Beetham - 2002 - The Aorist Indicative

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Greece& Rome, Vol. 49, No. 2, October 2002

THE AORIST INDICATIVEBy F. BEETHAM

Of ten papers published after the meetings of the Society for BiblicalLiteraturein 1990 and 1991, five were on verbal aspect in Greek. In thefirst, it was estimated that in the New Testament perhaps 85% of finiteaorists in the indicative are past-referring.1That as many as 15%mightnot be past-referringis striking.New Testament Greek is typical of theHellenistic Greek that dominated the Mediterranean world from 300BC to AD 300, and because this is closely related to Classical Greekit isworth considering Classical Greek uses of the aorist indicative.A very simple explanation of verbal aspect2 is that it refers to theviewpoint of the speaker or writer. Leaving the perfect aspect on oneside, when the present or imperfect tense is used (the imperfect havingthe same aspect as the present), the viewpoint of the writer or speaker isinside the action being described. Use of the aorist indicates that theviewpoint of the speaker or writer is outsidethe action being described,while its beginning and end are in view. Accordingly, all aorist verbshave aspect, but only some have the past tense.Non-past-referring aorist indicatives are sometimes prominent inepic: for instance, at Iliad 4.160-2:

EL7TEP pyp Kat aCLVTLK 'OAv,LrtoS OVK rETAESoEVEK TE KaI OffE TEAEL, avv TE /LEyaA,J adrTEraav(1VV (fr170itV KE)aA7UjtL yvvatl Tre Kal rEKeeaTIV.For if the Olympian at once has not finished this matter,late will he bring it to pass, and they mustpay a great penalty,with their own heads, and with their women, and with their children.3

Agamemnon curses the Trojans after Pandarus has broken the truce byshooting an arrow at Menelaus. As he sees blood spurting from under1 D. A. Carson, An Introduction o the Porter/FanningDebate, in Biblical GreekLanguageandLinguistics.Journalfor theStudy of the New TestamentSupplementSeries80 (1993), 25.2 B. M. Fanning, VerbalAspectin New TestamentGreek(Oxford, 1990), 97 and 103.3 Tr. Lattimore.Kiihner-Gerth,AusfihrlichGrammatikdergriechischen prache 1897, rep. 1955)vol. I, 166, para. 11 gives this as an example where the speaker, for emphasis, represents a futureevent as already having happened. Kirk, TheIliad, A Commentaryvol. 1, 348 regards 7TrereLaevs

gnomic and the actual curse on Troy as beginning at line 163: ev yap ... otBa... EaoETarL r ap or'av Tror''oA'A-('for I know ... there will come a day when sacred Ilion shall perish').


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THE AORIST INDICATIVEhis brother's sword belt, Agamemnon yells out a7retr-Eoav if Zeus bringsit to pass, they mustpay with their own heads, with their wives and theirchildren;in this way, he justifiesthe death of Hector, the Trojan horse,the destruction of the city and all the miseries later endured by theTrojan women. At Iliad 9.412-6 Achilles expresses his greatdilemma ina non-past-referring aorist: cAE-ro'[tot voaros. Here he says his returnhome will be lostif he fights round the walls of Troy, but his fame will beeverlasting. cAETO' oltKAE'/OSOAohv:is good fame will be lost if he returnsto his own country.

El /LEV K' auOtl tevwv Tpco)v r'd)tL d/iLIaUtLXCOIa,dShAEroLEV IlOLvoarTO, aTrp KAEOS aB6OLrTOVauTa(l 8; KEV O'KaS' KWctL)Lqf)rv esg rTaTpla yaiav,CAETd ,LOL AEOS EOAGA'v,'rl ,Jpov E' trLOtltWvECGETrat.If I stay here and fight beside the city of the Trojans,my return home is gone, but my glory shall be everlasting;but if I return home to the beloved land of my fathers,the excellence of my glory is gone but there will be a long life left for me.

