cuidam hosti ademerat

[pmda]

I thought I had asked about this on the Forum but searching my posts it seems I haven't. If I have then many apologies....

In LLPSI Cap XVIII Orberg says:

In terram egressi Iovi sacrificaverunt, atque Aeneas clipeum, quem cuidam hosti ademerat, ad fores templi fixit et hunc versum inscripsit:...

why is 'cuidam hosti' dative?

[whsiv]

Salve pmda,

cuidam hosti is dative because of the verb ademerat. This use of the dative, if you're concerned with labeling things, might be called the Dative of Separation. The Dative of Separation will often go along with a verb that indicates something along the lines of "to remove from (somebody), to take away from (somebody)." The (somebody) in these cases are put into the dative. Also of note, these verbs are frequently compounds with ab, de, ex, and a few of ad, such as ademerat.

See A&G 381 ("Dative of Separation") for more details.

[Craig_Thomas]

Aeneas had taken the clipeus from a certain enemy. The enemy is in the dative because what the dative case essentially tells you is that the thing in the dative case in some way interested in or affected by the action described by the verb or the clause. Thus, it is not only used in clauses like "He gave something to his enemy" but also "He took something from his enemy". In both clauses, the enemy is not directly acted on, and so cannot appear in the accusative case, but he is clearly also not left unchanged by the action, and thus he appears in the dative case. In short, it is the indirect object.

[pmda]

Thanks guys.