This was formerly known as "predicate dative" or "dative of service", with usually the following characteristics of the noun in the dative of purpose: According to a standard 1893 grammar, only a few nouns are used in this construction which appears to be "governed by custom, not by any principle".
[1] In an example from Caesar (Gallic War 7.50): suis saluti fuit, "he was the salvation of his men", the dative of an abstract noun (salus "salvation") expresses purpose while the dative of reference expresses the person or thing affected (suus, pl.
This phrase, taken from Cicero, is usually rendered in English as something like, "Who benefits?
The double dative construction sounds unnatural if translated literally, "to whom for an advantage", and is better rendered as "to whom as an advantage".
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