Module 2 reading

Reading from Lysias 1.9-1.12 (simplified)

Each verbal expression is placed on a separate line; indentation indicates the level of subordination. The verbal expression and any connecting words are highlighted like this.

τὸ τοῦ Εὐφιλήτου οἰκίδιον διπλοῦν ἦν,

καὶ ἴσα τὰ ἄνω τοῖς κάτω κατὰ τὴν γυναικωνῖτιν καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἀνδρωνῖτιν εἶχεν.

ἐπειδὴ δὲ τὸ παιδίον ἐγένετο αὐτοῖς,

ἡ μήτηρ αὐτὸ ἐθήλαζεν,

ἀλλὰ οὐκ ἤθελε κατὰ τῆς κλίμακος καταβαίνειν.

ἐν οὖν ἐκείνῳ τῷ χρόνῳ, ὁ μὲν Εὐφίλητος ἄνω διῃτᾶτο,

αἱ δὲ γυναῖκες κάτω.

καὶ ταῦτα πολὺν χρόνον οὕτως ἐγίγνετο,

καὶ ὁ Εὐφίλητος οὐδέποτε ὑπώπτευσεν,

ἀλλ᾽ ἠλιθίως διέκειτο.

ἐν δὲ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇδε, ἧκε μὲν ἀπροσδοκήτως ἐξ ἀγροῦ,

μετὰ δὲ τὸ δεῖπνον τὸ παιδίον ἐβόα

καὶ ἐδυσκόλαινεν,

τὸ δὲ παιδίον ὑπὸ τῆς θεραπαίνης ἐπίτηδες ἐλύπειτο.

ὁ γὰρ ἄνθρωπος ἔνδον ἦν.

ὕστερον γὰρ ὁ Εὐφίλητος ἅπαντα ἐπύθετο.

Questions

Fully identify each of the following verbs (that is, identify their tense, voice, mood, person and number), and give their first principal part.
- εἶχεν
- ἐγένετο
- ἐγίγνετο
- ἐλύπειτο

