Monographs

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

2502

Variations from the law of agreement are, in general, the same as in the case of other pronouns ( ^cross926).

a. The construction according to sense ( ^cross950, ^cross1013) often occurs, as φίλον θάλος, δν τέκον αὐτή my dear child, whom I myself bore X 87; so with collective nouns, as τὰ δόξαντα πλήθει, οἵπερ δικάσουσι what is approved by the multitude, who will judge P. Phae. 260a.

b. A relative in the plural may follow a singular antecedent denoting a whole class: θησαυροποιὸς ἀνήρ, οὓς . . . ἐπαινεῖ τὸ πλῆθος a man who lays up a store, the class of men which the multitude approves P. R. 554a. This construction is less common in prose than in poetry; as ἦ μάλα τις θεὸς ἔνδον, οἳ οὐρανὸν εὐρὺν ἔχουσιν in truth there is within some one of the gods who occupy the wide heaven τ 40.

c. A relative in the singular having a collective force may have its antecedent in the plural; as τούτους ἐπαινεῖν, δς ἂν ἑκὼν μηδὲν κακὸν ποιῇ to commend those who voluntarily do nothing evil P. Pr. 345d, ᾥτινι ἐντυγχάνοιεν . . . πάντας ἔκτεινον they slew all whom they met X. A. 2.5.32. Here ὅς with the indicative is rare.

d. The relative may stand in the neuter, in agreement with the notion implied in the antecedent rather than with the antecedent itself; as διὰ τὴν πλεονεξία_ν, δ πᾶσα φύσις διώκειν πέφυ_κεν ὡς ἀγαθόν for the sake of profit, a thing which every nature is inclined to pursue as a good P. R. 359c.

e. The relative may agree in gender and number, not with the antecedent but with a following predicate noun. This is common with verbs of naming; as λόγοι μήν εἰσιν ἐν ἑκάστοις ἡμῶν, ἃ_ς ἐλπίδας ὀνομάζομεν; assuredly there are propositions in each of us which we call hopes? P. Phil. 40a, εἰ_πεν ὅτι . . . διαγεγένηται πρά_ττων τὰ δίκαια καὶ τῶν ἀδίκων ἀπεχόμενος, ἥνπερ νομίζοι καλλίστην μελέτην ἀπολογία_ς εἶναι he said that he had continued to do what was just and to refrain from what was unjust, which he thought was the best practice for his defence X. M. 4.8.4.

f. A relative may agree with a predicate noun when it follows that noun immediately and not its own substantive: καὶ δίκη ἐν ἀνθρώποις πῶς οὐ καλόν, ὃ πάντα ἡμέρωκε τὰ ἀνθρώπινα; and justice among men, how is not that something beautiful, which civilizes all human things? P. L. 937d.

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