Plato, Euthydemos 298e-299
Dionysodorus said, “Indeed, if you answer me immediately, you will agree with these things. Tell me, do you have a dog?
Ktesippos said “yes, a real scoundrel”
“And does he have puppies?”
“Yes, several just like him.”
“Therefore, your dog is a father.”
“Yup. I even saw him mounting the mother myself.”
“What about this: Isn’t the dog yours?”
“Absolutely.”
“So, since he is a father who is yours then the dog is your father and you are a puppies’ brother?”
And then, Dionysodorus quickly interjected before Ktesippos could speak at all: “And tell me one more thing: do you beat your dog?
Ktesippos laughed then said, “Yes, by the gods, because I can’t beat you!”
“Therefore, you beat your own father”, he said.
“It would be whole lot more just if I would beat your father, since he thought it right to have sons like this!”
Αὐτίκα δέ γε, ἦ δ᾿ ὃς ὁ Διονυσόδωρος, ἄν μοι ἀποκρίνῃ, ὦ Κτήσιππε, ὁμολογήσεις ταῦτα. εἰπὲ γάρ μοι, ἔστι σοι κύων;
Καὶ μάλα πονηρός, ἔφη ὁ Κτήσιππος.
Ἔστιν οὖν αὐτῷ κυνίδια;
Καὶ μάλ᾿, ἔφη, ἕτερα τοιαῦτα.
Οὐκοῦν πατήρ ἐστιν αὐτῶν ὁ κύων;
Ἔγωγέ τοι εἶδον, ἔφη, αὐτὸν ὀχεύοντα τὴν κύνα.
Τί οὖν; οὐ σός ἐστιν ὁ κύων;
Πάνυ γ᾿, ἔφη.
Οὐκοῦν πατὴρ ὢν σός ἐστιν, ὥστε σὸς πατὴρ γίγνεται ὁ κύων καὶ σὺ κυναρίων ἀδελφός;
Καὶ αὖθις ταχὺ ὑπολαβὼν ὁ Διονυσόδωρος, ἵνα μὴ πρότερόν τι εἴποι ὁ Κτήσιππος, Καὶ ἔτι γέ μοι μικρόν, ἔφη, ἀπόκριναι· τύπτεις τὸν κύνα
τοῦτον; καὶ ὁ Κτήσιππος γελάσας, Νὴ τοὺς θεούς, ἔφη· οὐ γὰρ δύναμαι σέ. Οὐκοῦν τὸν σαυτοῦ πατέρα, ἔφη, τύπτεις. Πολὺ μέντοι, ἔφη, δικαιότερον τὸν ὑμέτερον πατέρα τύπτοιμι, ὅ τι μαθὼν σοφοὺς υἱεῖς οὕτως ἔφυσεν.
About seven years ago, soon after the birth of our first child, I put most of Ancient Greek grammar on powerpoint slides in order to (1) tighten up and improve my Greek courses (I made narrated presentations that I shared with students); (2) create a portfolio of Greek teaching materials that I would use for the foreseeable future; and (3) studiously avoid not writing a book by doing very important work. The sleeplessness of the first few months of my daughter’s life coupled with a special type of cabin-fever (it was 100+ degrees for over 60 days straight) might have warped my judgment a bit. Inspired by Plato’s Euthydemos I wrote the following examples for Greek conditional statements:
Present Simple Conditionals
εἰ Σωκράτης τὸν ἀδελφὸν διδάσκει, ὁ ἀδελφὸς τὸν κύνα κτεῖναι ἐθέλει
If Socrates is teaching your brother, then you brother is wanting/willing to kill the dog
Present General Conditionals
ἐὰν Σωκράτης τὸν ἀδελφὸν διδάσκῃ, ὁ ἀδελφὸς τὸν κύνα κτεῖναι ἐθέλει
If Socrates teaches your brother, then your brother wants to kill the dog.
Present Contrafactual
εἰ Σωκράτης τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἐδιδάσκε, ὁ ἀδελφὸς τὸν κύνα κτεῖναι ἄν ἠθέλε
If Socrates were teaching your brother, then your brother would want to kill the do
Past Simple
εἰ Σωκράτης τὸν ἀδελφὸν δεδίδαχεν, ὁ ἀδελφὸς τὸν κύνα κτεῖναι ἄν ἠθέληκεν
If Socrates did teach your brother, then your brother wanted to kill the dog
Past General
εἰ Σωκράτης τὸν ἀδελφὸν διδάσκοι, ὁ ἀδελφὸς τὸν κύνα κτεῖναι ἠθέλε
If Socrates taught your brother, then your brother wanted to kill the dog
Past Contrafactual
εἰ Σωκράτης τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἐδίδαξεν, ὁ ἀδελφὸς τὸν κύνα κτεῖναι ἄν ἠθέλἠσεν
If Socrates had taught your brother, then your brother would have wanted to kill the dog
Future Most Vivid (Future Simple)
εἰ Σωκράτης τὸν ἀδελφὸν δίδαξει, ὁ ἀδελφὸς τὸν κύνα κτεῖναι ἄν ἐθελήσει
If Socrates teaches your brother, then your brother will want to kill the dog
Future More Vivid (Future General)
εἰ Σωκράτης τὸν ἀδελφὸν διδάσκῃ, ὁ ἀδελφὸς τὸν κύνα κτεῖναι ἄν ἐθελήσει
If Socrates teaches your brother, then your brother will want to kill the dog
Future Less Vivid (Future Less Real)
εἰ Σωκράτης τὸν ἀδελφὸν διδάσκοι, ὁ ἀδελφὸς τὸν κύνα κτεῖναι ἄν ἐθέλοι
If Socrates should teach your brother, then your brother would want to kill the dog
I am teaching my introductory class conditional statements today. I am still using these highly suspect sentences.
