Monday, December 10, 2018
Offenses Against Gods
Tacitus, Annals 1.73.5 (reporting a speech by Tiberius; tr. John Jackson):
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The gods must look to their own wrongs.Codex of Justinian 4.1.2 (tr. Fred H. Blume, rev. Dennis P. Kehoe):
deorum iniuriae dis curae.
The scorned sanctity of an oath has a sufficient avenger in God.Tacitus' dis curae (with ellipsis of sunt) is a good example of the double dative construction described in Charles E. Bennett, A Latin Grammar, rev. ed. (1908; rpt. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1913), p. 133 (§ 191, 2, a):
iuris iurandi contempta religio satis deum ultorem habet.
The Dative of Purpose or Tendency designates the end toward which an action is directed or the direction in which it tends. It is used—
[....]
Much more frequently in connection with another Dative of the person:—
Especially with some form of esse; as,—
fortunae tuae mihi carae sunt, your fortunes are a care to me (lit. for a care);
nobis sunt odio, they are an object of hatred to us;
cui bono? to whom is it of advantage?