(tr. Lattimore)

Aorist indicatives that do not refer to the past are found not only inHomer but also in the dramatists, Plato's and Xenophon's dialogues,and elsewhere. Ktihner-Gerth gives 37 examples of indicative aorists indrama that are not past-referring, from lyric passages as well as fromiambics, and from speeches as well as from line-by-line dialogue.The familiar gnomic aorist is often equivalent to a condition. Forinstance, the famous example from Plato, Critias 108c aJOv6vovrTeav3pes ov'rw tpo7Traov(orTruav 'Disheartened men never yet raised atrophy', with which we may compare the English: 'faint heart ne'erwon fair lady') is equivalent to saying, 'If there is a disheartened man,he has not yet raised a trophy'.4 Similes with the aorist indicative,common in Homer, can be reduced to a condition of the form as if.For example at Iliad 3.33-7 when, catching sight of Menelaus, Parisshrinks back:

ds 8' OTE TlS TrE paCKOvTa lSCAv 7TaA{vop(ogS a7re'arT7OVpeos ev /fjaar7s, VrO rTE rpOOSg cEAAafLEv?a,a 6' dvEXWprlaEV. c(Xpo6 TE EIJLVELAE7TapElaS,US aVTLS KaO' 0'LtAoV Av TpcOwv adyeptoXWV8eloas 'Arpe'os vlt 'AAMEavSpos 0EOEL87rs.

4 W. W. Goodwin, Greek Grammar(1879), 276.

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THE AORIST INDICATIVEAs a man who has come on a snake in a mountain valleysuddenly steps back, and the shivers come over his body,and he draws back and away, cheeks seized with a green pallor,so, in terror of Atreus' son, godlike Alexandroslost himself again in the host of the haughty Trojans. (tr. Lattimore)

It is as if a man has drawn back on discovering a snake.In conditional sentences when the 'if' clause is formed by cavand asubjunctive,the tense meaning of an aoristindicative in the conclusion issometimes hard to pin down. Eav r- rls ftkev ev/oL, rAr c'couds rTKA/rjfaKatEr'-pdavOr'If any one does not remain in me, he is thrown awaylike a branch and withers': St. John's Gospel, ch. 15, v. 6) is remarkablylike Lucian, The DoubleIndictment1, where Zeus says of the sun god, /jvyap E7rTLppaOvtf.rasad0, ol lrTTroL aTrE AEeavrd radv-ra,for if he relaxes atall, his horses burn everything up.' In both examples, the tense meant bythe aorist indicative is ambiguous. AO7 EpVO,pdvOr, Ka,rEfA;Efavre, in thetranslationsused here, present with general meaning. Perhaps they couldequally well have been translated as future, as when Admetus says toAlcestis, 'I shall be done for if you really leave me, wife ' (aTrcAoh/-v p', El'I,E 87 Ae[iJELS,yvval) .5At Herodotus 8.102, Artemisia says to Xerxes, 'if he(Mardonius) makes the conquests he says he wants to ... it is your work;for your servants will have achieved it.' (;ivKaTaarper7'al rd q^rlt e'AeLiv.. oov rno 'pyov yLveTratol yap aotL6ovot Karepydauavro.)6 These aoristindicatives in the apodosis of a future or generalcondition seem to coverall possibilities, like the English 'in any case'.Ancient grammarians held that Greek had six tenses (present andfuture, and four past tenses: imperfect, perfect, pluperfect, aorist) listedin the paragraphabout the verb from the Art of Grammarof DionysiusThrax (first or second century BC, if authentic).7

7TEpt pr7LTarToXpOVOl TpELS, pVE?TrOS,TTapEAr7AvOcS, LEAA(wov.OVTrV o 7TapeEA1)Avt0g EX'El tacLopasg TEra(apaS,7rapaTrarKov, rrapaKeitLevov, V7TepavvTretKOV, dopLarov, v)vavyyeveLaL TpeLS, EVETar)Tros pT7TaparTarKOv, rrapaKELtLEVOVTrpOs V7rrpavvrEALKov, aopLarov Trrpos iz'Aovra.

Concerning the verb.Three tenses: present, past, future. Of these the past has four divisions, imperfect,perfect, pluperfect, aorist, and there are three relationshipsbetween them, the present tothe imperfect, the perfect to the pluperfect, the aorist to the future.5 Euripides Alcestis 386. 'I am lost, then, if you are going to leave me' (tr. Kovacs).6

yiverat (present) indicates continuance of Xerxes' enterprise; Karepyaaavro (aorist) indicatescompletion of a task not yet begun.7 Dion. Techne13. J. Lallot, LagrammairedeDenys le Thrace Paris, CNRS, 1989), introduction,21-6, is inclined to support Di Benedetto in thinking that chs. 11-20 are not by Dionysius ofThrace, but a 'modest manual' composed towards the 4th century AD.

