W. M. Lindsay, Syntax of Plautus

---

Much the same Verbs govern the Dative in Plautus as in Cicero, e.g. credo, ignosco, impero. We have the full construction, Dative of Person and Accusative of Thing, in lines like

• Bacch. 1185 “ut eis delicta ignoscas” (but Merc. 997 “ora ut ignoscat delictis tuis atque adulescentiae”),
• Poen. 490 “an mi haec non credis?”,
• Mil. 1159 “nunc hanc tibi ego impero provinciam.”

But we find both Accusative and Dative with

• curo, e.g. Stich. 679 “meis curavi amicis, … amicos meos curabo”;
decet (see Seyffert in Berliner Philologische Wochenschrift 24, 141), e.g.
• Amph. 820 “nostro generi non decet” (contrast 838 “ut pudicam decet”),
Ter. Adelph. 491 ut vobis decet (contrast Heaut. 1054, etc., ut te decet).

Vito has Dative in Plautus:

• Cas. 211 “huic verbo vitato”,
• Poen. 25 “vitent ancipiti infortunio”,
• Stich. 121 “quî potis est mulier vitare vitiis?”

But the Accusative is found, e.g. Rud. 168 “fluctus devitaverint”. Ausculto with Accusative means ‘I hear,’ with Dative ‘I obey’¹; so editors change me of the MSS. into mi in Trin. 662 “nisi mi auscultas atque hoc ut dico facis.”

The distinction between the function of the Dative (Indirect Object) and the Accusative (Direct Obj.) is seen with timeo in Ter. Andr. 210 “si illum relinquo, eius vitae timeo; sin opitulor, huius minas”; and with the two uses of ludos facio (1) with Accusative ‘to make game of,’ even in Passive, e.g. Bacch. 1090 “hocine me aetatis ludos bis factum esse indigne!” (2) with Dative ‘to honour, divert one with a comedy,’ often approaching the other sense, e.g. Most. 427 “ludos ego hodie vivo praesenti huic seni faciam, quod credo mortuo numquam fore.”