ἄγειν - verbs take or make the opportunity?

[ἑκηβόλος]

If the ἄγειν was more than a verb of motion and had to be either "take (the/this) opportunity to go", or "make (this/the) opportunity to go", how would one decide between the two meanings.

[jeidsath]

I don't think that ἄγειν could mean either. However, look at καιρός A.III in the LSJ for some ideas:

To be letting an opportunity slip: καιρὸν παριέναι
To be seizing an opportunity: καιρὸν λαμβάνειν

I don't know if it would be expressed differently in Koine Greek.

[Barry Hofstetter]

I don't know if it would be expressed differently in Koine Greek.

The NT has εὐκαιρίαν ζητεῖν, to seek an opportunity.

[ἑκηβόλος]

The verbs are often used transitively in contexts where time (sequences of events) is scheduled or arranged, such as official proceedings. Both transitively and intransitively there is often a context of opportunity (for an activity), or time constraint (on an activity).

Perhaps conversely, φέρειν perhaps doesn't connotate that relationship to time/events in the same way.

[jeidsath]

Can you quote some examples from Greek texts of what you're describing?

[ἑκηβόλος]

Okay. Connotation by association or from context is an inexact undertaking, but here are a few:

τὴν δύναμιν ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν παρεισαγαγὼν

"Leading a force to infiltrate (bypass the defensive strongholds of) the city walls", which can be compared with

εἶθ᾽ ὁ μὲν Τέννης προσελθὼν τοῖς ἐξ Αἰγύπτου μισθοφόροις ἔπεισεν αὐτοὺς ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν εἰσαγαγεῖν αὐτόν τε καὶ τὸν βασιλέα.

"persuaded them to get both him (Tennes) and the king inside the city walls"

The first of those maybe has the connotation of "got the chance to", while the second is "to arrange or make the chance to"

For παρεισάγειν, perhaps it is worth mentioning the contrast / play between the two words in 2 Peter:

ψευδοδιδάσκαλοι , οἵτινες παρεισάξουσιν αἱρέσεις ἀπωλείας

"who will (find a few opportunities to) introduce some of their own destructive opinions. Possibly in contrast to the earlier general exhirtation to

σπουδὴν πᾶσαν παρεισενέγκαντες

"(at all times) adding every type earnestness".

There is an almost tangible urgency or time pressure in the ἄγωμεν statements:

Ἐγείρεσθε, ἄγωμεν. Ἰδού, ἤγγικεν ὁ παραδιδούς με.

or an opportunity to get things done, such as preaching as ordered:

Ἄγωμεν εἰς τὰς ἐχομένας κωμοπόλεις, ἵνα καὶ ἐκεῖ κηρύξω· εἰς τοῦτο γὰρ ἐξελήλυθα

διηγήσατο αὐτοῖς πῶς ὁ κύριος αὐτὸν ἐξήγαγεν ἐκ τῆς φυλακῆς.

"how the LORD (found a way to) get him out of the prison".

πότε ἐξάγειν ἐπὶ πότον, πότε ἀπάγειν ἐπὶ κοῖτον:

"Alternating between (taking the opportunity of) going out for a drink, then returning back home to the pen".

ἄνθη ... ἐξῆγεν

"(In a very short time and under the right circumstances) flowers came forth".

τούτῳ διαφέρων τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ὑπηγμένων εἰς τὰς φυλακάς,

"Cleomenes differed from the others that had been taken down into prison (for some length of time) in this way, "

[jeidsath]

I'm afraid that I'd have to disagree.

Diodorus Siculus, Library, 13.90.1 does not have the connotation of "got the chance to." He led his troops into the city that morning because the defending troops had deserted the night before.

Diodorus Siculus, Library, 16.45.3 does not mean he persuaded them to make the chance for him and the king to enter, it means he persuaded them to lead he and the king inside (the plain meaning of εἰσαγαγεῖν).

2 Pe 2:1 Is not a statement about opportunity, but a statement of fact. They will do this. See the context.

Acts 12:17. He is not explaining how the Lord found a way to get him out (one presumes that the Lord didn't have to try that hard), but rather he explains how the Lord got him out.

And the interpretation put on the others does not seem to be motivated by context either.

[anphph]

I have to agree with jeidsath, there doesn't seem to be much here. Plus, "found a way to X" is really just a sort of copula. Verbs active in both sense and grammar, of the type "Subject Conjugated-Verb", can be periphrased as "Subject found a way to infinitive-Verb" with no loss or gain of meaning.

Nam cum dico, Socrates est, hoc ipsum esse Socrati applico, et substantiam eius esse constituo. Sin vero dixero, Socrates philosophus est, philosophiam et Socratem secundum esse composui; vel si dicam, Socrates ambulat, huiusmodi est tanquam si dicam, Socrates ambulans est

[ἑκηβόλος]

Diodorus Siculus, Library, 13.90.1 does not have the connotation of "got the chance to." He led his troops into the city that morning because the defending troops had deserted the night before.

If the troops had still been there, perhaps he wouldn't have had the chance to. A set of circumstances arose that gave him a chance that he took using an ἄγειν verb.

Diodorus Siculus, Library, 16.45.3 does not mean he persuaded them to make the chance for him and the king to enter, it means he persuaded them to lead he and the king inside (the plain meaning of εἰσαγαγεῖν).

Does "plain" here mean without an opportunity. I think that apart from a few legacy (fossilised) elements the βαίνειν family of verbs describe motion without any (narrative) time reference at all - of course motion itself takes time.

2 Pe 2:1 Is not a statement about opportunity, but a statement of fact. They will do this. See the context.

Yes. The tense suggests the authour believes that what he says will happen for sure. It is an anticipated fact.

Facts need opportunities to be done. The smaller context is that they are present in the community, and the larger context is that their presence finds parallels with false prophets in earlier periods. Whether a prophesy is given in response to a specific request or event, or it is given during regular worship services, the opportunity for it happens in a small time frame. The parallel in the context suggests that introduction of heresies will happen in short time frames like when false prophesies were given.

Acts 12:17. He is not explaining how the Lord found a way to get him out (one presumes that the Lord didn't have to try that hard), but rather he explains how the Lord got him out.

Getting him out happened within a limited, but real, time period. We can call a short and succinct time period in the story an opportunity. There is a beginning, some process or flow and an end, which may not be in words describing instantaneous or non time-specific happenings.