Glosses and notes

οἰκίδιον is a diminutive form of the noun οἰκία, which is used elsewhere in the speech. So it means “little house” or “small house” instead of just “house.” Why do you think Euphiletos might use this diminutive form when describing his house to the jury?
διπλοῦν, a neuter nominative singular adjective; the ending is contracted from διπλο- + -ον. It means “double” or “twofold” so in this context something like “two floors”
ἦν third singular imperfect indicative active from εἰμί “to be”
ἴσα from the adjective ἴσος, ἴση, ἴσον “equal.” Can you think of any English words derived from this Greek adjective?
ἄνω and κάτω are adverbs. ἄνω means “up” or “above” and κάτω means “down” or “below.” Both are used here with forms of the article. Reread the section on substantive adjectives: the article is operating in a similar manner with these adverbs.
κατὰ τὴν γυναικωνῖτιν καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἀνδρωνῖτιν: prepositions in ancient Greek are used idiomatically, as they are in English. Use the form of the article to discern the gender, case, and number of the nouns γυναικωνῖτιν and ἀνδρωνῖτιν. Look back at the section on prepositions to see the range of meaning κατά has with that case, and then think about how to make that idiomatic English to express the same idea.
γυναικωνῖτιν and ἀνδρωνῖτιν: notice that the beginnings of these nouns come from the nouns γυνή, γυναικός, ἡ and ἀνήρ, ἀνδρός, ὁ. They mean something like “women’s rooms” or “women’s space” and “men’s rooms” or “men’s space.” These are cultural concepts that we have to learn to correctly understand what is being described.
ἐπειδὴ δὲ: δέ connects this sentence to the previous one, signaling that the train of thought is continuing. Paragraphs in English organize and connect sentences in a similar manner–that is, if one sentence follows another in a paragraph, it is signalling that they are on the same topic. ἐπειδὴ introduces a dependent relative adverbial clause: this clause is grammatically dependent on the one that follows. ἐπειδὴ = “when” or “since”
ἡ μήτηρ: μήτηρ means “mother.” What does the article indicate about its gender, case, and number? What are different options for translating the article in this context? Which option sounds most idiomatic in English to you?
ἐθήλαζεν from the verb θηλάζω “to breastfeed.” θηλάζω is a first principal part: what is the form of ἐθήλαζεν? Why would that tense be appropriate to what is being described?
αὐτό is the neuter accusative singular of the 3rd person pronoun, “it.” As a pronoun, it refers back to a noun of the same gender and number. What noun does it refer to?
ἤθελε is from the verb ἐθέλω “to wish, to want”
κλίμακος means “ladder” or “staircase.” What gender, case, and number does its article τῆς indicate the form κλίμακος is?
οὖν signals that a conclusion is being drawn from what has been said. The original speech explained that Euphiletos didn’t want his wife to risk falling while going up and down the stairs in the dark of night as she was feeding the baby, and so while the baby was young enough to need feeding during the night, the usual arrangement of domestic space was changed to accommodate that activity.
μὲν and δὲ are coordinating and contrasting the two clauses. Note that the δὲ clause does not contain a highlighted verb. When two clauses are coordinated, the verb can “carry over” when it applies to both clauses. We can do that in English, too: in an example like “I love you, but not him,” we understand that “I love” is the subject and verb in both clauses and that the two objects of the verb “love” are being contrasted. So in this ancient Greek sentence, understand the verb from the μὲν clause to be operating in the δὲ clause as well.
διῃτᾶτο is from the verb διαιτάω, “to live, spend one’s time”: the alpha at the end of its stem contracts with the thematic vowel as you learned in Module 1 with the model verb ὁράω. It is also a compound verb, a combination of διά + αἰτάω. Compound verbs are augmented at the beginning of the verb stem, after the prefix, so the diphthong αι at the beginning of the verb stem becomes lengthened to ῃ (with the iota becoming subscript). So this is the third person imperfect indicative middle-passive form. Is it middle or is it passive in this particular sentence? And what nuance does that voice give to the expressed idea?
πολὺν χρόνον: “for much time,” the accusative case by itself (even without a preposition) indicates duration or length of time.
οὕτως, an adverb, “this way”
οὐδέποτε, an adverb, “never” (note the initial οὐ indicating a negative)
ὑπώπτευσεν, from ὑποπτεύω, “be suspicious,” another compund verb, ὑπό + ὀπτεύω. This is the third person aorist indicative active: as we saw above, the augment happens after the prefix, at the beginning of the verb stem.
ἠλιθίως, an adverb, meaning something like “foolishly”
διέκειτο, from διάκειμαι, yet another compound verb where the augment is placed after the prefix διά (the alpha is elided before the ε augment). This is an idiomatic verb, meaning to be in a certain state of mind, and then the adverb expresses what state of mind that is. What would be an English expression that would convey a similar idea?
ἡμέρα, ἡμέρας, ἡ “day”
this next μὲν is signaling that there is more to come, and the following δὲ clause continues the events of the narration
ἧκε, understand Euphiletos as the subject, “he came”
ἀπροσδοκήτως, an adverb, “unexpectedly”
ἀγροῦ, from ἀγρός, ἀγροῦ, ὁ, “field.” There is a lot of embedded cultural understanding in this expression: Euphiletos is a farmer, and his farmland is outside the city, while his house is in the city of Athens. The jury would understand that he goes to his farmland to work, and perhaps during busy times even stays out there overnight. So on this day, when he comes to his home in the city, his wife was not expecting him–she was likely assuming that he would stay out in the fields for the night.
τὸ δεῖπνον, “the meal, dinner”: neuter singular accusative with the preposition μετά
ἐβόα καὶ ἐδυσκόλαινεν: the conjunction καί connects the two verbs, both with the subject τὸ παιδίον. ἐβόα from βοάω “cry, shout” and ἐδυσκόλαινεν from δυσκολαίνω “fuss, be irritable”
ἐπίτηδες, an adverb, “on purpose, intentionally”
ἐλύπειτο from λυπέω “cause pain, hurt”
γὰρ signals that this clause explains the previous one. Note that two clauses in a row have γὰρ
ἔνδον, an adverb, “inside” (the house)
ὕστερον, an adverb, “later”
ἅπαντα: the adjective ἅπας, ἅπασα, ἅπαν is an intensive form of πᾶς, πᾶσα, πᾶν and declines the same way (see the section on adjectives). Reread the section on substantive adjectives to understand its use here.
ἐπύθετο from πυνθάνομαι (first principal part) “learn”, especially to learn by asking and/or by someone telling you the information. Its third principal part is ἐπυθόμην.

Translation

Using the glosses above, and keeping in mind the insight you have gained from answering the preceding questions, please compose an idiomatic translation into English of the passage above.