Readings: Aesop, Xenophon, Plato, Homer

Four openings. A fable, a history, a speech, an epic. Each one is real Greek, written between roughly the eighth and the fourth centuries BC (the fable's prose wording is later, more on that below), and each is short enough to finish in one sitting. The texts come from the Perseus Digital Library and, for Aesop, from Karl Halm's 1872 Teubner edition in the First1KGreek collection; the sources list says exactly which files. Every translation in this lesson is this course's own.

Work each passage the same way:

1. Read the Greek aloud once, without stopping, using the pronunciation guide where you need it.
2. Find the verbs. Parse each one.
3. Find each verb's subject and object by case.
4. Use the vocabulary list for what you do not know, and lesson 20's method for anything not on it.
5. Write your own translation before you open the one in the details block.
6. Read the Greek aloud again. It should sound like sentences now.

Passage	Author's dates	Dialect	New grammar
Aesop, Fox and Grapes (Perry 15)	Aesop 6th c. BC (traditional); prose collections later	Attic-based prose with later features	complementary infinitive after βούλομαι and δύναμαι
Xenophon, Anabasis 1.1.1	c. 434 to c. 355 BC	Attic	the dual
Plato, Apology 17a	427 to 347 BC	Attic	indirect question, μέν ... δέ
Homer, Iliad 1.1 to 1.2	composed perhaps 8th c. BC	epic: mainly Ionic, with Aeolic forms	Ionic forms, dactylic hexameter

The dates for Xenophon and Plato follow Smyth's introduction, which gives Xenophon as about 434 to about 355 and Plato as 427 to 347. Scholars still argue over Homer's date, and "perhaps the eighth century" is the broadest common answer, not a settled one.

1. Aesop: The Fox and the Grapes

Aesop was remembered as a slave storyteller of the sixth century BC, but no text survives from his hand. The prose fables we have come from collections made centuries later, so their Greek is not pure classical Attic; you will see a few forms that a fifth-century Athenian would not have used. They are still the best first reading in Greek: short, plain, with a moral attached. This one is number 15 in the Perry Index, the standard modern numbering, and number 33 in Halm's edition.

Ἀλώπηξ καὶ βότρυς.
Ἀλώπηξ λιμώττουσα ὡς ἐθεάσατο ἐπί τινος ἀναδενδράδος βότρυας κρεμαμένους, ἠβουλήθη αὐτῶν περιγενέσθαι, καὶ οὐκ ἠδύνατο· ἀπαλλαττομένη δὲ πρὸς ἑαυτὴν εἶπεν· "ὄμφακές εἰσιν."
Οὕτω καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἔνιοι, τῶν πραγμάτων ἐφικέσθαι μὴ δυνάμενοι διʼ ἀσθένειαν, τοὺς καιροὺς αἰτιῶνται.

Halm, fable 33 (Perry 15). Text from the First1KGreek digital edition, with one correction noted below.

Vocabulary

• ἀλώπηξ, εκος, ἡ [a-LŌ-pēks]: fox.
• βότρυς, υος, ὁ [BO-trüs]: bunch of grapes. βότρυας, accusative plural.
• λιμώττω [li-MŌT-tō]: be starving (λιμός, hunger). Attic -ττ-; Ionic λιμώσσω.
• ὡς [HŌS]: when (with a past indicative).
• ἐθεάσατο [e-the-A-sa-to]: she saw, caught sight of (aorist of θεάομαι, deponent; compare θέατρον, theater).
• ἐπί + genitive: on, upon.
• ἀναδενδράς, άδος, ἡ [a-na-den-DRAS]: a vine trained up a tree (ἀνά up + δένδρον tree).
• κρεμαμένους [kre-ma-ME-noos]: hanging (present participle of κρέμαμαι, agreeing with βότρυας).
• ἠβουλήθη [ē-boo-LĒ-thē]: she wanted (aorist of βούλομαι, passive in form; Attic often augments it with η-).
• περιγενέσθαι [pe-ri-ge-NES-thai]: to get the better of, get hold of (aorist infinitive of περιγίγνομαι, with the genitive αὐτῶν).
• ἠδύνατο [ē-DÜ-na-to]: she was able (imperfect of δύναμαι).
• ἀπαλλάττομαι [a-pal-LAT-to-mai]: go away, depart. Attic -ττ-; Ionic and Koine -σσ-.
• πρὸς ἑαυτήν: to herself.
• ὄμφαξ, ακος, ἡ [OM-phaks]: unripe grape.
• οὕτω(ς) [HOO-tō]: so, in the same way.
• ἔνιοι, αι, α [E-ni-oi]: some.
• πρᾶγμα, ατος, τό [PRĀG-ma]: thing, matter, affair.
• ἐφικέσθαι [e-phi-KES-thai]: to reach, attain (aorist infinitive of ἐφικνέομαι, with the genitive).
• ἀσθένεια, ας, ἡ [as-THE-nē-a]: weakness.
• καιρός, οῦ, ὁ [kai-ROS]: the right moment, circumstances.
• αἰτιῶνται [ai-ti-ŌN-tai]: they blame (present of αἰτιάομαι, contracted).

