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Greek · Grammars

J. N. Madvig, Syntax of the Greek Language: Chapter VI, Prepositions

Syntax of The Greek Language, especially of the Attic dialect, for the use of schools, Dr. J. N. Madvig, professor in the university of Copenhagen. Translated from the German by the rev. Henry Browne, M. A and edited by the rev. Thomas Kerchever Arnold, M. A, late rector of Lyndon, and formerly fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Together with an Appendix on the Greek Particles, by the Translator. 2nd edition. Rivingstons: London, Oxford, and Cambridge, 1873.

Pages 57–66 of the book.

§ 77 Πρός

1. With the accusative:
a) to, towards (of persons and things): ἀπελθεῖν πρός τινα, προσάγειν πρὸς τὸ τεῖχος, ἀποβλέπειν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, παροξύνειν πρὸς τὰ καλά, σκοπεῖν πρός τι. Πρὸς ἕω, east-ward, τὰ πρὸς βορέαν. (Πρὸς ἕω also towards morning.)
b) to, against, with, of an action in relation to some person who, from the other side, takes part in the action; of a state of mind towards a person or thing: διηγεῖσθαί τι πρός τινας, διαγωνίζεσθαι πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους, μάχη Περσῶν πρὸς Ἀθηναίους, στασιάζειν πρὸς τὸν ἄρχοντα, σπονδὰς ποιεῖσθαι πρὸς τοὺς στρατηγοὺς τῶν Ἀθηναίων, αἱ πρὸς τοὺς τυράννους ὁμιλίαι (Dem. 6, 21), ἀγυμνάστως ἔχειν πρὸς θάλπη καὶ ψύχη (Xen. Mem. 2, 1, 6), ἀθυμεῖν πρὸς τὴν ἔξοδον (Xen. An. 7, 1, 9), λόγος πρὸς Λεπτίνην (against; of an impeachment: κατὰ Λεπτίνου). (Οὐδὲν πρὸς ἐμέ, it is nothing to me.)
c) in relation to; for: καλὸς πρὸς δρόμον, οὐδενὸς ἄξιος πρὸς σοφίαν. Λέγειν πρὸς τὸ βέλτιστον. Βουλεύεσθαι πρὸς τὸ παρόν. Τείχη καὶ τάφροι ταῖς πόλεσι πρὸς φυλακὴν καὶ σωτηρίαν εὑρημέναι εἰσίν (Dem. 6, 23). Upon (of the occasion): Πρὸς τὴν τῶν Ἀθηναίων μεγάλην κακοπραγίαν εὐθὺς οἱ Ἕλληνες πάντες ἐπηρμένοι ἦσαν, Thuc. 8, 2. Πρὸς τοῦτο, πρὸς ταῦτα, consequently.
d) in comparison with: Φαῦλοι πρὸς ἡμᾶς. Ἀστύοχος πάντα ὕστερα ἐνόμισε πρὸς τὸ ναῦς τοσαύτας ξυμπαρακομίσαι (Thuc. 8, 41). Παρορᾶν τι πρὸς τὰ δίκαια.
e) Πρὸς βίαν, πρὸς φιλίαν, πρὸς ὀργήν, πρὸς χάριν, adverbially, violently, &c.

2. With the dative:
a) by, at: Πρὸς Βαβυλῶνι ἦν ὁ Κῦρος (Xen. Cyr. 7, 5, 1). Πρὸς τοῖς κριταῖς (more usually ἐπὶ τῶν κριτῶν, παρὰ τοῖς κ.). Εἶναι πρός τινι, to be at (occupied about) something, to have one’s mind directed to something.
b) besides, in addition to: Πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις πᾶσιν καὶ πανοῦργός ἐστιν. Πρὸς τούτοις. (Πρὸς δέ, and besides.)

