Taylor book 1 attempting to escape fate

Composition and Communication Composition Board
1

Taylor book 1 attempting to escape fate

Having completed the first volume of Taylor’s Greek to GCSE
I thought, as an exercise, I’d try writing a short story using just the grammar and the
core vocabulary of that book. This is the result.

ὁ γέρων ἐξ ἱεροῦ ἐλθών, εἶπε τῷ ἄρχοντι,
-ἐν ὕπνῳ εἶδον κίνδυνον. οἴσει ἐπιστολήν ἅγγελος ἐκ τῆς νήσου τῆς μακράς τεσσάρων ἡμερῶν. ὁ ἅγγελος σέ ἀποκτενεῖ.
ἦλθε μιᾷ ἡμετέρᾳ ἄγγελός ἐκ τῆς μακράς νήσου επιλστολην φέρων.
εἶπε ἄρχων
-ἐθέλεις με ἀποκτείνει. μενεῖς τέσσαρας ἡμετέρας ἐν δεσμωτηρίῳ. ἔπειτα ἀποκτενῶ σέ.
ὁ ἄρχων οὐκ ἐγίγνωσκε τούς φίλους ἀγγέλου.
ὁ φύλαξ ἦν φίλος τοῦ ἀγγέλου. τέσσαρσι ἑσπέρῃ ἔλυσε ἄγγελον. ἐδέξατο ἄγγελος ἐκ φύλακος τά ὅπλα. ἦλθε ὁ ἄγγελος τῳ ἄρχοντι καί εἶπε
-ἐπεί ἦλθον οὐ ἤθελον σε ἀποκτείνει καί οὐκ ἦ ἐχθρός σοι ἁλλά ειμι νυν ἐχθρός.
ὁ ἅγγελος τόν ἄρχοντα ἀπέκτεινε.

2

ευγε, φιλε Δαυιδ! τουτον τον μυθον φιλω δη! ευκοπον τε και καλον εστιν.

κατα με, ὁ γερων ειπε ψευδη. το γαρ οναρ ουκ αληθες ην.

καλως Ελληνιστι συ γραφεις.

ερρωσο, φιλτατε!

3

Thanks for the encouragement, however, if you think the old man
spoke falsely then I have made a significant mistake in my Greek.
Why do you think the dream was not true?

4

Why do you think the dream was not true?

διοτι ο αγγελος ουκ εβουλετο αποκτεινειν τον αρχοντα.

5

Now I understand. Future can simply mean that at some point in the
future x will happen. Future can also have a strong implication
of current intention. As there is only one future in Ancient Greek
I had until now assumed that the future was ambiguous between
the two uses.

It is certainly true that what the old man says could mean
that the messenger already has the intention of killing the Archon
but I did not realize that it could only mean that.

If that is so, how in Ancient Greek does one express a simple future
which means that something will happen in the future without
any implications about any ones current intention or whether
the seeds of that future event are already implicit in the current situation?

6

Rereading the story today I noticed an extra νυν and have removed it.

If any one spots any more errors ( which I sadly suspect must exist) please post.