What is the voice and tense of φανει here? Wasps line 530

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Phoebus Apollo
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What is the voice and tense of φανει here? Wasps line 530

Post by Phoebus Apollo »

ἐνεγκάτω μοι δεῦρο τὴν κίστην τις ὡς τάχιστα.
ἀτὰρ φανεῖ ποῖός τις ὤν, ἢν ταῦτα παρακελεύῃ;

The future tense makes the most sense ('what certain sort of man will he show himself to be?'), but in this case it can only be the 3rd sg active - but, unless I'm mistaken, the active of φαινω can't mean 'show oneself to be...', so I don't think it can be this (unless there is an ἐαυτον missing or something?). The only other thing I can think is that it's actually the 2nd sg middle - is this correct? The translations I've read put it as the 3rd sg, so I'm really not sure. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. :)

polemistes
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Re: What is the voice and tense of φανει here? Wasps line 53

Post by polemistes »

You are thinking of the expression φαίνω in passive (not middle, I think) + participle, meaning "to be manifest..." But that doesn't mean you can't use the active meaning of φαίνω "to reveal" or "to exhibit" with a participle. So "φαίνω ὤν " would be something like "I reveal that I am ..."

Phoebus Apollo
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Re: What is the voice and tense of φανει here? Wasps line 53

Post by Phoebus Apollo »

polemistes wrote:You are thinking of the expression φαίνω in passive (not middle, I think) + participle, meaning "to be manifest..." But that doesn't mean you can't use the active meaning of φαίνω "to reveal" or "to exhibit" with a participle. So "φαίνω ὤν " would be something like "I reveal that I am ..."
Thank you!

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