3. With the genitive:
a) from, and from the side of a person or thing (of that which comes from it, is viewed in reference to it): Τὰ πρὸς νότου. Τὰ ὑποζύγια ἔχειν πρὸς τοῦ ποταμοῦ (Xen. An. 2, 2, 4, on the side turned towards the river). Πρὸς πατρός, πρὸς μητρός, on the father’s, mother’s side. Πρὸς μὲν θεῶν ἀσεβές, πρὸς δὲ ἀνθρώπων αἰσχρόν (Xen. An. 2, 5, 20).
b) in favour of, on the side of a person, in accordance with: ἡ ἐν στενῷ ναυμαχία πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίων ἐστίν (Thuc. 2, 86). Ὁ θεὸς πρὸς ἡμῶν ἔσται (Thuc. 4, 92). Τὰ ὅπλα (τὴν ψῆφον) τίθεσθαι πρός τινος. Οὐκ ἦν πρὸς τοῦ Κύρου τρόπου, ἔχοντα μὴ ἀποδιδόναι (Xen. An. 1, 2, 11). Ἄτοπα λέγεις καὶ οὐδαμῶς πρὸς σοῦ (Xen. Mem. 2, 3, 15).
c) from (of that which proceeds from a person through an action; poet. and in Herodot.): Κακόν τι πρὸς θεῶν ἢ ἀνθρώπων λαβεῖν (Hdt.), μανθάνειν τι πρός τινος (Soph., usually παρά). Πρὸς τοῦ διδαχθείς; (Soph. = ὑπό.) Ἀδικεῖσθαι πρός τινος (Eur. = ὑπό), τιμᾶσθαι πρός τινος (Hdt.).
d) by, in prayer and adjuration by something (on behalf of it): Πρὸς παίδων καὶ γυναικῶν ἱκετεύω καὶ ἀντιβολῶ (Lys. 4, 20). Μή, πρὸς θεῶν, ποιήσῃς. (With the accusative σέ elliptically: Μή, πρὸς σὲ γονάτων τῆς τε νεογάμου κόρης, Eur. Med. 324.)

§ 78 Ὑπό

1. With the accusative:
a) under, in answer to the question whither? ἰέναι ὑπὸ γῆν, ὑπ’ αὐτὰ τὰ τείχη ἄγειν τὸ στράτευμα, ὑπὸ τειχίον ἀποστῆναι (Pl. 6, 496), and figuratively, of a higher power: ὑπάγειν τινὰ ὑπὸ τοὺς νόμους, ὑπὸ τὴν ψῆφον ἔρχεσθαι. Αἴγυπτος ὑπὸ βασιλέα ἐγένετο (Thuc. 1, 110). Τάδε πάντα Ἀθηναῖοι πειράσονται ὑπὸ σφᾶς ποιεῖσθαι (Thuc. 4, 60). Also ποιεῖσθαι ὑφ’ ἑαυτῷ).
b) towards, about, of time: ὑπὸ τὴν νύκτα, ὑπὸ τὴν ἕω. Οἱ Αἰγινῆται Λακεδαιμονίων εὐεργέται ἦσαν ὑπὸ τὸν σεισμὸν καὶ τῶν Εἱλώτων τὴν ἐπανάστασιν (Thuc. 2, 27).
c) sometimes under, in answer to the question where? αἱ ὑπὸ τὸ ὄρος κῶμαι (Xen. An. 7, 4, 5), οἱ ὑπὸ βασιλέα βάρβαροι (Xen. Cyr. 6, 2, 11).

2. With the dative: under (of the place and situation): ὑπὸ τῇ Αἴτνῃ οἰκεῖν, ὑπὸ τῇ ἀκροπόλει, ἔχειν τι ὑπὸ τῷ ἱματίῳ, πολλὰς πόλεις ἔχειν ὑφ’ ἑαυτῷ (ποιεῖσθαι ὑφ’ ἑαυτῷ), τρέφεσθαι ὑπὸ τῷ πατρί. Ἡγοῦμαι τοῦτ’ εἶναι τῶν καλῶν ὑπὸ τοιούτοις ἤθεσι τραφῆναι καὶ παιδευθῆναι (Isocr. de Big. 28; under a man of such character).

