notes on indirect speech

three forms in Greek:

1. οτι or ως + finite vb with verbs of saying

2. acc. (or nom.) + infinitive with verbs of saying, thinking and believing

3. acc. (or nom.) participle with verbs of knowing, perceiving, hearing and showing (can take οτι / ως)

nb hoping (ελπιζω), promising (υπισχνεομαι) and vowing (ευχομαι) take the future infinitive

nb indirect questions follow the οτι / ως construction

1. οτι / ως observations

• the conjunctions are synonymous yet:

οτι is normally used in affirmative main clauses

ως is found in negative clauses and especially when the speaker or writer wishes to signal opinion or pretext

1. ἡγοῦμαι δέ, ὦ ἄνδρες, τοῦτό με δεῖν ἐπιδεῖξαι, ὡς ἐμοίχευεν Ἐρατοσθένης τὴν γυναῖκα τὴν ἐμὴν Lys. 1.4

2. ἡ δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον οὐκ ἤθελεν, ὡς ἂν ἀσμένη με ἑωρακυῖα ἥκοντα διὰ χρόνου· 1.12

3. ταῦτα εἰποῦσα, ὦ ἄνδρες, ἐκείνη μὲν ἀπηλλάγη, ἐγὼ δ’ εὐθέως ἐταραττόμην, καὶ πάντα μου εἰς τὴν γνώμην εἰσῄει, καὶ μεστὸς ἦν ὑποψίας, ἐνθυμούμενος μὲν ὡς ἀπεκλῄσθην ἐν τῷ δωματίῳ, ἀναμιμνῃσκόμενος δὲ ὅτι ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ νυκτὶ ἐψόφει ἡ μέταυλος θύρα καὶ ἡ αὔλειος, ὃ οὐδέποτε ἐγένετο, ἔδοξέ τέ μοι ἡ γυνὴ ἐψιμυθιῶσθαι. 1.17

4. καὶ τότε ἤδη πρὸς τὰ γόνατά μου πεσοῦσα, καὶ πίστιν παρ’ ἐμοῦ λαβοῦσα μηδὲν πείσεσθαι κακόν, κατηγόρει πρῶτον μὲν ὡς μετὰ τὴν ἐκφορὰν αὐτῇ προσίοι, ἔπειτα ὡς αὐτὴ τελευτῶσα εἰσαγγείλειε καὶ ὡς ἐκείνη τῷ χρόνῳ πεισθείη, καὶ τὰς εἰσόδους οἷς τρόποις προσιεῖτο, καὶ ὡς Θεσμοφορίοις ἐμοῦ ἐν ἀγρῷ ὄντος ᾤχετο εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν μετὰ τῆς μητρὸς τῆς ἐκείνου· 1.19–20

5. κατηγοροῦσι γάρ μου ὡς ἐγὼ τὴν θεράπαιναν ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ μετελθεῖν ἐκέλευσα τὸν νεανίσκον. 1.37

εὖ γὰρ οἶδ’ ὅτι 1.1 (also 1.36)

ἀναμιμνῃσκόμενος δὲ ὅτι 1.17 (see above)

ἔλεγον ὅτι ἐγὼ πάντα εἴην πεπυσμένος τὰ γιγνόμενα ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ 1.18

ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐγὼ ἐμνήσθην Ἐρατοσθένους πρὸς αὐτήν, καὶ εἶπον ὅτι οὗτος ὁ φοιτῶν εἴη πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα, ἐξεπλάγη ἡγησαμένη με πάντα ἀκριβῶς ἐγνωκέναι 1.19

εἰδὼς δ’ ἐγὼ ὅτι τηνικαῦτα ἀφιγμένος οὐδὲν [ἂν] καταλήψοιτο οἴκοι τῶν ἐπιτηδείων, ἐκέλευον συνδειπνεῖν· 1.22

ὁ δ’ Ἐρατοσθένης, ὦ ἄνδρες, εἰσέρχεται, καὶ ἡ θεράπαινα ἐπεγείρασά με εὐθὺς φράζει ὅτι ἔνδον ἐστί. 1.23

ἐγὼ δ’ εἶπον ὅτι «οὐκ ἐγώ σε ἀποκτενῶ, ἀλλ’ ὁ τῆς πόλεως νόμος 1.26

ἀλλ’, ὦ ἄνδρες, οἶμαι καὶ ὑμᾶς εἰδέναι ὅτι οἱ μὴ τὰ δίκαια πράττοντες οὐχ ὁμολογοῦσι τοὺς ἐχθροὺς λέγειν ἀληθῆ, ἀλλ’ αὐτοὶ ψευδόμενοι καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα μηχανώμενοι ὀργὰς τοῖς ἀκούουσι κατὰ τῶν τὰ δίκαια πραττόντων παρασκευάζουσι. 1.28

