nuntiat. 5.  Cui domina fabulam narrat? 6.  Filiae agricolae domina fabulam narrat. 7.  Quis Dianae coronam dat? 8.  Puella Dianae coronam dat quia Dianam amat. 9.  Dea lunae sagittas portat et feras silvarum necat. 10.  Cuius victoriam Galba nuntiat? 11.  Nautae victoriam Galba nuntiat.

Imitate the word order of the preceding exercise.

II. 1.  To whom do the girls give a wreath? 2.  The girls give a wreath to Julia, because Julia loves wreaths. 3.  The sailors tell the ladies[2] a story, because the ladies love stories. 4.  The farmer gives his (Sec. 22.a) daughter water. 5.  Galba announces the cause of the battle to the sailor. 6.  The goddess of the moon loves the waters of the forest. 7.  Whose wreath is Latona carrying?  Diana’s.