Not very elegant, but it seems that it would do. The answer key gives the accusative “πόλιν” for “πόλει” and “ταῦτα” for “ταῦτα ἔργα”, fine, but renders the relative clause thus:
οἳ ψευδῆ αὺτοῦ κατηγόρησαν ὑφ’ ὑμῶν ἀπέθανεν.
Why the active “ἀπέθανεν” – “died” – instead of “ἀπεκτείνατο” – “was killed/put to death”? And why “ψευδῆ”? I can’t even parse that one – it seems that the form would be accusative singular but I can’t figure it out.
ed: oh – is “ψευδῆ” a neuter substantive “false things” and “he accused him of false things”? That would make sense, but that still leaves the verb of death. This would be an internal accusative, I believe.
ed2: cleaned up a few typos – used masculine plural accusatives instead of neuters
ἀπεκτείνατο would be middle, not passive, but Bedwere is right: απεθανεν would be used. There is no aorist passive of -κτεινω. Probably “you” plural is more likely–the speaker is addressing an assembly, υφ’ υμων.
on an Amazon wish list for my upcoming birthday (I figure the back-of-the-book vocab will do until I start reading texts). Is this a good version of the lexicon and if not (or even if yes but there are better alternatives) what would you all suggest?
This is essential–it’s what distinguished scholars use when they’re too lazy to go to the big LSJ. (This is based on an earlier version of LSJ, but it’s still very useful because it gives a large number of meanings, many idioms, citations to specific authors, and in many cases glosses on specific passages (though they aren’t identified as such). My copy is falling apart after about 55 years of front-line service, but I have a brand new copy in reserve for the next 55 years.
I seem to recall someone complaining about an illegible typeface in some of the newer copies. You might want to look for a used copy of an earlier printing in good condition–there are a number available at reasonable prices on AbeBooks:
Make sure the pages are clean and unmarked, and that the book is listed as in reasonably good condition. Eventually it will fall apart, though. Also make sure the publisher is listed as Oxford and avoid paper reprints, which tend to be defective.
Thanks a ton for the link. I knew that the LSJ was the one to get but there are several listings on Amazon that don’t specify whether they’re small, medium, or large (it turns out that one listing was of the little/abridged one but for only about $5 less than the medium/intermediate) and the listing in my wish list has some bad reviews because both old printings and a poor-quality recent reprint are all thrown together. I’ll go with Abe Books instead. Thanks again.
He also has a very succinct Greek grammar that gives you just what you need, clearly explained, without superfluous detail (but it’s not a replacement for Smyth–it’s a supplement):
You gave the link for the dictionary again instead of the grammar but it was easily-enough found. Thanks for the recommendations.
As it is, I remembered that the aorist passive is a different tense altogether, therefore “apekteinato” (I’m not at home right now, can’t type in Greek on my phone) for “was killed” isn’t possible anyway. Perhaps that’s what you were getting at when you pointed out that it would be middle and not passive.
the aorist passive is a different tense altogether, therefore “apekteinato” . . . for “was killed” isn’t possible anyway. Perhaps that’s what you were getting at when you pointed out that it would be middle and not passive.
Yes, the aorist passive is different from the aorist middle, and απεκτεινατο could only be a middle, though I doubt this verb would be much, if at all, used in the middle. In general, αποκτεινω doesn’t have an aorist passive form in Attic Greek, since απεθανον supplies the passive.