dative of the participle expressing time

Dative of the Participle expressing Time.—In expressions of time a participle is often used with the dative of the person interested in the action of the subject, and especially to express the time that has passed since an action has occurred (cp. “and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren” St. Luke i. 36).

ἀποροῦντι δ᾽ αὐτῷ ἔρχεται Προμηθεύς Prometheus comes to him in his perplexity P. Pr. 321c, Ξενοφῶντι πορευομένῳ οἱ ἱππεῖς ἐντυγχάνουσι πρεσβῡ́ταις while Xenophon was on the march, his horsemen fell in with some old men X. A. 6.3.10. The idiom is often transferred from persons to things: ἡμέραι μάλιστα ἦσαν τῇ Μυτιλήνῃ ἑᾱλωκυίᾳ ἑπτά, ὅτ᾽ ἐς τὸ Ἔμβατον κατέπλευσαν about seven days had passed since the capture of Mytilene, when they sailed into Embatum T. 3.29. This construction is frequent in Hom. and Hdt. The participle is rarely omitted (T. 1.13.).

a. A temporal clause may take the place of the participle: τῇ στρατιᾷ, ἀφ᾽ οὗ ἐξέπλευσεν εἰς Σικελίᾱν, ἤδη ἐστὶ δύο καὶ πεντήκοντα ἔτη it is already fifty-two years since the expedition sailed to Sicily Is. 6.14.