Unit 27, Part II, Exercise 5

Greek Learning Greek
1

In Dr. Mastronarde’s work, I am having trouble translating Unit 27, Part II, Exercise 5.
It is written like this, οἱ ἄφρονες τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὰ παρόντα ἀφέντες τὰ ἀπόντα διώκουσιν."

At first I thought οἱ ἄφρονες τῶν ἀνθρώπων looked like a genitive absolute, but it seems to be grammatically connected to the second part of the phrase, so I translate is as “The foolish of the people.”

I had to look up some words in the second part of the phrase. τὰ παρόντα means “present state of affairs” or “present circumstances.”

I believe ἀφέντες is a participle meaning, “Sending away”

Is τὰ ἀπόντα a participle meaning, “Those being absent?”

Maybe I should translate it as, “The foolish of the people are sending away the present circumstances and pursuing the absent.” ?

I would like to know how someone begins this Greek sentence and what steps he/she takes to get to the final translation.

2

Lucas, you’ve translated the participial phrase (the participle ἀφέντες) as a finite verb in the indicative (are sending away).

3

Would it be better to translate it, “Who are sending away”?

4

I was thinking that, as a rule, it might be safer to first identify the class of circumstantial participle (i.e. temporal, concessive, causal, or conditional), before the final translation.

Since the participial phrase is not a clause in Greek, maybe better to start that way in English.

5

I was thinking the same thing: what steps should I take in general when I find a circumstantial participle?

How about:

  1. identify the case, gender and number of the circumstantial participle (as an adjective)
  2. determine its noun (which noun is it in concord with?)
  3. identify the class of circumstantial participle (temporal, concessive, causal, conditional)
    that is, determine the relationship between the action of the participle (as a verb) and the action of the main verb.
  4. come up with an appropriate English translation, perhaps using the English equivalents for καίπερ, ὡς, etc.
6

How does one know it is a circumstantial participle? I was thinking it could be a temporal participle, but I could be wrong. There is not much context, and I am not sure if I have any of the context right.

7

It’s circumstantial if it’s in the predicate position. That is, it doesn’t have a definite article directly before it.
For example, τὰ παρόντα is not circumstantial (it’s attributive) because it has the article τὰ directly before it.

I’m going to try the algorithm out on exercise 5. Let me know if this is helpful or makes things even more confusing. I’m trying to develop a method of handling participles as I find them confusing.

οἱ ἄφρονες τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὰ παρόντα ἀφέντες τὰ ἀπόντα διώκουσιν.

Step 1. Do we have any circumstantial participles?
Yes, ἀφέντες is not preceded directly by an article (it is in the predicate position).

Step 2. Identify the circumstantial particle (see page 220 of Mastronarde)
nom, plural, masc, aorist, active, participle, ἀφίημι.

Step 3. What is the participle’s noun? (must be nom, plural, masc)
in this step we are considering the participle as an adjective which must be in concord with a noun
οἱ ἄφρονες τῶν ἀνθρώπων is nom, plural, masc

Note: the participle’s noun is also the subject of the participle’s verbal action.

So the participial phrase is
οἱ ἄφρονες τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὰ παρόντα ἀφέντες
the fools among mankind having let go of what is at hand (non-finite verb in participial phrase)

Note: this is not a clause, as it has no finite verb

Step 4: What is the main verb clause?
οἱ ἄφρονες τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὰ ἀπόντα διώκουσιν
the fools among mankind pursue what is absent (finite verb in main clause)

Step 5: What is the relationship between the two verbal actions?
Two verbal actions one having happened before the other. This is a temporal circumstantial participle.
There is nothing concessive, causal or conditional involved.

So the English translation in this case can be two clauses joined by “and”.
the fools among mankind let go of what is at hand and pursue what is absent.

Or, we could preserve the participial nature with something like:
the fools among mankind, having let go of what is at hand, pursue what is absent.

8

Its always a problem when you start off on the wrong track.

Maybe I should translate it as, “The foolish of the people are sending away the present circumstances and pursuing the absent.” ?

The fact that this doesnt make sense in English should indicate that you have gone wrong.

I would like to know how someone begins this Greek sentence and what steps he/she takes to get to the final translation.

οἱ ἄφρονες τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὰ παρόντα ἀφέντες τὰ ἀπόντα διώκουσιν.

What is the subject of the finite verb?

οἱ ἄφρονες τῶν ἀνθρώπων…διώκουσιν.

What is the object of διώκουσιν? τὰ ἀπόντα

That leaves the participle phrase “τὰ παρόντα ἀφέντες”

What case is “ἀφέντες” ? It is nominative plural of the aorist participle of ἀφίημι.

What does ἀφέντες agree with? “οἱ ἄφρονες τῶν ἀνθρώπων.”

Put it all together. The foolish among men pursue what is absent (not at hand) (while) letting go of what is at hand. (ie they ignore the maxim a bird in the hand in the hand is worth two in the bush.)

I dont think you need to go through anything more elaborate than this.

Footnote

M. glosses τὰ παρόντα" as “present circumstances, the present state of affairs”. So perhaps you might want to translate as: … “(while) letting go of the present state of affairs.” But that seems to be very awkward.

It some times make better sense in English to change the finite verb into a participle and the participle into a finite verb. “The foolish among men while pursuing what is absent let go of what is at hand.” . Although the present example works as well retaining the structure of the Greek you will come across examples where doing so is not very idiomatic.

Again I would advise you to read "9. Note on Idiom. " on p 230. You will see that in discussing this line M. says “although it is legitimate to translate …into English with a coordinated expression (let go of . . . and pursue . . . ).” So when translating you dont need to retain the structure of the Greek. It will all depend on what you think reads better in English.

9

I will be back this afternoon when I have some more time.

Does ἀφέντες mean “letting go” in addition to “sending away”?

10

Mastronade P. 194

ἀφίημι (ἀπο) send forth, send away; release, set free; leave alone, neglect

So “letting go” from “release”.

But the important thing is not so much the precise English meaning, ie how you are going to translate, but understanding how the Greek fits together. If you you try to translate by piecing together what you think each word means in Greek you are going to go come to grief especially if you start off with the wrong meaning.

You have to start from how the Greek works without translating. Translating is always the last step. I don’t think you have quite grasped this.