Ἀκούετε, ὦ ἄνδρες, ὅτι αὐτωι τῷ δικαστηρίῳ τῷ ἐξ Ἀρείου πάγου, ᾧ καὶ πάτριόν ἐστι καὶ ἐφ’ ἡμῶν ἀποδέδοται τοῦ φόνου τὰς δίκας δικάζειν, διαρρήδην εἴρηται τούτου μὴ καταγιγνώσκειν φόνον, ὃς ἂν ἐπὶ δάμαρτι τῇ ἑαυτοῦ μοιχὸν λαβὼν ταύτην τὴν τιμωρίαν ποιήσηται. 1.30

καίτοι δῆλον ὅτι, εἴ τινα εἶχε ταύτης μείζω τιμωρίαν ἐπὶ ταῖς γαμεταῖς, ἐποίησεν ἄν. 1.31

Ἀκούετε, ὦ ἄνδρες, ὅτι κελεύει, ἐάν τις ἄνθρωπον ἐλεύθερον ἢ παῖδα αἰσχύνῃ βίᾳ, διπλῆν τὴν βλάβην ὀφείλειν· 1.32

πάντες γὰρ εἴσονται ὅτι τοὺς μὲν νόμους τῆς μοιχείας χαίρειν ἐᾶν δεῖ, τὴν δὲ ψῆφον τὴν ὑμετέραν δεδιέναι· 1.36

σκέψασθε δὲ ὅτι καὶ ταῦτα ψεύδονται· 1.39

• following a verb in a primary tense, a verb in the οτι clause is left unchanged

• following a verb in a secondary / historical tense, the verb mood may be retained (=vivid / graphic) or put in the optative (=oblique) of the same tense; where confusion may arise the original is retained

• tense of the verb in indirect speech is normally relative to the main verb (see esp. on infinitives below)

I said they came.

I said they came in order to speak with Socrates.

They will come.

I said they would come.

They might come.

I said they might come.

They might come if they knew what was happening.

I said they might come if they knew what was happening.

ει δυναμαι, ποιω (open / logical)

λεγω οτι ει δυναμαι, ποιω

ειπον οτι ει δυναμαι, ποιω (graphic)

ειπον οτι ει δυναιμην (oblique), ποιοιην (oblique)

εφην ει δυναμαι (obliquely δυναιμην), ποιειν

ηιδη ει δυναμαι (obliquely δυναιμην), ποιων

ει εδυνηθην, εποιησα αν (past CTF)

λεγω οτι ει εδυνηθην, εποιησα αν

ειπον οτι ει εδυνηθην (obliquely δυνηθειην), εποιησα (never oblique) αν

εφην ει εδυνηθην (obliquely δυνηθειην), ποιησαι αν

ηιδη ει εδυνηθην (obliquely δυνηθειην), ποιησας αν

ει δυνηθειην, ποιησαιμι αν (FLV)

λεγω οτι ει δυνηθειην, ποιησαιμι αν

ειπον οτι ει δυνηθειην, ποιησαιμι αν

εφην ει δυνηθειην, ποιησαι αν

ηιδη ει δυνηθειην, ποιησας αν

εαν δυνηθω, ποιησω (FMV)

λεγω οτι εαν δυνηθω, ποιησω

ειπον οτι εαν δυνηθω / ει δυνηθειην, ποιησω / ποιησοιμι

εφην εαν δυνηθω / ει δυνηθειην, ποιησειν

ηιδη εαν δυνηθω / ει δυνηθειην, ποιησων

They would be here if they knew what was happening.

I said they would be present if they knew what was happening.

They would have been here if they had known what was happening.

I said they would have been present if they had known what was happening.

2. infinitive observations

• if the subject is the same in both clauses you may use the nominative (or no pronoun at all)

• the tense of the infinitive is relative to the main verb and not aspectual (like Latin)

aorist representing time prior

present representing time contemporaneous

future representing time subsequent

• nb tense can also be purely representative: an aorist infinitive for an aorist optative, for instance

ελθοι αν (potential optative)

ειπον οτι ελθοι αν

εφην αυτον ελθειν αν

= dixit fore ut is ueniret or even dixit eum uenturum esse with a protasis like si posceretur

ηλθεν αν (past contrafactual)

ειπον οτι ηλθεν αν (indicative will be retained and not made optative to avoid confusion)

εφην αυτον ελθειν αν

= dixit eum uenturum fuisse

only context can help distinguish these two underlined sentences, in contrast to Latin

• the present represents an original imperfect and the perfect a pluperfect

• any original αν must be retained

She will come.

I think that she will come. (< νομιζω)

I thought that she would come.

I thought that she was doing the wrong thing. (< αδικεω)

I thought that I was doing the wrong thing.

She might come.

I think she might come.

I thought she might come.

She would have done that if she had known the truth.

It seems she would have done that if she had known the truth.

He said (εφη) that he would not have done those things if he had known what would happen.

3. participle observations

• participle tense (and pronouns) in OO behaves exactly like the infinitives: tense is relative or representative

• participles in OO are essentially predicative (or "adverbial" or "circumstantial" etc)

• δηλος ειμι and φαινομαι (like τυγχανω) can take

partciples to emphasize the manifest-ness of the thing

infinitives to emphasize the apparent-ness of the thing

try the exercises above for infinitives with οιδα