Notes

• The first sentence has one subject, Ἀλώπηξ, and three finite verbs: ἐθεάσατο inside the ὡς clause, then ἠβουλήθη and ἠδύνατο in the main clause. The participle λιμώττουσα tells you why she wanted the grapes.
• ἠβουλήθη αὐτῶν περιγενέσθαι: a complementary infinitive after a verb of wanting (lesson 17). αὐτῶν, genitive plural, refers back to the grapes; περιγίγνομαι takes the genitive.
• καὶ οὐκ ἠδύνατο: the infinitive περιγενέσθαι is understood again: "and she could not (get them)."
• ἀπαλλαττομένη: a circumstantial participle (lesson 16), "as she was going away."
• The moral uses a participle phrase, μὴ δυνάμενοι, with μή because it is general and conditional in feel: "people who cannot."
• A correction. The digital text of Halm prints ἡδύνατο with a rough breathing. The imperfect of δύναμαι has a smooth breathing, ἠδύνατο, and that is printed here. Small slips like this come from scanning old printed books, and catching them is part of reading.

Translation

The Fox and the Grapes. A starving fox caught sight of some bunches of grapes hanging on a vine that climbed a tree. She wanted to get hold of them, and could not. As she went away she said to herself, "They're unripe." In the same way, some people who cannot manage their affairs because of their own weakness blame the circumstances.

2. Xenophon: Anabasis 1.1.1

Xenophon was an Athenian who joined a Greek mercenary army hired by the Persian prince Cyrus the Younger in 401 BC. Cyrus meant to take the throne from his brother. The Anabasis ("the march up country") tells the story. Its plain, clear Attic made it the first real text for generations of students. Here is how it begins.

Δαρείου καὶ Παρυσάτιδος γίγνονται παῖδες δύο, πρεσβύτερος μὲν Ἀρταξέρξης, νεώτερος δὲ Κῦρος· ἐπεὶ δὲ ἠσθένει Δαρεῖος καὶ ὑπώπτευε τελευτὴν τοῦ βίου, ἐβούλετο τὼ παῖδε ἀμφοτέρω παρεῖναι.

Xenophon, Anabasis 1.1.1 (Perseus text).

Vocabulary

• Δαρεῖος, ου, ὁ [da-RĒ-os]: Darius (Darius II, king of Persia).
• Παρύσατις, ιδος, ἡ [pa-RÜ-sa-tis]: Parysatis, his queen.
• γίγνονται [GIG-non-tai]: are born (present of γίγνομαι, used as a historical present). The genitives Δαρείου καὶ Παρυσάτιδος mean "of Darius and Parysatis," that is, to them.
• πρεσβύτερος [pres-BÜ-te-ros]: older (comparative of πρέσβυς, old man; compare English presbyter).
• νεώτερος [ne-Ō-te-ros]: younger (comparative of νέος).
• Ἀρταξέρξης, ου, ὁ [ar-ta-KSERK-sēs]: Artaxerxes.
• Κῦρος, ου, ὁ [KÜ-ros]: Cyrus.
• ἐπεί [e-PĒ]: when, since.
• ἠσθένει [ēs-THE-nē]: was ill (imperfect of ἀσθενέω; compare ἀσθένεια in the fable).
• ὑπώπτευε [hü-PŌP-teu-e]: suspected (imperfect of ὑποπτεύω; temporal augment ὑπο- to ὑπω-).
• τελευτή, ῆς, ἡ [te-leu-TĒ]: end. τελευτὴν τοῦ βίου, "the end of his life."
• ἐβούλετο [e-BOO-le-to]: he wanted (imperfect of βούλομαι).
• τὼ παῖδε ἀμφοτέρω [tō PAI-de am-pho-TE-rō]: both his sons. Dual; see below.
• παρεῖναι [pa-RĒ-nai]: to be present (infinitive of πάρειμι, be present).

