Specific phrase in Cyropedia 5.1

Specific Text Questions Cyropaedia
1

Hello, I had a question about Cyropedia 5.1, specifically this early clause:

χρήσεται δ᾽ αὐτοῖς ὑμῶν ὁ ἀεὶ μάλιστα δεόμενος.

I struggle with the combination of:

  • αυτοις (“to them”; 3rd person plural, dative)


  • υμων (“of you all”; 2nd person plural, genitive)


  • ο (in this case?: “he who”)

Walter Miller translates this as:

… but it shall always be at the service of any one of you who at any time is most in need of it.

If I parse the phrase very literally I get:

I will furnish for-them of-you-all always he who has the greatest need.

Why the plural 3rd person, αυτοις ?

Many thanks in advance!

Best,
Chris

2

this autois refers to the things to be used and goes with chresetai. chresetai autois - he will use them, ὁ ἀεὶ μάλιστα δεόμενος. the one who is at the time in need, υμων of you: the one among you who is at the time in great need, will use them.

3

Yes Chris, Const.Philo puts it together for you. Literally it goes “the (one) of you being most in need (ὑμῶν ὁ μάλιστα δεόμενος) will use them (χρήσεται αὐτοῖς, i.e. will have the use of them—this verb takes the dative).”
αει with the attributive participle (ὁ ἀεὶ μάλιστα δεόμενος) has its regular idiomatic meaning in such phrases, not “always” but more like “on any given occasion.” (The stock example is ὁ ἀεὶ βασιλεύων.)
αυτοῖς refers to the gifts that Cyrus has been given.

4

Constantinus Philo and mwh, thank you so much for your help and the quick reply!

mwh, thank you also for the note re: αεὶ

Summing up my mistakes:

  1. I misread χρησεται as first-person singular, when it’s actually third-person singular
  2. χρησεται is actually middle voice, and the sense of χραω in middle voice is “to use” (active voice’s is “to furnish”)

Follow up question: How did you know that χραω takes the dative? What’s the easiest way to find out whether a verb takes accusative or dative?

(I didn’t see the χραω + dative on Wiktionary, LSJ or Middell, but did finally find it in Bailly 2020.)

Many thanks!

– Chris


***χράω - Wiktionary: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/χράω

5

χρησεται is third person singular, not plural. In LSJ, the entry for this verb in the sense of “use,” is χράομαι, not χράω. (This is confusing, misleading and frustrating, to be sure.) Under χράομαι II, LSJ indicates that in the sense of of “use,” this verb takes a dative object.

6

In LSJ, the entry for this verb in the sense of “use,” is χράομαι, not χράω. (This is confusing, misleading and frustrating, to be sure.)

LSJ has “χράομαι” under χράω B. C. It’s Brill and CGL that put it under χράομαι.

7

Awesome, thank you so much everyone!