Question

[nrc]

I'm working out of the White, and came across this sentence to translate, which confused me a bit:
[face=spionic]
keleu/sei to\n strathgo\n tou\j a)nqrw/pouj lu/ein.
[/face]
Does this translate as "He commanded the general to destroy the men"? Or "He commanded the general; he destroys the men"? Neither seem right.

[nrc]

Just got it. [face=spionic]lu/ein[/face] is an infinitive. So "He commanded the general to destroy the men" is right, right? For some reason I though the subjunctive might be needed to make that sentence, like in French.

[nrc]

Or more like "he will command". Damnit!

[annis]

Or more like "he will command". Damnit!

Yes.

I would be inclined to take [face=spionic]lu/ein[/face] as "loose" or "free" here, rather than "destroy." There are lots of other verbs for destruction that seem more likely if that was intended here.

[nrc]

Thanks annis. So, just to check, a similar sentence translated into Greek from the same page:

"He will command the general to pursue the enemy."
[face=spionic]keleu/sei to\n strathgo\n tou\j pole/miouj diw/kein
[/face]
Presumably there's some word-order rule to determine which verb applies to which accusative noun.

[annis]

Presumably there's some word-order rule to determine which verb applies to which accusative noun.

Nope. Greek word order has to do with emphasis, not grammatical roles. You have to depend on context to determine this.

[GlottalGreekGeek]

I suppose it would not be too odd if "he wi0ll order the men to free the general" were the meaning - at least if it were the general of a different army, or if the general was captured by the enemy or something. But, in the context vacuum, I woud go with "he will order the general to free the men."