Oratio Variata Acts 1:4 Acts 23:22-23

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C. S. Bartholomew
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Oratio Variata Acts 1:4 Acts 23:22-23

Post by C. S. Bartholomew »

Acts 1:4 καὶ συναλιζόμενος παρήγγειλεν αὐτοῖς ἀπὸ Ἱεροσολύμων μὴ χωρίζεσθαι ἀλλὰ περιμένειν τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ πατρὸς ἣν ἠκούσατέ μου,

Acts 23:22 ὁ μὲν οὖν χιλίαρχος ἀπέλυσε τὸν νεανίσκον παραγγείλας μηδενὶ ἐκλαλῆσαι ὅτι ταῦτα ἐνεφάνισας πρός με. 23 Καὶ προσκαλεσάμενος δύο [τινὰς] τῶν ἑκατονταρχῶν εἶπεν· ἑτοιμάσατε στρατιώτας διακοσίους, ὅπως πορευθῶσιν ἕως Καισαρείας, καὶ ἱππεῖς ἑβδομήκοντα καὶ δεξιολάβους διακοσίους ἀπὸ τρίτης ὥρας τῆς νυκτός,

Acts 1:4 RSV And while staying with them he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me,

Acts 23:22 RSV So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him, “Tell no one that you have informed me of this.” 23   Then he called two of the centurions and said, “At the third hour of the night get ready two hundred soldiers with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go as far as Caesarea.

I was thinking about the syntax of Acts 1:4, specifically the Nominative Participle Clause NPC which is backgrounded (Levinsohn:2000, p.181f) and functions as a contextualizer' when I noticed that there was a shift from indirect speech to direct speech. Found a discussion of this in A.T. Roberson pp.442,1047, BDF §470, and Smyth §2634b.

A.T. Roberson pages 442,1047, BDF §470, Smyth §2634
[*] H. W. Smyth §2634

2634. Long sentences (and even some short complex sentences), or a series of sentences, in indirect discourse depending on a single verb of saying or thinking, are uncongenial to the animated character of Greek, which resists the formal regularity of Latin. Some long speeches in indirect discourse do, however, appear, e.g. Andoc. 1. 3842, Thuc. 6. 49, Xen. C. 8. 1. 10-11, Plato R. 614 b (the entire Symposium is given in reported form). To effect variety and to ensure clearness by relieving the strain on the leading verb, Greek has various devices.

a. ἔφη (ἔλεξε, εἶπεν, ἤρετο) is repeated, e.g. T. 7.48.

b. The indirect form is abandoned for the direct form, e.g. X. A. 1.3.14, 1. 9. 25, 4. 8. 10; often with a change, or repetition, of the verb of saying (X. A. 5.6.37, X. H. 2.1.25).

c. ἔφη χρῆναι (δεῖν) or ἐκέλευσε is inserted or repeated (T. 6.49. 4).

N. 1.—Transition from direct to indirect discourse is rare (X. A. 7.1.39, cp. X. C. 3.2.25).

N. 2.—An interrogative clause always depends immediately on the introductory verb, hence such clauses do not occur in the course of a long sentence in indirect discourse.
C. Stirling Bartholomew

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