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THE AORIST INDICATIVEGeorge Choeroboscus8 (fourth or fifth century AD) comments on theindefiniteness of both the future and aorist tenses, referringto On theVerb,now unfortunately lost, by Apollonius Dyscolus, the great gram-marian of Greek who worked in Alexandria in the second century ADand is our chief source for its historyafterthe time of Dionysius Thrax. Inhis still extant work, On Syntax, Apollonius discusses imperatives. Henotes that a present imperativesignifiescontinuationof something that ishappening. He takes as an example Agamemnon's instruction /SaAAEothe archer Teucros at Iliad 8.282. Since Teucros had just shot eightTrojans and was aiming at Hector, Agamemnon meant, 'Go on shoot-ing ' Apollonius continues, if we say ypadoov,write', using an aoristimperative,while we give an order for something that is not happening,we do not mean 'go on writing'but 'complete the writing'. If he meansthat a person using an aorist imperativehas both the beginning and thecompletion of the action in mind, Apollonius seems to be thinkingof theaorist imperativein terms which we would now associate with aspect.9Goodwin explained the aorist as denoting a simple past occurrence,with none of the limitations as to completion, continuance or repetitionfound in other tenses. But he classed the gnomic aorist as a primarytense 'as it refers to present time' and explained it by saying that oneinstance in past time is used vividly to represent all possible cases.10Jebb, in his commentaries on Sophocles' tragedies,usually explained the'dramatic'aorist, which is translated as present in English, as an aoristreferringto the moment just past. This is a possible explanation of, forinstance, Sophocles, Electra668 where the paedagogus, immediately on

8 Georgius Choeroboscus, Prolegomena t scholia in TheodosiiAlexandrini canonesisagogicosdeflexione verborum,479g-481g, GrammaticiGraeciVI, ii (ed. Hilgard, rep. Hildesheim, 1970).9 Apoll. On Syntax 3.253a:o a7Tro(aLv6tivo5 oT'rwoS, ypaf)E, adpov, oKdarre, ev rTrapardaLEt rT^7btaOeaOcEs Tv 7TppoTratv TroteTrat, Wo?e'Xet KC TO a'Ad,'OVTw,S, at KE oas Aavaotaot'yevrlat' q~al yap Ev () roAeMo araytvov elS TO {d/%etv. OyefJYv Ae'ycov KaTra rTv rTO rarapyX- e'vov 7rpooqfopavpad/ov, oKa0/ov, ov kLOVOVTO t0) yLVoI1evov TTpooTdaaet,aAAaKal TOyLvo('Ievov Ev7TrrapaTrdcae d7rayopevel, elye taC rolS 7ypd(ovtov e'vtXeLovl XpovTrpoa'Wvovlaev TOypdoov, TOLOVTOVTIdLaoKovTes, r7 e/iMevet?v r7 TrapardcaEt,avvoat SE TO ypadfEiv.For he who declares thus: ypacie, adpov, KadTTrE, (write , sweep , dig ) makes the command in anextension of the state of affairs(btciaeog),as for example: go on shooting thus, so that you may be alight for the Danaans; for he says, in the combat, 'busy yourself in shooting'. But he who says, usingthe past tense (Kara T-'V OO rTapwXitevov 7Tpooc0opdv), ypdaov, oKaidov (write, dig) not only enjoinswhat is not being done, but also forbids what is being done continuing (aAAa aL TO yLvoLEvov eV7TrapaTraeLa7rayopeVet), if indeed also to those who are writing in too much time we call ypaibov,giving a command something like this: (I order you) not to remain in continuance, but to finish thewriting.See S. E. Porter, VerbalAspect of the GreekNew Testament New York, 1989), 337 and (for n. 14also) F. W. Householder, The Syntax of ApolloniusDyscolus (Amsterdam, 1981), 191 and 205.10 Goodwin, (n. 4), 270-1.

