The ‘Dative of Capacity’ (cf. oneri ferendo esse, etc.) appears in Stich. 720 “nulli rei erimus postea”; ‘we shall be fit for nothing afterwards,’ Cato inc. 3 J. “qui tantisper nulli rei sies, dum nihil agas” (which can hardly be Genitive, as Priscian 1. p. 227, p. 266 H. prefers to make it, or Locative, like nihili); cf. Ter. Adelph. 357 “qui aliquoi reist, etiam eum ad nequitiem adducere”. To it should be referred the common phrase (bonae) frugi esse. In Early Latin frux in the Singular had the metaphorical sense of ‘good conduct’ in various phrases, e.g.
- Poen. 892 “erus si tuus volt facere frugem”,
- Trin. 270 “certa est res ad frugem applicare animum”,
- Pseud. 468 “tamen ero frugi bonae”.
