καὶ λέγειν πρὸς Αμέλιον οὐ γὰρ ἀρκεῖν φέρειν ὅ ἡ φύσις εἴδωλον ἡμῖν περιτέθεικεν ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰδώλου εἴδωλον συγχωρεῖν αὐτὸν ἀξιουν πολυχρονιώτερον καταλιπεῖν
he said to Amelius: is it not enough to carry the image that nature had put around us but also that it should be granted (synxorein, dependent on legein) to ask him (plotinus) to leave a more durable image of an image.
i think that δει that is kinda implicit in arkei should be supplied
My version has ὥστε καὶ λέγειν πρὸς Ἀμέλιον…οὐ γὰρ ἀρκεῖ φέρειν…
But regardless, I think that taking συγχωρεῖν as governing ἀξιοῦν leads to the problems mentioned in the first post. Not that it’s weird to take it that way, given the word order, but I think that ἀξιοῦν governs συγχωρεῖν.
So my understanding is that the following is the base statement (and that ἀρκεῖ is the finite verb being λέγειν’d, and everything else depends on it):
οὐ γὰρ ἀρκεῖ φέρειν … ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸν ἀξιοῦν … ;
For is it not enough that he bear…but in addition that he deem it right to…?
The object of this ἀξιοῦν is the acc. + inf. phrase:
εἰδώλου εἴδωλον συγχωρεῖν πολυχρονιώτερον καταλιπεῖν
agree to leave behind a longer lasting image of an image.
Putting it all together, in my understanding:
οὐ γὰρ ἀρκεῖ φέρειν ὃ ἡ φύσις εἴδωλον ἡμῖν περιτέθεικεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰδώλου εἴδωλον συγχωρεῖν αὐτὸν ἀξιοῦν πολυχρονιώτερον καταλιπεῖν…;
For is it not enough that he bear what nature has set around us as an image, but in addition that he deem it right to agree to leave behind a longer lasting image of an image … ?
We’d use “must” in that second branch in English, I think, and like you I do sort of want to sneak in a δεῖν going back to Greek, but I think that’s just because I still think in English too much.
The 3rd person versus 1st is an artifact of reported speech, of course.
of which verb is αὐτον the object? I take it, that it is the object of ἀξιοῦν, so the whole phrase would be: αὐτὸν ἀξιοῦν πολυχρονιώτερον καταλιπεῖν to ask him to leave behind a more lasting image. Now, συγχωρεῖν is dependent directly upon ἀρκεῖ without dei And the subject of συγχωρεῖν is indefinite τινα which is often skipped. So the whole phrase could be translated as: is it not enough to carry the image that nature had put around us but also to allow that someone ask him (plotinus, αυτον)to leave behind a more lasting image.