Xen. Cyrop. 8.7.18

Specific Text Questions Cyropaedia
1

Hi everyone
I’m struggling slightly with the syntax of the below sentence.
(context - Cyrus is on his deathbed discussing the evidence for the immortality of the soul with his sons).

τὰς δὲ τῶν ἄδικα παθόντων ψυχὰς οὔπω κατενοήσατε οἵους μὲν φόβους τοῖς μιαιφόνοις ἐμβάλλουσιν, οἵους δὲ παλαμναίους τοῖς ἀνοσίοις ἐπιπέμπουσι;

Breaking down the first half (as the second just mirrors the first)…

οὔπω κατενοήσατε - have you never observed
οἵους μὲν φόβους - what kind of fear (indirect question)
τὰς δὲ τῶν ἄδικα παθόντων ψυχὰς - the souls of those suffering injustice
ἐμβάλλουσιν - inflict upon
τοῖς μιαιφόνοις - their murderers

How does the accusative τὰς…ψυχὰς act as the subject of the 3rd person verb ἐμβάλλουσιν ? Wouldn’t we have expected its infinitive εμβαλλειν instead, particularly if its subordinate to κατενοήσατε ?

2

Hi Neil,
It’s the “I know thee who thou art” construction, or “Consider the lilies how they grow.” That’s to say, what starts out as the object of the main verb (making a potentially complete sentence) then comes to function as the implicit subject of the subordinate clause that picks it up.
Here τὰς δὲ τῶν ἄδικα παθόντων ψυχὰς is foregrounded. It’s important (as always) to take the Greek in the order it which it comes.

3

this is called prolepsis, it is quite common

4

Ah yes, I see this now, quite straight forward really, thanks.
(I think I was going down a rabbit hole after placing too much emphasis within the overall structure on the indirect question).