The Particle That Turns a Speech
A student translating a set of speeches from a prescribed Athenian courtroom text meets this sentence: 'ἀλλ᾽ ἐγὼ μὲν οἶμαι δεῖν ὑμᾶς οὐ τούτῳ πιστεῦσαι, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ τῶν ἔργων σκοπεῖν.' She renders it: 'But I think you should not believe this man, gentlemen of the jury, but examine the facts.' Her teacher marks it 'accurate but flat' and asks her to justify the adversative force of the opening ἀλλά, the enclitic μήν-less μέν, and the deictic τούτῳ. The class has been debating whether the speaker is conceding anything. Twenty minutes remain before the essay is due, and she must decide whether her rendering preserves the rhetoric of the original or merely its propositional content.
1. Explain why the opening ἀλλ᾽ ἐγὼ μὲν οἶμαι carries a concessive-adversative force that the student's literal rendering loses, and propose a revised English translation that recovers it.
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The ἀλλά at the head of a clause in oratory commonly signals that the speaker is turning away from an opponent's position rather than simply adding a negative. Here it answers what the prosecution has just urged: 'They say X - but I think...' The μέν is prospective, balanced by the ἀλλά ... δέ structure later (ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ τῶν ἔργων), so the whole sentence is a two-pole contrast: their words vs your examination of facts. The emphatic ἐγώ sharpens the personal contrast with the opponent.
A revised translation: 'Well then - I at least believe, gentlemen, that you should not put your trust in this man's word, but judge from what was actually done.' The dash and 'Well then' mark the concessive turn; 'I at least' preserves the emphatic μέν.
2. The student wants to know whether translating τούτῳ as 'this man' is defensible, or whether it should be 'his argument'. What does the demonstrative most likely point to, and how should the translation handle it?
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Demonstratives in courtroom Greek typically point to a person present or just named, not to an abstraction, unless the context forces it. Since the speaker is addressing the jury about an opponent, τούτῳ almost certainly refers to the opponent himself, i.e. 'this man here'. The phrase πιστεῦσαι + dative means 'give credence to', and giving credence to a person is idiomatic.
A defensible rendering keeps the personal reference and lets English idiom do the work: 'you should not take this man's word for it'. If the student prefers 'his argument', she should be able to show a nearby neuter antecedent; absent that, 'this man' is the safer choice. The exam rewards showing the grammatical basis for the choice, not just the choice.
3. Draft two sentences of commentary (about 40 words) explaining how the particle structure supports the speaker's rhetorical strategy.
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The μέν ... δέ frame sets the opponent's assertions against the jury's own scrutiny of evidence, flattering their judgement while dismissing his. The emphatic ἐγώ positions the speaker as a plain dealer contrasted with a word-spinner, so the particles themselves perform the argument rather than merely decorate it.