[B-Greek] Jussive Dative?
Elizabeth Kline
kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Thu Mar 20 02:38:48 EDT 2008
On Mar 19, 2008, at 5:28 PM, George F Somsel wrote:
> 1. Walter Leaf, Commentary on the Iliad (1900) book 9, commline 620
> Observe the four consecutive datives: instrumental, jussive,
> modal, and ‘commodi. (9.26)
Assuming this link works you can view the page here:
http://books.google.com/books?id=BKQNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA319&lpg=PA319&dq=%
22observe+the+four+consecutive+datives%
22&source=web&ots=bi3SKoHXHZ&sig=OMYX8J-N2v7iDkqVJNFDMm1Hbeg&hl=en
I think this is yet another example where Homer is much easier to
understand than the commentator. The text under discussion is
620 Ἦ καὶ Πατρόκλῳ ὅ γ’ ἐπ’ ὀφρύσι
νεῦσε σιωπῇ
621 {•} Φοίνικι στορέσαι πυκινὸν
λέχος, ὄφρα τάχιστα
620 H KAI PATROKLWi hO G' EP' OFRUSI NEUSE SIWPHi
621 FOINIKI STORESAI PUKINON LECOS, OFRA TACISTA
Leaf's order "instrumental, jussive, modal, and 'commodi'" follows
the order of his translation *not* the Greek text: "he nodded (with)
his head to P. in silence ... for Phoinix." Therefore according to
Leaf we have:
OFRUSI instrumental
PATROKLWi jussive
SIWPHi modal
FOINIKI 'commodi'
It would seem to me that PATROKLWi is a dative complement of the verb
EPINEUSE. Does the nod of the head function like a command? It
probably isn't worth the trouble to figure out what Walter Leaf had
in mind. I have this sort of problem frequently with Richard Jebb's
notes on Sophocles.
Elizabeth Kline
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