Smyth on the dative of agent. He essentially sees it as an extension of the ethical dative.wcombs wrote: ↑September 11th, 2020, 1:45 pm
According to our definition, if ἐν + dative is used to express agency, the noun in the dative must not only be personal, but must also be the agent who performs the action.48 BDF accurately assess the NT situation of the naked dative used for personal agency: “Dative of agency is perhaps represented by only one genuine example in the NT and this with the perfect: Luke 23:15.”49 In summary, we can say that there are very few clear examples of the dative of agency in the NT, and all of them involve a perfect passive verb.
Smyth wrote:1488. Dative of the Agent.—With passive verbs (usually in the perfect and pluperfect) and regularly with verbal adjectives in -τός and -τέος, the person in whose interest an action is done, is put in the dative. The notion of agency does not belong to the dative, but it is a natural inference that the person interested is the agent.
ἐμοὶ καὶ τούτοις πέπρᾱκται has been done by (for) me and these men D. 19. 205, ἐπειδὴ αὐτοῖς παρεσκεύαστο when they had got their preparations ready T. 1. 46, τοσαῦτά μοι εἰρήσθω let so much have been said by me L. 24. 4, ἐψηφίσθαι τῇ βουλῇ let it have been decreed by the senate C. I. A. 2. 55. 9.
a. With verbal adjectives in -τός and -τέος (2149): τοῖς οἴκοι ζηλωτός envied by those at home X. A. 1. 7. 4, ἡμῖν γʼ ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐλευθερίᾱς ἀγωνιστέον we at least must struggle to defend our freedom D. 9. 70. For the accus. with -τέον, see 2152 a.
1489. The usual restriction of the dative to tenses of completed action seems to be due to the fact that the agent is represented as placed in the position of viewing an already completed action in the light of its relation to himself (Interest, advantage, possession).
1490. The dative of the agent is rarely employed with other tenses than perfect and pluperfect: λέγεται ἡμῖν is said by us P. L. 715 b, τοῖς Κερκῡραίοις οὐχ ἑωρῶντο the ships were not seen by (were invisible to) the Corcyraeans T. 1. 51; present, T. 4. 64, 109; aorist T. 2. 7.
Smyth, H. W. (1920). A Greek Grammar for Colleges (pp. 343–344). New York; Cincinnati; Chicago; Boston; Atlanta: American Book Company.