[B-Greek] Historical Present

John Sanders john.franklin.sanders at gmail.com
Wed Dec 3 23:05:50 EST 2008


There was a posting not too long ago in which the author in a post script
asked if one ought to translate the historical present as a present tense
rather than putting it in the past tense in English.  I would like to make
some comments.  I will use a few lines of text from Xenephon's "Anabasis", a
neutral text when it comes to exegesis and so I can focus on what I think
are the salient points.  If I have erred in my transcription of this text,
let me apologize up front.



Δαρειου και Παρυσατιδος γιγνονται παιδες δυο, πρεσβυτερος μεν Αρταξερξης,
νεωτερος δε Κυρος επει δε ησθενει Δαρειος και υπωπτευε τελευτην του βιου,
εβουλετο τω παιδε αμφοτερω παρειναι.  Ο μεν ουν πρεσβυτερος παρων
ετυγχανε  Κυρον
δε μεταπεμπεται απο της αρχης ης αυτον σατραπην εποιησε, και στρατηγον δε
αυτον απεδειξε παντων οσοι εις Καστωλου πεδιον αθροιζονται.  Αναβαινει ουν ο
Κυρος λαβων Τισσαφερνην ως φιλον και των Ελληνων δε εχων οπλιτας tριακοσιους,
αρχοντα δε αυτων Ξενιαν Παρρασιον.



DAREIOU KAI PARUSATIDOS GIGNONTAI PAIDES DUO PRESBUTEROS MEN ARTACERCHS
NEWTEROS DE KUROS EPEI DE HSQENEI DAREIOS KAI UPWPTEUTHN TOU BIOU EBOULETO
TW PAIDE AMFOTERW PAREINAI.  O MEN OUN PRESBUTEROS PARWN ETUGXANE KURON DE
METAMEMPETAI APO THS ARXHS HS AUTON SATRAPHN EPOIHSE KAI STRATHGON DE AUTON
APEDEICE PANTWN OSOI EIS KASTWLOU PEDION AQROIZONTAI.  ANABAINEI OUN O KUROS
LABWN TISSAFERNHN WS FILON KAI TWN ELLHNWN DE EXWN OPLITAS TRIAKOSIOUS
ARXONTA DE AUTWN XENIAN PARRASION.


Before I begin my comments, let me recast the first part into modern
English:  "King Darius, old and feeble sensed death coming and wish for his
two boys to be with him, having had two sons by his queen Parysatidos."



I wish to draw attention to the last clause, it is out of sequence.  Darius
had sons prior to his being old.  English has the ability to narrate events
out of sequence due to what I would refer to as relative indexing of events
by means of the verbal tense.  Classical and Hellenistic Greek used a
different approach, it indexed events in absolute terms (generally speaking)
in that the narrator related the events in the order that the narrator
assumed the events to have occurred.  This would result in that the verb
does not index events at all, but only present the tense of the speaker
within the unit of discourse presented.



Let me give a relatively literal translation of this piece, although I will
rearrange parts of the sentence, leave out words or add words to the English
to make it more understandable.



"Two boys are born to Darius and Parysatidos, the elder Artaxerxes and the
younger Cyrus.  Later Darius sickened and suspected the end of life and he
wished both boys to be present.  Since the elder was by chance being
present, he sent for Cyrus from his government which he made him Satrap and
appointed him general of all who are gathering in the plain of Kastolos.  So
Cyrus goes up, taking Tissaphernes as friend, having of the Hellenes three
hundred hoplites, and of them Xenian the Parrasian commanding."



If we look at the present tense verbs, we will see those verbs represent
what the narrator is focusing on.  The "are born" is presenting an important
cast of characters that initiate the story.  The "be present is setting up
the stage for the initial conflict between brothers.  The "being present"
explains the reason for the sending of Cyrus (and also may imply that the
elder had a better position to influence his appointment as king).  The
"gathering" was not implying that the soldiers were actually gathering at
that very moment, but that Cyrus had command over more than just his body
guard or soldiers in whatever city he resided in.  He had command over all
who are able to muster at that spot. And of course, the last four present
tense verbs, his "going up" and "taking" will have significance in the
following sentences, and his "having" Greek hoplites with a Greek
"commanding" them indicate his already involvement with Greek mercenaries
and their involvement in the forthcoming story.



In other words it is the present tense that indicates the focus of what the
narrator considers important.  I would also add the perfect and future
tenses in this category of focus by the narrator.



In summary, the "historical present" is not so much an issue of grammar but
one of discourse analysis and resulted from assuming the verbal tense
performs in the Classical and Hellenistic Greek in the same fashion it does
in modern Indo-European languages, which it does not.  At least this is how
I sense the construction.

-- 
John Sanders
Suzhou, China


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