The dual

Attic Greek has three numbers: singular, plural, and dual, for exactly two of something. Smyth's paradigm tables print a dual row for every tense; this course has left it out until now because it is rare in prose and Koine dropped it altogether. Xenophon uses it here for a pair of sons. You need to recognize three dual endings in nouns and the dual article.

Case	Article	Second declension (λόγος)	Third declension (παῖς)	First declension (χώρα)
Nom. / acc. / voc.	τώ	λόγω	παῖδε	χώρα
Gen. / dat.	τοῖν	λόγοιν	παίδοιν	χώραιν

Only two forms per noun. The article τώ serves all three genders in Attic. In verbs the dual endings are mostly -τον and -την (λύετον, "you two loosen"); you saw them in Smyth's tables in lessons 12 to 18 and can safely leave them for later. In this sentence τὼ παῖδε ἀμφοτέρω is accusative, the subject of the infinitive παρεῖναι (lesson 17): "he wanted both his sons to be present."

Notes

• γίγνονται is present tense in a story about the past: the historical present, which Xenophon uses to start scenes. Translate it as a past: "were born," or more naturally "had two sons."
• πρεσβύτερος μὲν ... νεώτερος δέ: μέν and δέ balance the two brothers. The whole book grows out of that balance.
• ἠσθένει, ὑπώπτευε, ἐβούλετο: imperfects, for a state of affairs that went on for some time.

Translation

"Darius and Parysatis had two sons, the elder Artaxerxes and the younger Cyrus. When Darius fell ill and suspected that the end of his life was near, he wanted both his sons to be with him."

If you want more. Here is 1.1.2, which you can now read with a dictionary: ὁ μὲν οὖν πρεσβύτερος παρὼν ἐτύγχανε· Κῦρον δὲ μεταπέμπεται ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἧς αὐτὸν σατράπην ἐποίησε. Lesson 16 used ἐτύγχανε παρών, from this very sentence, as its example of τυγχάνω with a participle. ("The elder happened to be there already. Cyrus he summoned from the province he had made him satrap of.")

3. Plato: Apology 17a

In 399 BC Socrates was accused in Athens of impiety and of corrupting the young, and he was put to death. Plato's Apology (ἀπολογία means a defense speech, not an apology) presents the speech he gave in his own defense to the Athenians. It opens with a joke at his accusers' expense. References to Plato use Stephanus numbers, the page and section of a 1578 printed edition: 17a is page 17, section a.

ὅτι μὲν ὑμεῖς, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, πεπόνθατε ὑπὸ τῶν ἐμῶν κατηγόρων, οὐκ οἶδα· ἐγὼ δʼ οὖν καὶ αὐτὸς ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ὀλίγου ἐμαυτοῦ ἐπελαθόμην, οὕτω πιθανῶς ἔλεγον. καίτοι ἀληθές γε ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν οὐδὲν εἰρήκασιν.

Plato, Apology 17a (Perseus text).