3. With the genitive:
a) from under, sometimes simply under: Ἡ πηγὴ χαριεστάτη ὑπὸ τῆς πλατάνου ῥεῖ (Pl. Phæd. 230). Τὰ ὑπὸ γῆς δικαιωτήρια (Pl. Phæd. 249).
b) by, of the acting person or efficient cause with passives: Τιτρώσκεσθαι, αἱρεῖσθαι ὑπό τινος, τείχη ἀνάλωτα ὑπὸ πολεμίων. Also with neuters, and with phrases in which the subject is passive to the action, and which therefore have a signification similar to the passive: εἶναι ἐν μεγάλῳ ἀξιώματι ὑπὸ τῶν ἀστῶν (Thuc. 1, 130), δίκην διδόναι ὑπὸ θεῶν, συμφορᾷ περιπίπτειν, πληγὰς λαμβάνειν ὑπό τινος, ἐκπίπτειν (to be driven into exile) ὑπὸ τῶν τυράννων. Ὅ,τι ὑμεῖς, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, πεπόνθατε ὑπὸ τῶν ἐμῶν κατηγόρων, οὐκ οἶδα· ἐγὼ δ’ οὖν καὶ αὐτὸς ὑπ’ αὐτῶν ὀλίγου ἐμαυτοῦ ἐπελαθόμην (Pl. Apol. 17). With verbal substantives: Τὰ τοῦ Κρόνου ἔργα καὶ παθήματα ὑπὸ τοῦ υἱέος (Pl. Rep. 2, 378).
c) from, in consequence of, of cause and occasion: Καμβύσης μαινόμενος ὑπὸ μέθης τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀπώλεσεν ὑπὸ Μήδων (Pl. Legg. 3, 695). Δημοσθένης ἡσύχαζεν ὑπ’ ἀπλοίας (Thuc. 4, 4). Οὐχ οἷόν τε ἦν ἀποχωρεῖν ὑπὸ τῶν ἱππέων (Thuc. 7, 78).
d) under, to, of an accompaniment (to the sound of), cheering, quickening, or compulsion: ὑπὸ σάλπιγγος πίνειν, χωρεῖν ὑπ’ αὐλητῶν, ὑπὸ μαστίγων τοξεύειν (under the lash, compelled by it). (In later writers with the dative.)

REM. The acting person with a passive verb is sometimes denoted by παρά, when the action is to be conceived as coming from, from the side of, the person: Οἶμαί με παρὰ σοῦ πολλῆς καὶ καλῆς σοφίας πληρωθήσεσθαι (Pl. Conv. 175), in the poets and Herodotus also by πρός (see πρός, genitive, c) and by ἐξ: Τὰ γενόμενα ἐξ ἀνθρώπων (Hdt. 1, 1), πεισθῆναι ἔκ τινος (Soph. El. 409). (Δημαράτῳ αὕτη ἡ χώρα δῶρον ἐκ βασιλέως ἐδόθη, Xen. Hell. 3, 1, 6, on the part of the king.) Ἀπό also is occasionally used by some (Thucydid.) in the sense of proceeding from a person, with the passive of certain verbs, e. g. do, say: Οἱ τύραννοι δι’ ἀσφαλείας ὅσον ἐδύναντο μάλιστα τὰς πόλεις ᾤκουν, ἐπράχθη τε ἀπ’ αὐτῶν οὐδὲν ἔργον ἀξιόλογον (Thuc. 1, 17).

§ 79

a) Sometimes a verb, not in itself denoting any motion, is so conceived as to include the notion of an antecedent or accompanying motion, on which accordingly depends the preposition or a local adverb, especially πάρειμι: παρεῖναι ἐς ἄστυ. Ἐνταυθοῖ πάρεισιν (Pl. Apol. 33). (Καθέζεσθαι ἐς τὸ Ἡραῖον, ἐπὶ τὴν ἑστίαν, ἄλλοσέ ποι, to seat, betake, oneself thither.) Conversely, prepositions and adverbs denoting rest and continuance, stand with verbs which in themselves denote the antecedent motion, e. g. ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, οὗ κατέφυγεν, Xen. Cyr. 5, 4, 15. Ἀνέβην ἐνθάδε, Xen. Hell. 1, 7, 16. Ἐνταῦθα ᾖα, Pl. Apol. 36.

