ο μεν Σωκλης ου δικαιον ἡγεῖσθαι εφη …
From the answer key: Socles said that he did not believe it was just…
My problem is with ἡγεῖσθαι, which I recognize as the stem ηγε with the ending εσθαι, εσθαι being the ending for a strong aorist infinitive middle (M, 19.5.a, page 157). But ηγεομαι has a weak aorist (“ηγεσαμεν”) and not a strong aorist.
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So, I would expect ηγεσασθαι instead of ἡγεῖσθαι. Where am I confused?
And, as a matter of interest, in the same clause could the translation be also “Socles said that he believed it was not just”? I think it means the same thing in the end, but is there a subtle difference?
Hi, I suggest you have another look at ἡγεῖσθαι. Are you sure it’s aorist? Have a look at unit 11.3. You’ve underlined “was”, but check out unit 20.6, especially the part:
Furthermore, in English, the verb of the statement sometimes changes tense in the shift from a direct to an indirect form:
direct: > There > are > no seats> .
indirect: > The man said that there > were > no seats> .
By the way, ἡγησάμην, ἡγήσασθαι. Not with ε. (EDIT, just noticed the title of the topic, should be ἡγέομαι for the dictionary form)
In direct speech the present infinitive could represent either ἡγοῦμαι or ἡγούμην.
Hearing the Greek, a listener could generally tell you whether the indirect speech was a completed action or an ongoing action, but not always past/present except by context.
An example would be Xenophon’s “Κτησίας ἰᾶσθαι αὐτὸς τὸ τραῦμά φησι”. There is no way to tell, absent context, whether Ktesias says that he himself now treats the wound, or he himself treated it at some past time. But the Greek does make clear, as the English might not, that it’s an incomplete act, ruling out a simple act like bandaging (unless he’s in the midst of it), and implying a continued action like treatment.
(I’m trying to add the “embarrassed” smiley here, but it just won’t show up. But I am embarrassed.)
Yes, ἡγεῖσθαι is NOT the aorist, it is the present middle infinitive, as per Unit 11.3 as you say. I got fixated on the aorist even though I knew it could not be, and I never thought of looking at other tenses.
Your reply solves my problem. Thank you.
Yes, I always get mixed up between epsilon and eta. It seems to be solely a matter of memorizing, there doesn’t seem to be a rule as to which should be used when, except to use eta as a temporal augment for epsilon,
As for the rest of your reply, I will work on that and get back to you, perhaps in a new thread.