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THE AORIST INDICATIVEentering, says he brings sweet tidings from a friend to her and Aegisthus,and at once Clytaemnestra replies 8e:a4rLvv 6prOev, 'I welcome whatwas said',1'but it seems unsatisfactoryboth because it does not considerwhy this passage in Greek has the aorist rather than the present, andbecause as a general explanation it does not suit other examples fromdrama well, e.g. Aristophanes, Knights 696-7 where the sausage sellersays to the Paphlagonian:

?ta0rlv rTEtAals,EyeAaaa boAoKoyirn'as,d7TE7Trv8dpaa FtLOWova,repLEKOKKaaa.I am delighted when you bluster, I laugh at your thunderous talk;I dance the sailor's hornpipe and call out cuckoo round you 12

Furthermore, it does not explain the connection of this with other usesof the aorist, for instance in future or general conditions after an 'if'clause beginning Eav.When the aorist indicative is introduced in Reading Greek (Gram-mar/Vocabulary/Exercises,ection 69 (iv)), a note says ' aorist indica-tives indicate that something has happened in the past withoutreference to the duration of time over which it occurred. Theyregard the action as a single event, not as a process.' (There is amuch clearer note on aspect at section 79, a propos the aoristparticiple.) Mastronade, in his Introduction to Attic Greek (1993),says that the Greek verb usually conveys time distinctions but thefundamental distinction is aspect. He goes on (p. 147) to say that theaorist stem conveys an action which is instantaneous and includesconceptually its completion. However, examples of aorist indicativesfor actions which are not instantaneous are well-known. See, forexample, Lysias, Against Eratosthenes4:OvuoLs7Tarr)pKe'aaos 7TreIL'a(rYev vrTOHIepLKAEovs ls ravr7vvyrv da/flKE'aOaL, Er') S6 rptaKOvTa

My father Cephalus was persuaded by Pericles to come to this land and lived there thirtyyears.13Other aorist indicatives refer to events which occurred over a longperiod of time, as at Thucydides 1.12:

" 'I welcome the omen' (tr. Jebb), 'I accept the omen' (tr. Lloyd-Jones). In his footnote, Jebbrefers to similar examples of the aorist at Electra 1322 and 1479 (6vv,jKa roi7roS), Antigone 1307(lyr.), Oedipusat Colonus 1466 (lyr.), Ajax 693 (lyr.), and OedipusRex 337.12 'I enjoy your threats I laugh at your smoky boasts I dance the fling I scout you and I floutyou ' (tr. Sommerstein).

13 Smyth, GreekGrammar,para. 1928 calls this 'aorist with a definite number'.

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THE AORIST INDICATIVE7raVTa S6 TaOV7a VaTEpovTOV T pwLKJ)V KTlar(6r.And all these colonies were planted after the Trojan war.

(tr. Forster-Smith)The section on the aorist indicative in Kuhner-Gerth begins: 'Theaorist marks the action simply as happening and attaining its conclu-sion.' This is supported by Apollonius Dyscolus where, while provingthat the subjunctive afterEavs aorist and not future, he explains that Edv

pia0J 'if I learn' means Eav avv6aaLitLLaOetv 'if I succeed in learning'because the aorist subjunctive contains the idea of completion whereas apresent subjunctive EavrpEXwmeans 'if I continue running'.'4 However,there are occasional instances of the aorist which do not seem to markcompleteness. See, for example, Eurip. Ion 1291:

EKTELVa a ovra 7TTOaEoALov ,4OLo /otS.Foe to my house Therefore I sought thy life 15

Creusa, who does not know that Ion is her son, has sent him a cup ofpoison at a banquet. Fortunately,he has poured some out as an offeringto the gods, and a dove which tried to drink it has had convulsions anddropped dead on the spot. Creusa has taken refuge on an altar when Ionconfronts her, and she says 'KreLVdcE, which cannot mean 'I killed you'because 'killed' cannot have been a completed action.The notion of the aorist aspect, that all aorists essentially describe anaction from outside,not inside, is supported by Kiihner-Gerth's defini-tion that an aorist implies completeness. It seems to be the bestexplanation of most if not all dramatic aorists. At Euripides, Iphigeniain Tauris 1023 Orestes has just suggested to Iphigenia that they shouldkill the king whom she serves as priestess. OVK av Svvatllv ro 8e 7Trp60v(ov