b) The prepositions ἀπό and ἐξ, together with παρά, are sometimes (as also occasionally in English) annexed adjectively with the article to a substantive, where one should rather expect ἐν or παρά with the dative (denoting residence in or at a place, or with some one), viz. when a motion of the person or thing to another place, or a residence at another place is denoted: Κλέανδρος, ὁ ἐκ Βυζαντίου ἁρμοστής, μέλλει ἥξειν (Xen. An. 6, 4, 18; the governor from Byzantium). Οἱ ἀπὸ θαλάσσης Ἀκαρνᾶνες ἀδύνατοι ἦσαν ξυμβοηθεῖν (Thuc. 2, 80). Ὅστις ἀφικνεῖτο τῶν παρὰ βασιλέως πρὸς Κῦρον, πάντας οὕτως διετίθη ὥσθ’ ἑαυτῷ μᾶλλον φίλους εἶναι ἢ βασιλεῖ (Xen. An. 1, 1, 15). (Δημοσθένης ἔτι ἐτύγχανεν ὢν μετὰ τὰ ἐκ τῆς Αἰτωλίας περὶ Ναύπακτον, Thuc. 3, 102, was still, after the events in Ætolia, about N.) So likewise ἐνθένδε, ἐκεῖθεν. Ἄγγελοι τῶν ἔνδοθεν (Thuc. 7, 73).

§ 80

a) Between a preposition and its case, besides the definitions belonging to this case (e. g. ἐκ τῶν ἔργων τῆς ἐπιμελείας, Thuc. 3, 46, for ἐκ τῆς ἐπ. τ. ἔργων, ἐπὶ πολλὰς ναῦς κεκτημένους, Xen. Hell. 5, 1, 19, against people possessed of many ships), there may stand a particle of transition or connexion (as τέ, γέ, μέν, δέ, γάρ, αὖ, οὖν, ἄρα), sometimes several of these, and enclitic cases of the pronouns, e. g. ἐν αὖ τοῖς δημοσίοις κινδύνοις (Pl. Rep. 9, 577). Πρὸς μὲν ἄρα σοι τὸν πατέρα (Pl. Crit. 50). (Ἐξ, οἶμαι, τῆς ἀκροτάτης ἐλευθερίας, Pl. Rep. 8, 564.)

REM. An adjective or participle, as apposition to the governed word, stands sometimes between this and the preposition: ἐν μόνῃ τῶν πασῶν πόλεων τῇ ὑμετέρᾳ (Dem. 8, 64). Διὰ φιλίας τῆς Θράκης πορεύομαι (Xen. Hell. 3, 2, 9).

b) Prepositions are often put after their case by the poets (ἀναστροφή), but in prose only περί is thus put (when the substantive has the emphasis, e. g. Εὐβοίας μὲν πέρι, sometimes after several words: ὧν ἐγὼ οὐδὲν οὔτε μέγα οὔτε σμικρὸν πέρι ἐπαΐω, Pl. Apol. 19), and most frequently ἕνεκα. (Ὧν ἄνευ in Xenophon.)

c) The position between the adjective and its substantive is rare in prose (chiefly with pronouns: τοιᾷδε ἐν τάξει), in the poets frequent.

d) The preposition may stand between an adjective and an adverb of degree belonging to the adjective: πολὺ ἐν δεινοτέροις, ὡς διὰ βραχυτάτων.

REM. Whether the preposition with connected substantives shall be repeated with each, depends upon the consideration, whether the connected words coalesce into one notion, or whether they are separated (as with ἀλλά, οὔτε, ἤ); sometimes, however, the preposition is omitted, where we should have expected it to be repeated, e. g. with ἤ [1]. If to the governed substantive there is annexed a comparison by ὡς (ὥσπερ), in Greek the comparison is often put first, and usually is immediately followed by the preposition without repeating this with the principal substantive: Ὡς περὶ μητρὸς καὶ τροφοῦ τῆς χώρας, ἐν ᾗ τεθράμμεθα, βουλεύεσθαι δεῖ (Pl. Rep. 3, 414 = περὶ τῆς χ. ὡς περὶ μητρός). Ὡς πρὸς εὖ βουλευομένους τοὺς ἐναντίους παρασκευάζεσθαι χρή (Thuc. 1, 84).


[1]: Poetically, Δελφῶν κἀπὸ Δαυλίας for ἀπὸ Δ. καὶ ἀπὸ Δ.

§ 81

Εἰς, until, for, is connected with adverbs of time: εἰς ἀεί, εἰς αὖθις, ἐς αὔριον, ἐς ἔπειτα, ἐς ὁπότ’ ἔσται (Æsch. 3, 99), μέχρι with adverbs of place: μέχρι ἐνταῦθα, μέχρι δεῦρο, βουλεύεσθαι, μέχρι ὅποι τὴν σοφίαν ἀσκητέον ἐστίν (Pl. Gorg. 487). (Also μέχρι ὀψέ, Thuc.)

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