Monographs

The vocative is used in exclamations and in direct address: ὦ Ζεῦ καὶ θεοί oh Zeus and ye gods P. Pr. 310d, ἄνθρωπε my good fellow X. C. 2.2.7. The vocative forms an incomplete sentence ( ^cross904 d).

a. The vocative is never followed immediately by δέ or γάρ.

In ordinary conversation and public speeches, the polite ὦ is usually added. Without ὦ the vocative may express astonishment, joy, contempt, a threat, or a warning, etc. Thus ἀκούεις Αἰσχίνη; d'ye hear, Aeschines? D. 18.121. But this distinction is not always observed, though in general ὦ has a familiar tone which was unsuited to elevated poetry.

The vocative is usually found in the interior of a sentence. At the beginning it is emphatic. In prose ἔφη, in poetry ὦ, may stand between the vocative and an attributive or between an attributive and the vocative; in poetry ὦ may be repeated for emphasis.

In late poetry a predicate adjective may be attracted into the vocative: ὄλβιε κῶρε γένοιο blessed, oh boy, mayest thou be Theocr. 17. 66. Cp. Matutine pater seu Iane libentius audis Hor. S. 2. 6. 20.

By the omission of σύ or ὑ_μεῖς the nominative with the article may stand in apposition to a vocative: ὦ ἄνδοες οἱ παρόντες you, gentlemen, who are present P. Pr. 337c, ὦ Κῦρε καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι Πέρσαι Cyrus and the rest of you Persians X. C. 3.3.20; and in apposition to the pronoun in the verb: ὁ παῖς, ἀκολούθει boy, attend me Ar. Ran. 521.

The nominative may be used in exclamations as a predicate with the subject unexpressed: ὦ πικρὸς θεοῖς oh loathed of heaven S. Ph. 254, φίλος ὦ Μενέλα_ε ah dear Menelaus Δ 189; and connected with the vocative by and: ὦ πόλις καὶ δῆμε oh city and people Ar. Eq. 273. In exclamations about a person: ὢ γενναῖος oh the noble man P. Phae. 227c.

a. οὗτος is regular in address: οὗτος, τί πάσχεις, ὦ Ξανθία_; ho there, I say, Xanthias, what is the matter with you? Ar. Vesp. 1; ὦ οὗτος, Αἴα_ς ho there, I say, Ajax S. Aj. 89.