14 Apoll. On Syntax 3.273b7:EXpE7v /LEVTOl yLvoaWKEtv Wo at EYyytvofLEvaL T apaOeaoeL )vearTorWov EClv KaL 7Tapcxrog.evwv. rOlOVTOV T T7?'avvTdEWc erTayyyeAAoievr-Ys ev Te) Edv ,dLcOW,el av'oaatit TO ,LClaOv, eav Spdlco, el davaaLtzL TO opaldELv eV ye

r)TvTrI Eav TpeEXo, Eav ev 7rapaTaetL yevCwltOa V TpeXEiv. Kal evEevve(ELKTos 77 TOVt/.eAAovTOs avvrTat'LsavTot yap ol crvoSeo/AO TO' Wos Ec6toevov a7r),aLvovaCtv els 7rapaTraav (r avvatv).Indeed, one should notice that the instances (7rapaOea'tE) hat occur (with 'vaand Edv)use both thepresentand the pasttenses. In dav dOwhe combination has a meaningsuch as: 'ifI complete the act oflearning',and in dav pa',tw'if I complete the act of running';nevertheless, Edv PEXCOignifies 'if I getinto a state of going on running'.Hence the combination with the future (tense) is neverfound, for theconstructions themselves indicate the future as leading to continuance (or completion).15 Owen (note ad loc.) calls this 'the tentative aorist used of an effortwhich has ended in failure'and,withKiihner-Gerth,cites also Ion 1500: EKTetvaa'aKovaa 'I neverwilledthy death' (tr.Verrall),aswell as an example (participle) from Sophocles, Ajax 1127: MENEAAOZ &'Kala yap TOV' e(VTVXElrKreLvavTrd te; TEYKPO? KTe-vavra; eltvov y'eLr7raT, el KatL ? Oavwv (Me: 'Is it right that this my murderershould have honour?' Te: 'Murderer?A marveltruly if, though slain, thou livest.' (tr. Jebb)).

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THE AORIST INDICATIVE'vEaa ('I couldn't do it') she replies, and because the aorist enables her todistance herself from his proposal she goes on, 'but all the same, Iadmireyour pluck.'16Essentially,an aorist takes in the whole picture, asgnomic aorists do. At Euripides, Medea 223-4 Medea sums up herfeelings for all people of a certain kind:

o'S' JOuT'V "VrE' '0TtLS aXOa8)S yeycwS7TLKpOS 'TTot'iTatLSTv ilaetla 'ar o . . .

And I never approve of any townsman who is so self willed that through discourtesy he isobjectionable to the citizens.17In the difficultexample from Euripides'Ion,Creusasums up in retrospectthe whole of her action, ignoring its internalmake-up, and says to Ion,'what I did was killing; by me of you', meaning 'in short, I meant to killyou.' Because the aorist is the normal verb formfornarrative,sometimes itis used simplyto summarizethe backgroundto an action in contrast with averb with another form, which is more worthy of note. Perhaps this is amore helpful explanation of Sophocles, Electra 668. Clytaemnestra'sremark in full is: ~3eajdlrYv To prjOev EcSevaL El ov 7TrpcoWTLcaXP-r W, rTs o'a7TrETELrAelvpoTrwv. ESE6aLrTvives greater emphasis to Xp oO.I welcomewhatwas said, butfirstofall I want toknowfromyou who on earth twas thatsentyou.' A similar explanation may be given for Sophocles, Philoctetes1314. Philoctetes has justmade acomplimentaryremark o Neoptolemus,who has given him back the bow of Heracles. Neoptolemus responds:

7jaOrlv rTarepa rov dcLov evXoyoV7vrd aeavTov TE t' WV 6E a00o TrXELV E ltEaLaKoOV . . .