Vocabulary

• ὅτι [HO-ti]: here, neuter of ὅστις, "what, how," introducing an indirect question.
• ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι [Ō AN-dres a-thē-NAI-oi]: men of Athens (vocative). The standard way to address a gathering of Athenian citizens.
• πεπόνθατε [pe-PON-tha-te]: you have experienced, you have been affected (perfect of πάσχω, suffer, experience; principal parts πάσχω, πείσομαι, ἔπαθον, πέπονθα).
• ὑπό + genitive: by (the agent).
• κατήγορος, ου, ὁ [ka-TĒ-go-ros]: accuser.
• οἶδα [OI-da]: I know (lesson 15).
• δʼ οὖν [DOON]: anyway, at any rate.
• καὶ αὐτός: I myself too.
• ὀλίγου [o-LI-goo]: almost (genitive of ὀλίγος, "by a little").
• ἐμαυτοῦ [e-mau-TOO]: myself (genitive of the reflexive pronoun, after a verb of forgetting).
• ἐπελαθόμην [e-pe-la-THO-mēn]: I forgot (second aorist of ἐπιλανθάνομαι, with the genitive).
• πιθανῶς [pi-tha-NŌS]: persuasively (adverb of πιθανός, from πείθω).
• καίτοι [KAI-toi]: and yet.
• ἀληθής, ές [a-lē-THĒS]: true. ἀληθὲς οὐδέν, "nothing true."
• γε [ge]: at least, indeed (enclitic, adds emphasis to the word before).
• ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν [hōs E-pos ē-PĒN]: so to speak, practically (literally "so as to say a word").
• εἰρήκασιν [ē-RĒ-ka-sin]: they have said (perfect of λέγω, from the principal part εἴρηκα; lesson 20).

Notes

• ὅτι μὲν ὑμεῖς ... ἐγὼ δʼ: the μέν ... δέ pair sets "you" against "I." Socrates does not know what effect the speeches had on his listeners; he knows what effect they had on him.
• The indirect question comes first, before the verb that governs it (οὐκ οἶδα). Greek can front a whole clause like this for emphasis. Translate in English order: "I do not know how you have been affected."
• οὕτω πιθανῶς ἔλεγον: "so persuasively were they speaking." The imperfect ἔλεγον (third plural here, the accusers) paints the long speeches the listeners have just heard.
• The joke: the accusers spoke so well that Socrates nearly forgot who he was, and yet they said practically nothing true. In a few lines he will warn his listeners against thinking he himself is a clever speaker.
• Elision: δʼ for δέ and ὑπʼ for ὑπό before a vowel (lesson 11).

Translation

"How you have been affected by my accusers, men of Athens, I do not know. As for me, they nearly made me forget who I was, they spoke so persuasively. And yet, practically speaking, they have said nothing true."

4. Homer: Iliad 1.1 to 1.2

The Iliad tells of a few weeks in the tenth year of the Greek war against Troy, and its first word names its subject: anger. Homer's Greek is not Attic. It is an artificial poetic language built up over generations of oral poets, mainly Old Ionic with Aeolic forms mixed in (Smyth's introduction calls Old Ionic "the chief ingredient of the dialect of Homer"). And it is verse: every line follows the same rhythm, dactylic hexameter.

μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος
οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρίʼ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγεʼ ἔθηκε,

Homer, Iliad 1.1 to 1.2 (Perseus text). The sentence continues to line 5; these two lines are its core.

Vocabulary

• μῆνις, ιος, ἡ [MĒ-nis]: wrath, lasting anger (used of gods and of Achilles).
• ἄειδε [A-ē-de]: sing! (present imperative of ἀείδω; Attic ᾄδω, imperative ᾆδε).
• θεά, ᾶς, ἡ [the-Ā]: goddess (vocative here). The goddess is the Muse.
• Πηληϊάδεω [pē-lē-i-A-deō]: son of Peleus (genitive of Πηληϊάδης). Read -εω as one syllable.
• Ἀχιλῆος [a-khi-LĒ-os]: of Achilles (genitive of Ἀχιλ(λ)εύς; Attic genitive Ἀχιλλέως).
• οὐλόμενος, η, ον [oo-LO-me-nos]: accursed, ruinous (epic form of ὀλόμενος, from ὄλλυμι, destroy).
• ἥ [HĒ]: which (relative pronoun, feminine, referring to μῆνιν).
• μυρίος, α, ον [mü-RI-os]: countless. μυρίʼ is μυρία elided.
• Ἀχαιοί, ῶν, οἱ [a-khai-OI]: the Achaeans, Homer's commonest name for the Greeks.
• ἄλγος, εος, τό [AL-gos]: pain, grief. ἄλγεʼ is ἄλγεα elided; Attic would contract it to ἄλγη.
• ἔθηκε [E-thē-ke]: put, caused, brought (aorist of τίθημι).

