The Athenaze exercises tend to lean towards puzzle-solving; not very efficient for learning, but it’s in the nature of puzzles that you want to know whether you’ve solved them correctly or not. So what about this one? This is the English:
When Pericles died, his successors (οἱ ὕστερον) were not leading the citizens but were being led by them.
For each wishing to be first said, “I will give the citizens all that (whatever) they want.”
But they made many mistakes (> use > πολλά + ἁμαρτάνω) and sent away the expedition to Sicily (> use > ἡ Σικελία), hoping that they would thus oblige (> use > χαρίζομαι + > dat.> ) the people.
But when they heard that the generals were being defeated by the enemy, they did not send aid (> use > ἡ βοήθεια).
Competing (> use > ἀγωνίζομαι) against each other about the leadership (> use > ἡ προστασία) of the people, they were being persuaded to neglect (> use > ἀμελέω + > gen.> ) the war.
Below is my attempt. I’m unsure about word order, particles, participles…
1: Can you use μᾶλλον for ἀλλά? I thought I saw it in the Thucydides readings…
2: I used δέομαι for ‘want’ (possible?) because I was unsure if either of βούλομαι or ἐθέλω could be used transitively.
Well, I hate these sorts of exercises myself, and I also question their usefulness. To be effective, you need good instant feedback about what is right or wrong. Hence my suggestion on the recent thread.
But I can give an attempt at reading these (not looking at the English) and say when what you wrote makes sense to me. I can tell you what I stumble on, but that doesn’t really mean that you’re wrong, of course. My Greek is a long way from perfect.
The first sentence was understandable, but οἱ ὕστερον and μᾶλλον seem odd. I’d look for examples of those in real Greek before pronouncing them good: After Pericles died, the later ones did not lead the citizens, rather were by them led.
The second made sense to me: For everyone wishing to be first said: “Whatever the citizens lack, I shall give.”
Third: But making a big mistake they sent the robe to the Sicilian hoping and gratifying the populace. (I think you may have wanted an infinitive instead of χαριούμενοι). [Edit: Looking it up I see that masculine στόλος is equipment, while feminine is robe. And “into Sicily”.]
Fourth: But having heard that the generals were defeated by the enemy, they did not send help.
Fifth: For striving with each other over the first standing (προστασίας) with the populace, they were persuaded to ignore the war.
Of course there ought to be an infinitive with ἐλπίζω, not a participle. I think I mixed it up with έπίσταμαι (silly mistake).
Is aorist ἁμαρτόντες necessary though? I’m thinking “they were making many mistakes”, among which one was sending the expedition to Sicily. Perhaps a tenuous reading.
πρὸς τὴν Σικελίαν, right?
Going back to the source that inspired my μᾶλλον (Thucydides 2.65), I see now that I misunderstood its grammatical role in his sentence. Thank you for pointing it out.
I also notice a few errors with accentuation when typing my answers out. If only Greek were easier to type…
ἁμαρτάνοντες present would be more like “while in the process of making many mistakes”—intelligible of course but Greek would be much more likely to use aorist, whether or not understood as a “coincident” use of aorist participle.
πρὸς τὴν Σικελίαν yes, or εἰς (since they did get there).
Yes, attentive reading of real Greek stands to be more helpful than anything else, though good commentaries are very valuable too. But this kind of exercise gives opportunity for active deployment of the language, definitely worthwhile if you get good feedback (I emphasize “good”—not always available!).
Yes ὅσων ἂν δέωνται is indefinite (all that they’re in need of, whatever that may be), while ὅσων δέονται is definite (all the particular things that they’re in need of). Either is possible; and perhaps ἅπαντα in front of ὅσων.
What about using the verb δέομαι at all, intending ‘to want’? (I found it in Athenaze’s word list.) As I said in the first post, I was unsure if βούολμαι or ἐθέλω would work with an object, or if they can only be used with an infinitive. I can’t remember, and my navigation through the relevant LSJ entries ended up inconclusive…
As I explained, either ὅσων δέονται or ὅσων ἂν δέωνται would be perfectly acceptable, in the absence of better contextual clues in the English. Your choice of δέομαι for the verb was a good one; επιθυμέω would do too (again with gen.), giving a different meaning. βούλομαι normally with inf., as you say, and εθέλω even less suitable.