The subject line is the final clause of Exercise 21.III.2, page 171, in M.
The key gives the translation as … “and who kept doing a very great deal of harm to the shrines of the Greek.”
“to the shrines…” seems to me to necessitate the dative case, i.e., “τοισ ιεροισ…”
Why the accusative? Could it be the “accusative of respect or specification” (M p.142)? That use of the accusative doesn’t seem to fit in this case, at least not to me. I can’t figure out what else it could be.
ποιέω may take a double accusative, the accusative of the thing done and the accusative to whom it is done:
c. dupl. acc., do something to another, κακά or ἀγαθὰ ποιεῖν τινα, first in Hdt.3.75, al.; ἀγαθόν, κακὸν π. τινά, Isoc.16.50, etc.; μεγάλα τὴν πόλιν ἀγαθά Din.1.17; also εὖ ποιεῖν τὸν εὖ ποιοῦντα X.Mem.2.3.8; τὴν ἐκείνου (sc. χώραν) κακῶς π. D.1.18; in LXX with Prep., π. κακὸν μετά τινων Ge.26.29; ταῦτα τοῦτον ἐποίησα Hdt.1.115; κοὐκ οἶδʼ ὅ τι χρῆμά με ποιεῖς Ar.V.697, cf. Nu.259; also of things, ἀργύριον τωὐτὸ τοῦτο ἐποίεε he did this same thing with silver, Hdt.4.166: less freq. c. dat. pers., τῷ τεθνεῶτι μηδὲν τῶν νομιζομένων π. Is.4.19; ἵππῳ τἀναντία X.Eq.9.12 codd., cf. Ar.Nu.388, D.29.37: c. dat. rei, τί ποιήσωμεν κιβωτῷ; LXX1Ki.5.8:—in Med., φίλα ποιέεσθαί Hdt.2.152, 5.37.
Liddell, H. G., Scott, R., Jones, H. S., & McKenzie, R. (1996). A Greek-English lexicon (pp. 1428–1429). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Does Dr. Mastronarde discuss the use of 2 accusatives with one verb? If you have Smyth, para. 1612 seems to describe this particular usage. Basically, a compound expression consisting of (in this case) ‘ποιεῖν’ plus an abstract substantive ‘τὰ κακά’ is often treated as a simple verb and when transitive, governs the accusative - in this case ‘τὰ ἱερά’.
This is the full text of Smyth 1612: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Smyth+grammar+1612&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0007
I see Barry already answered-I’ll leave this up so you have link to Smyth.
To Barry and Aetos-
Yes, I see in Unit 17, p.141, examples of double accusatives, with both an internal accusative and a direct object, the closest example I see being: τουσ πατερας κακα εποιουν.
The concept of internal accusative remains very mysterious to me. For instance, he gives (p.140) the example “ευχομαι την ευκην τηνδε” “I pray the following prayer”. The accusative (ευχην) is spelled out - so what is “internal” about it? Frustrating! (I’m venting…)
Thanks to all.
It’s traditional language to describe what is essentially an adverbial use of the accusative. From Smyth:
Verbs signifying to ask, clothe or unclothe, conceal, demand, deprive, persuade, remind, teach, take two objects in the accusative, one of a person, the other of a thing,
οὐ τοῦτʼ ἐρωτῶ σε that’s not the question I’m asking you Ar. Nub. 641; χιτῶνα τὸν ἑαυτοῦ ἐκεῖνον ἠμφίεσε he put his own tunic on him X. C. 1. 3. 17, ἰδοὺ δʼ Ἀπόλλων αὐτὸς ἐκδῡ́ων ἐμὲ, χρηστηρίᾱν ἐσθῆτα lo Apollo himself divests me of my oracular garb A. Ag. 1269; τήν θυγατέρα ἔκρυπτε τόν θάνατον τοῦ ἀνδρός he concealed from his daughter her husband’s death L. 32. 7; Κῦρον αἰτεῖν πλοῖα to ask Cyrus for boats X. A. 1. 3. 14, ὡς ἐγώ ποτέ τινα ἢ ἐπρᾱξάμην μισθὸν ἢ ᾔτησα that I ever exacted or asked pay of any one P. A. 31 c; τούτων τὴν τῑμὴν ἀποστερεῖ με he deprives me of the value of these things D. 28. 13; ῡ̔μᾶς τοῦτο οὐ πείθω I cannot persuade you of this P. A. 37a; ἀναμνήσω ῡ́μᾶς καὶ τοὺς κινδῡ́νους I will remind you of the dangers also X. A. 3. 2. 11; οὐδεὶς ἐδίδαξέ με ταύτην τὴν τέχνην nobody taught me this art X. O. 19. 16.
Both person and thing are equally governed by the verb. The accusative of the person is the external object; the accusative of the thing is sometimes a cognate accusative (internal accusative).
Smyth, H. W. (1920). A Greek Grammar for Colleges (p. 364). New York; Cincinnati; Chicago; Boston; Atlanta: American Book Company.
This explanation (though taken from an explanation of the Latin construction) is good for Greek as well:
Internal Accusative: Another important usage for the accusative case is the Internal Accusative. The Internal Accusative is any accusative that names or modifies the action of the verb. The Cognate Accusative is the easiest form of the internal accusative to identify; it is called a “cognate accusative” because the noun in the accusative case uses a same linguistic stem or root as (in other words, it is cognate with) the stem or root of the verb. I sing a song = intransitive verb, “I sing”, + accusative that simply renames the activity of singing, “a song.” This cognate (internal) accusative can be modified by adjectives: I sing a loud song. But notice what happens if we leave off the noun: I sing loud. Suddenly, the adjective becomes an adverb (the very adverb our third grade teachers told us not to use). This “adverbial accusative” is almost always an “internal accusative” – that is, an accusative object that renames the action of the verb, even when it is not in any way a cognate accusative. Consider: cano nihil = I sing no song = I don’t sing. loquitur multum = he talks much talking = he talks a lot. Thus, you can have a transitive verb (“Im gonna hit your face” = ego faciem tuam icturus sum) with an internal accusative (ego faciem istam multum percussurus sum. = “I’m gonna hit your face big-time” or “I’m gonna smash your face” or “I’m gonna hit your face a lot.”).