I'm pleased that you praise both my father and me myself, but now hearwhat I want toobtain romyou ...The aorist indicative rjaOqv ummarizes the background for aKovaov,averb of a different form (aoristimperative) which is more worthy of noteand carries the main emphasis. An aorist indicative is sometimes used to

16 'I could not. But I admireyourcourage.' tr.Morwood). I praiseyourcourage,but I couldnot think of it.' (tr. Vellacott). Platnauer'snote is: Orestes has said: 'if the king'smurder will save us,it must be dared.' Iphigenia answers in effect: 'yes, but it is not decent- though I recognize andadmire the daring of your suggestion.' alvco: 'I decline with thanks' is foreshadowed by Hesiod,Works& Days 643 (v. Liddell & Scott).17 'Nor do I have any words of praise for the citizen who is self-willed and causes his fellow-citizens pain by his lack of breeding.' (tr. Kovacs). Elliott, EuripidesMedea (Oxford, 1959) notes apropos iveaa: We might expect a present. The Greek means roughly 'Whenever this kind of thinghas happened, I did not approve.' His note would have been more helpful, even for beginners, if ithad related this to other examples of the 'dramatic' aorist.

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THE AORIST INDICATIVEexpress an attitudewhich is adopted all at once. At Euripides,Iphigenia nAulis 874 Clytaemnestra,afterhearing from the slave that Agamemnonintends to kill their daughter, expresses complete disbelief: a7T7Ervcra, oyEpalE, .ivov. 'I totally reject the story, you dotard '18Interestingly, the 'dramatic aorist' is not always restrictedto the firstperson singular. An example in the second person is to be found atSophocles, Ajax 270:

7rcs rooT' hAE6as; ov KarotloO'r7To A'yELg.What do you mean? I do not understand what you are saying.

(tr. Lloyd Jones)and in the third person at Aristophanes, Eccl. 186-8:

6otev Aaciov apyvplov vrrepeTT'rveaev,o6 ' ov Aagcov ELVaL avaTrov kri' a&et'ovsTroVStLa6Oo0opEiv Cr)rovvras ev r 'KKr7atta.And he who gets the cash applauds the man,and he who gets it not protests that theywho come for payment ought to die the death. (tr. Rogers)19

Plato and Xenophon often use zt ov followed by an aorist indicative toexpress impatience (Ktihner-Gerth, 161, para. 10). This might beexpressed in English by 'just', as at Plato, Gorgias503b, Socrates says E'Ttva EXELSTrWVp77rTpCov TtLOVroV ECTTEi, r OVXLKat E/pot aVTOv Epaas rtls EUatrV;'if you can mention such an orator, why don't you just say who it is?',expressing his impatience that Callicles, his interlocutor,hasn't alreadydone so.20Another instance occurs laterin the Gorgias 509e) when, afterCallicleshas brokenoff their discussion and resumedreluctantly,Socratessays Tr OVKavrT yE I/LOLro o0 TEKptVW; 'why don't you just answer this verypoint forme?' a questionhe has not askedCallicles before.21But rt ov with

18 Headlam's explanation, that the access of feeling expressed by the verb has alreadytaken placebefore the speakercan express in words the change in her mental attitude,cannot apply because thisis the first that Clytaemnestra has heard of it, and so there has been no change in her attitude.Kiihner-Gerth, 164, explains J7remrrvaaere as an aoristmarkingthe entry of the feelings stimulatedby the preceding remark, and renders it by the exclamation 'abscheulich', 'pfui ' ('how abomin-able ').19 See also Halliwell's translation:'Those who draw pay adore Agyrrhioswhile those who don't regard the rest as fraudsfor living on their payment from the assembly '

20 'If you have any oratorof this kind that you can mention, without more ado let me know whohe is ' (tr. Lamb).21 G. Wakker,in B. Jacquinod (ed.), Etudessur l'aspectchez Platon (Universite de Saint-Etienne,2000), 356-7.