Ionic and epic forms

In Homer	Attic	What changed
ἄειδε	ᾆδε	Homer often leaves vowels uncontracted; Attic contracts ἀει- to ᾳ-.
Πηληϊάδεω	genitive in -ου	Ionic genitive -εω for masculine first declension nouns (older -ᾱο); Attic -ου.
Ἀχιλῆος	Ἀχιλλέως	Ionic -ῆος for nouns in -εύς; Attic -έως. Homer uses one λ or two as the meter needs.
ἄλγεα	ἄλγη	Uncontracted neuter plural of a sigma stem (lesson 14).
οὐλομένην	ὀλομένην	Epic lengthening of the first vowel to fit the meter.

Two more things you will notice in more Homer. He uses the article much less than Attic does, and more often as a pronoun (lesson 7): no article on μῆνιν or θεά here. And where Attic has long α after ε, ι or ρ (χώρα), Ionic has η. That is why Homer and Herodotus say χώρη for χώρα. Smyth's introduction (note 4 on the dialects) lists this change of an original long α to η as the first mark of Ionic.

The meter: dactylic hexameter

Greek verse is built from long and short syllables, not from stress. A syllable is long if it has a long vowel or a diphthong (long by nature), or if its vowel is followed by two consonants, even across a word break (long by position). ζ, ξ and ψ count as two consonants. Otherwise it is short.

A hexameter has six feet. Each of the first five is a dactyl (long short short, written ¯ ∪ ∪) or a spondee (long long, ¯ ¯). The fifth foot is almost always a dactyl. The sixth foot has two syllables, the first long and the last either long or short.

How the marks were decided, foot by foot, in line 1:

1. μῆ-νι-νά: μῆ is long (η). The ν of μῆνιν goes with the next vowel when you read the line aloud, so νι is short and νά is short. Dactyl.
2. ει-δε-θε: ει is a diphthong, long. δε and θε have short ε. Dactyl.
3. ὰ-Πη: the α of θεά is long, and so is the η of Πη-. Spondee.
4. λη-ϊ-ά: λη long, ϊ short, ά short. The two dots on ϊ (a diaeresis) tell you ι and α are separate syllables. Dactyl.
5. δεω-Ἀ-χι: here ε and ω run together into one long syllable, a merger called synizesis. Ἀ and χι are short. Dactyl.
6. λῆ-ος: the final foot.

In line 2, νην is long by nature, and ἣ is long (η): a spondee. The υ of μυρίος is long by nature, a fact you get from the dictionary, which marks it μῡρίος. ἄλ- in ἄλγεʼ is long by position because of λγ.

Reading it aloud

Let the long syllables take about twice as long as the short ones. Do not stress them. The word accents still rise in pitch as lesson 3 described, and they fall where they fall, often against the rhythm; that counterpoint is part of the music. Here is the line with the long syllables in capitals:

[MĒ-ni-na | Ē-de-the | Ā-PĒ | LĒ-i-a | DEŌ-a-khi | LĒ-OS]
[OO-lo-me | NĒN-HĒ | MÜ-ri-a | KHAI-OIS | AL-ge-e | THĒ-KE]

The capitals here mark length, not stress. That is a different use of capitals from the rest of the course, where they mark the accented syllable. Tap a finger on each long syllable. After three or four tries the beat holds you up.

Notes

• μῆνιν is the object of ἄειδε, and it comes first on purpose: the first word of the Iliad is "anger."
• Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος: two genitives, "of the son of Peleus, Achilles." A patronymic (a name from the father's name) plus the given name.
• οὐλομένην agrees with μῆνιν but sits in the next line, at its start, where the pause gives it weight. This is called enjambment.
• ἣ μυρίʼ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγεʼ ἔθηκε: a relative clause. ἥ is the subject, ἄλγεα the object, Ἀχαιοῖς the indirect object (dative).

Translation

"Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus' son Achilles, the ruinous anger that brought the Achaeans countless griefs,"