Verse Word Order and the Delayed Verb
You are translating a stretch of Greek hexameter in which a speaker addresses a companion before a journey. The lines run: τὸν δ᾽ ἠμείβετ᾽ ἔπειτα ποδάρκης δῖος Ἀχιλλεύς· / 'τίπτε με ταῦτ᾽ ἐρέεις, ὅτ᾽ ἐγὼ πάρος οὐκ ἐθέλοντα / ἤθελον;' The syntax is compressed: the relative clause ὅτ᾽ ἐγὼ πάρος οὐκ ἐθέλοντα ἤθελον packs a negated participle and a finite verb together. A literal rendering comes out garbled, and you must decide how to distribute the clause across English without losing the contrast the Greek marks by word order. You have the meter to consider: the participle ἐθέλοντα occupies a metrically prominent slot.
1. Unpack the clause τίπτε με ταῦτ᾽ ἐρέεις, ὅτ᾽ ἐγὼ πάρος οὐκ ἐθέλοντα ἤθελον; and explain the function of the participle ἐθέλοντα.
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The clause is a rhetorical question: 'Why do you say these things to me, when previously I wanted [you] when you did not want [it]?' The participle ἐθέλοντα is a supplementary participle agreeing with the object of ἤθελον, which is unexpressed but recoverable as 'you' (με in the main clause is the person addressed). Greek uses a participle with verbs of willing and desiring to express the state of the person desired: ἤθελον ἐθέλοντα means 'I wanted you while you were willing', and with the negated participle, 'I wanted you when you were unwilling'. The οὐκ negates only the participle, not the main verb, so the contrast falls between ἐγώ (the willing subject) and the unwilling object. English must supply the object pronoun and convert the participle into a finite clause: 'when you did not want it'. The word order, with the negated participle held back before ἤθελον, throws the contrast into relief at the line end.
2. How would you render the whole sentence in English verse-friendly prose, and what would you sacrifice?
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A workable rendering: 'Why do you say this to me, when before I was the one who wanted you, though you were unwilling?' This keeps the ἐγώ contrast by adding 'the one who', and turns the participle into a concessive clause. What is sacrificed is the tight antithesis of the Greek, where ἐγὼ πάρος and οὐκ ἐθέλοντα sit close together and ἤθελον lands last as a punch. English word order cannot reproduce the delayed verb without sounding artificial. A more literal alternative, 'when I previously wanted you unwilling', preserves the participle but is unidiomatic. The judgment call is to prioritise the contrast of willing versus unwilling over the exact clause type, since the rhetorical point is the reversal of desire, not the grammar of the participle. I would note the participle construction in a translation comment rather than force it into the English.