πίμπλημι

[megas_yiannakis]

Hello all again!

μένεος δὲ μέγα φÏ￾ένες ἀμφιμέλαιναι μίμπλαντ'...

in pharr XXXIII; what form is πίμπλαντ'?

i know its a form of πίμπλημι, but i dont know which one lol the context though seems to be suggesting its a participle or aorist... then again i might be completely wrong.

thanks

John.

[modus.irrealis]

Hi,

I believe it's an imperfect middle without the augment, i.e. πίμπλαντο.

[megas_yiannakis]

Thankss! Σ' ευχαÏ￾ιστώ ω φίλε!

but why the use of the imperfect? wouldnt an aorist fit better? or is this epic just being abit strange again?

[modus.irrealis]

Here, I think the English "were filling up with anger" is pretty good at getting across the reason for the imperfect. Maybe you can say it's more vivid because you see Agamemon's getting angry as it grows, leading to his outburst.

But in general, I do find some of Homer's uses of imperfect a little strange from what I'm used to, especially how he introduces events and speeches with the imperfect (e.g. Chryses λίσσετο the Achaeans, Agamemon κακῶς αφίει and μÏ￾θον á¼￾πέτελλε), and I did have to readjust.

[Bombichka]

But in general, I do find some of Homer's uses of imperfect a little strange from what I'm used to, especially how he introduces events and speeches with the imperfect (e.g. Chryses λίσσετο the Achaeans, Agamemon κακῶς αφίει and μÏ￾θον á¼￾πέτελλε), and I did have to readjust.

some grammars claim that verbs with the general meaning "to say" can sometimes take the imperfect with an aorist meaning. I guess this could be the case with λίσσετο, μÏ￾θον á¼￾πέτελλε and even κακῶς αφίει (since here it means repudiating with words).
even in Attic prose, e.g. in Plato or Xenophon, forms such as ἔλεγε occur every now and then when the context clearly requires an εἶπεν.

another option is to consider at least some of those imperfects as instances of the so-called conative imperfect, i.e. an imperfect that means "begin, start".
thus, λίσσετο πάντας Ἀχαιούς could mean "started begging and imploring all the Achaeans".