Iliad 1:59 and 60

Are you reading Homeric Greek? Whether you are a total beginner or an advanced Homerist, here you can meet kindred spirits. Besides Homer, use this board for all things early Greek poetry.
Post Reply
Bert
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 1889
Joined: Sat May 31, 2003 2:28 am
Location: Arthur Ontario Canada

Iliad 1:59 and 60

Post by Bert »

)ατρείδη, νῦν ἄμμε πάλιν πλαγχθέντας ὀίω ἂψ ἀπονοστήσειν, εἴ κεν θάνατόν γε φύγοιμεν,
[face=Arial]I am having trouble translating these lines using the accusative of [/face]ἄμμε [face=Arial]I think the meaning is -" Son of Atreus, now, we have been beaten back again, I think we shall return home, if indeed we are to escape death".
Or maybe like this-" Son of Atreus, now, I think having been beaten back again we shall return home, if indeed we are to escape death".
In the first instance, we is in the subjective case, in the second it is implied but not expressed. If I try to translate[/face] ἄμμε [face=Arial]using the accusative I get something like this-" Son of Atreus, now, having beaten us back again, I think we shall return home, if indeed we are to escape death". Now I had to change the passive participle to active. Is this due to the different usage of Greek compared to English, or have I gone wrong somewhere?
Thank you.[/face]

annis
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 3399
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2003 4:55 pm
Location: Madison, WI, USA
Contact:

Post by annis »

The ἄμμε is the subject of the infinitives in the next line.

ὀίω ἄμμε ἀπονοστήσειν - "I think we shall return (home)."

ὀίω ἄμμε πάλιν πλαγχθέντας ἀπονοστήσειν - "I think we having-been-beaten-back shall return (home)."

Unfortunately Pharr's notes on this don't seem to be clear. Verbs of thinking and believing usually take an inifinitve, as you see above. When the subject of that infinitive isn't the same as the thinker, it appears in the accusative. Smyth 2018 is a good starting point.
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/http://www.scholiastae.org/
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;

Post Reply