tough grammar calls in a sentence of Suetonius's

Suetonius compares the belligerents Caesar and Pompey, in regard to their treatment of Romans who
refused to take either Pompey’s or Caesar’s side (Suet. Jul. 75)

I’m making a lot of grammar calls of which I’m unsure, but I seem to remember more when I try, and then see the correction.

denuntiante Pompeio pro hostibus se habiturum qui rei publicae defuissent, ipse medios et neutrius partis suorum sibi numero futuros pronuntiauit.

denuntiante Pompeio: ablative absolute [with Pompey declaring]

pro hostibus se habiturum: indirect discourse, main clause [that he meant to treat as enemies]

qui rei publicae defuissent: indirect discourse, subordinate clause [ the ones who had failed the public good, i.e., had not been Pompey’s active friends ]

The preceding is subordinated in its sense to the clause declaring Caesar’s atitude.

ipse: nominative singular, he himself, i.e. Caesar.

medios et neutrius partis: the in-betweens, and those of neither party. medios seems to be an adjective, accusative plural, while neutris partis is genitive singular; maybe both complement a reader-supplied illos.

suorum sibi numero futuros pronuntiauit: This was the hardest part. In general I believe it means something like, “He declared that those not against him would be accounted as friends to become.”

suorum: of his own side. I judge this the genitive complement of numero–see below.

sibi: I want to call this dative of reference, Allen and Greenough, no.378, the Dative of the Person Judging. In English I think we might say, “He declared that in his judgment those not opposing him were friends in the making.”

numero: the ablative singular of numerus -a -um, an adjective. I think it has noun force here, meaning “in the category”.

futuros: I suggest this is an incomplete future active infinitive, with futuros esse filled out by the reader.

Basically you’ve got this right. The one point that isn’t quite right is numero. This isn’t an adjective, it’s a noun. The expression in numero, literally, “in the number of” means “in the category of”, “in the ranks of”. (The same is true in English!) Numero without in can also be used in this sense.

See Lewis & Short, numerus II:

II Trop., number, rank, place, position, estimation, relation, class, category (cf.: nomen, locus, in loco, in vicem): me adscribe talem (i. e. talium) in numerum, Cic. Phil. 2, 13, 33: in illo antiquorum hominum numero reponi, id. Verr. 2, 3, 90, § 210: in deorum numero haberi, id. N. D. 3, 19, 48: reponere, id. ib. 3, 3, 21: referre, id. ib. 3, 1, 12: numero beatorum aliquem eximere, Hor. C, 2, 2, 18: si quo in numero illud, quod per similitudinem affertur, et quo in loco illud, cujus causā affertur, haberi conveniat, ostendetur, Cic. Inv. 2, 50, 151; id. Verr. 2, 2, 54, § 134: ex hoc numero hunc esse, id. Arch. 7, 16: parentis numero alicui esse, id. Div. in Caecil. 19, 61 sq.: in hostium numero habere aliquem, Caes. B. G. 1, 28: ducere in numero hostium, id. ib. 6, 32: hujus originis apud veteres numerus erat exilis, Amm. 23, 6, 35: > in numero esse, to be of the number of, to be reckoned among, to be any thing, > Lucr. 5, 180: Q. Aelius Tubero fuit illo tempore nullo in oratorum numero, Cic. Brut. 31, 117: sine actione summus orator esse in numero nullo potest, id. de Or. 3, 56, 213: quo sunt in numero Curiosolites, etc., Caes. B. G. 7, 75, 4; 3, 7, 2; Nep. Att. 1, 4: quo in numero ego sum, Cic. Fam. 13, 23, 1; Caes. B. C. 2, 44, 3; 3, 53, 2: qui in eo numero fuisset, Cic. Phil. 2, 11, 25; id. Fl. 4, 9; id. Fam. 7, 6, 1: quo in numero hi quoque fuerunt, Liv. 39, 36 fin.— aliquo numero esse, to be of some repute, id. Fam. 1, 10; Caes. B. G. 6, 13, 1; cf. Cic. Or. 62, 208; id. de Or. > Without in: ut civium numero simus, Liv. 4, 4, 12; 7, 30, 19; 30, 42, 9; 4, 56, 11; 36, 35, 9: aliquem hostium numero habere, Caes. B. G. 6, 6, 3; id. B. C. 3, 82, 3; id. B. G. 6, 21, 2: qui hostium numero non sunt, Cic. Phil. 13, 5, 11; id. Brut. 20, 78: > .—

http://perseus.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.12:1097.lewisandshort

“He declared that to him, those not against him would be in the number of his own.”

“He declared that he would reckon those not against him as his friends.”

sibi: I want to call this dative of reference, Allen and Greenough, no.378, the Dative of the Person Judging.

I would just call it a dative of reference and avoid an excessively specific term like that. But your analysis is correct.

Thanks Qimmik!

I get it on “numero”. It’s good to have a confirmation on dative of reference; I’ve always had trouble grasping that.

It’s a good idea not to take narrow classifications like “dative of the person judging” or even “dative of respect” in the grammar books too seriously. While these classifications are useful at an elementary stage, the idea is to get an instinctive feel for the use of the dative without having to put each instance in a pigeon-hole. The ultimate goal is to read and understand without having either to translate or analyze the grammar. Some grammatical analysis will always be necessary, but to the extent it can be left behind, so much the better.