Herbert Weir Smyth [n.d.], A Greek Grammar for Colleges; Machine readable text [info] [word count] [Smyth].

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1927

Complexive Aorist.—The complexive aorist is used to survey at a glance the course of a past action from beginning to end: τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ τὴν πόλιν ἐτείχισαν it was in this manner that they fortified the city T. 1.93. It may sum up the result of a preceding narrative (often containing imperfects, as T. 2.47. 4; 3. ^cross81). The complexive aorist appears also in other moods than the indicative.

a. This is often called the ‘concentrative’ aorist, because it concentrates the

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entire course of an action to a single point. When used of rapid or instantaneous action this aorist is often called ‘momentary.’

b. The complexive aorist is used either of a long or of a short period of time: τέσσαρα καὶ δέκα ἔτη ἐνέμειναν αἱ σπονδαί the peace lasted fourteen years T. 2.2, ὀλίγον χρόνον ξυνέμεινεν ἡ ὁμαιχμία_ the league lasted a short time 1. 18, ἦλθον, εἶδον, ἐνί_κησα veni, vidi, vici (“Caesar's brag of came, and saw, and conquered”) Plutarch, Caes. 50.

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Herbert Weir Smyth [n.d.], A Greek Grammar for Colleges; Machine readable text [info] [word count] [Smyth].

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