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THE AORIST INDICATIVEthe aorist can be coquettish, as for example at Xenophon, Memorabilia3.11.15 when theglamorousand amiableTheodote, anartists'model wholives in a good style on presents from her admirers,says to Socrates, 'whydon't you just become my partner in hunting for friends?' Ti ov'vov aovLt,

'r Z(K ES,co YEKpa s, yevov uvvOr]par7S T7C(v )Laov;22A different use of the aorist indicative is found at Plato, Phaedrus247e2-248b 1. Socrates has likened a soul to a chariot with a driver andtwo horses, and describes a god's soul journeying round the eternalverities outside the heavens. He expresses the visions of eternaljustice inthe present tense, and sums up the whole trip with an aorist:Kat rTaAa (UaagTWS a oWVTa OVTWrco aaaELev-r Kal EoTlaOeiaa, ovaar7adAv els TO ei'ca TOVovpavov, o'LKaLe 7AXOev.and having gazed and feasted in the same way on the other things which really are, itdescends into the region below the heavens and [just] goes home (tr. Rowe, alt.).7AO6evs the firstof eight consecutive non-past-referringaorists without rtov. Two more describe the charioteer part of a god's soul stabling hishorses, and five then describe the more turbulent progress of the soulmost like the god and best able to follow him. Socrates reverts to thepresent tense to describe the chaotic efforts of the rest of humanity.Kuihner-Gerth(161, end of para. 7) notes these aorists as gnomic, usedto specify things not cited from experience but from fantasy,and perhapswe could render the last five: 'if ever a soul is best able to follow a god andmost like him, then it ascends to the place outside and. . .23Evidently, the notion of completeness specified in Ktihner-Gerth is

22 'Then Socrates,' exclaimed Theodote, 'why don't you become my partner in pursuit offriends?' (tr. Marchant).23 Plato, Phaedrus 247e2-248bl: Kat ra AAa W rTavaavrs T Waua s eavayE vr EKa -raOeaLa, 8vaarrXAtv'EsTO ei'wJ ToV ovpavov, o'LKae AOev. eAOovar7sbe vtrr3s 0 7V0OXOS7'pos Tr rvV roaTVV Tov rrovarrToaa 7rape9aAev daf4Lpoa'av re Kat Er'vT' r veKrape[Jortoev. KatvT,os V OeWSvlos' avl be aAAat LvXai,-, LEv aptOTa OeE ETro/LEvr-at eL?KagltEv-rV7TrreppeV lt TOV e()O TOV TVV-7 toV 7/VLOXOV E?aAV, KatlVrr7TreptrlQVEXOrr'V 7ept()opadv, 0opv/3ov/LEvr V7'TOTWZv trT7WV Kat Luoyts KaOopWoa Ta ovTaa' SE ToTE EV

77pEv, TroT o' E8v, /tLa?ojLevwv Se r3wv t'7TrvTraCL?V iLE?v, -ra8'oi. a ' r, aAAaLyAl^'tXO'/vat iev a7racrat Tovvo eTTrovrTat,AvvaTovfaate, Vrroflpvixat OvL7?repiqEpovTat, 7rarotvat a AA Aas Kat EriTtdAAovauat,erepa 7rp(nT7E ETEpaS 7retp(o1evVri yveaOat.And having gazed in the same way at the other things that really are and having feasted, sinkingback againto what is inside the heaven, it justgoeshome. And when it arrives,the charioteer,havingset the horses at the manger both puts ambrosiabeside them and givesthem a drink of nectar as well.And this is the life of gods; as regardsthe other souls, if ever there is one that follows a god best andis likehim, it raises ts charioteer'shead to the place outside, and it is carriedround he revolvingvaultwith him (the god), though distractedby the horses and only able with difficultyto catch sight of thethings that are; and one sometimes rises,and another sometimes sinks,and because of the violenceof the horses, sees some of the realities,but not others. And indeed the other souls all follow, strivingineffectually after what is above, but they are carried round below the surface (of the heaven),knocking into and jostling each other, each trying to get in front of the other (tr. F.B.).

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236 THE AORIST INDICATIVEtypical of aorists. This seems to have been recognized in some way inantiquity by Apollonius Dyscolus, and is found in the more modernnotion of aspect. It is unfortunate if students are introduced to the aoristindicative only as a past tense. The aorist aspect indicates the viewpointof a speaker or writer outside an action not necessarily n the past, ofwhich the beginning and end arein view. Anyone who does not have anyfeeling for the aorist will miss a lot in reading Classical Greek.Recognition of the aspectual quality of all aorists will interest studentsand help clarify the relation between aorist indicatives and participles,and the aorist imperative, infinitive, optative, and subjunctive.

Beetham - 2002 - The Aorist Indicative

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