"epei" used concessively

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vir litterarum
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"epei" used concessively

Post by vir litterarum »

?πεί, ὡς ?γᾦμαι, εἰ ἦν ὑμῖν νόμος, ὥσπε? καὶ ἄλλοις ἀνθ?ώποις, πε?ὶ θανάτου μὴ μίαν ἡμέ?αν μο?νον κ?ι?νειν ἀλλὰ πολλα?ς, ἐπει?σθητε ἀ?ν:
P.A. 37a-b

How is ?πεί being used here? I took it as being concessive, i.e. "Although, as I think, if you had a law...you should be persuaded."

annis
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Re: "epei" used concessively

Post by annis »


William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/http://www.scholiastae.org/
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;

vir litterarum
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Post by vir litterarum »

how can this stand as an independent sentence when the whole thing is subordinated by "epei"?

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Post by annis »


William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/http://www.scholiastae.org/
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;

vir litterarum
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Post by vir litterarum »

I still do not understand the sense of this passage. If Plato had said " we have only conversed for a short time because we do not have such a law" it would be perfectly clear;however, making this statement conditional, "since if..." seems to me to be grammatically incorrect and not to be comprehensible. How would you translate this in relationship to the previous sentence. I agree now "epei" must be causal; I just do not understand the relationship between this "sentence" and the previous one.

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Post by annis »


William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/http://www.scholiastae.org/
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;

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vir litterarum
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Post by vir litterarum »

So "I mention this" must be inferred from the context?

The only other question I have is, if ?πείσθητε ἄν is the apodosis of the subordinate conditional sentence and εἰ ἦν ὑμῖν νόμος, ὥσπε? καὶ ἄλλοις ἀνθ?ώποις is the protasis,verb goes with ?πεί. if it is ?πείσθητε, why isn't "epeidan" used?

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vir litterarum
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Post by vir litterarum »

Okay. now I get it. I just had never encountered a causal clause of this sort before, nor have I seen it addressed in any grammar. Thanks for the help.

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