Apology 22d

Greek Learning Greek
1

I may seem to split hairs, but I can’t quite grasp the grammar of this sentence, and specifically the last part:

ἀλλ᾽, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, ταὐτόν μοι ἔδοξαν ἔχειν ἁμάρτημα ὅπερ καὶ οἱ ποιηταὶ καὶ οἱ ἀγαθοὶ δημιουργοί—διὰ τὸ τὴν τέχνην καλῶς ἐξεργάζεσθαι ἕκαστος ἠξίου καὶ τἆλλα τὰ μέγιστα σοφώτατος εἶναι—καὶ αὐτῶν αὕτη ἡ πλημμέλεια ἐκείνην τὴν σοφίαν ἀποκρύπτειν

I’m reading Geoffrey Steadman’s annotated edition, which says “ἡ πλημμέλεια (ἐστίν): add linking verb”. I take it a literal translation would be something like: “and there is this folly of theirs, that they hide this wisdom”. But I only find translations along the lines of: “and this folly of theirs obscured that wisdom”. Which is not quite the same thing: in the first case, the folly is that they’re hiding their wisdom, in the other, the folly itself is hiding it. But ἡ πλημμέλεια can’t be the subject of ἀποκρύπτειν.

What am I not seeing?

2

The linking verb to be added is ἔδοξεν, understood from the previous ἔδοξαν, with the slight change from plural to singular, barely noticeable in reading.

3

He’s said they seemed (εδοξσν) to have the same fault as the poets etc., and he continues that construction here, i.e. we mentally supply εδοξεν (not ἐστίν!)—“and this πλημμέλεια of theirs (seemed) to overshadow that σοφια.”

I see I’ve written over 5000 posts here. I think that’s probably enough for now. Hylander (whose post I belatedly see above) can do everything I can do and more.

4

I certainly can’t do more than you, or even as much.

5

That would be more than a loss for this community! It’s always a treat to see a new post signed mwh.

Great explanation as always – both of you. Thank you.