[B-Greek] historical present and Xenophon
Randall Buth
randallbuth at gmail.com
Thu Dec 4 04:25:23 EST 2008
egrapse Iwanhes Sanders:
>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.>
>"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. >
[RB]
I would call attention to your own words "is setting up the stage". This is
not an event of the story but laying the foundation and presenting
background for the story.
>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.>
[RB]
Only 'going up' is present, the 'taking' and 'having' are participles.
>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.>
[RB]
This is the opening section of the Anabasis and the very first words of the
book. This is not a good place for making farreaching conclusions. In fact,
it is likely an inverted image of focal events. these 'historical
presents' are not
the focus of the chapter or story but may be considered a lively beginning
and a setting to the story. Imagine an English story starting, "The night is
still and grandpa is enjoying his pipe on the porch. Suddenly a disfigured
sound reaches the house and grandpa sees a moving shadow in the forest."
The significance of the historical presents are not
the events themselves but on what will transpire.
And for all to note well in Greek, somewhat different from the English
example just composed:
the birthing of the sons, the sending for Cyrus, ktl.,
are part of a narration where they function as COMPLETED events
even though the author chose not to mark them that way. This is a good
example to show that the Greek present indicative, imperfective in aspect,
is not being chosen in order to mark semantic aspect. Au contraire, it is
being 'abused', going against its grain, as a literary device. "And Darius
is sending for Cyrus . . . " leaves things unnaturally open, and unnaturally
present. This is why the 'historical present' is not evidence against a
tense theory of indicative verbs. It is also evidence against an aspectual
theory of indicative verbs. In fact, it is a literary device, using a structure
against itself and against its 'plain vanilla' meaning for literary effect.
Incidently, there is an ambiguous aorist inside the paragraph:
STRATHGON DE AYTON APEDEIKSE 'he appointed him general'.
One could read that as an appointment that happened on Darius
deathbed, at the time of summoning Cyrus, or one could read the DE-clause
as parenthetical and broadly parallel to having been appointed satrap.
Randall Buth
--
Randall Buth, PhD
www.biblicalulpan.org
randallbuth at gmail.com
Biblical Language Center
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