Genitive Absolute and Embedded Clause in an Embassy Narrative
A candidate translating a short Attic narrative for the translation section has produced a draft with three disputed choices. The Greek text is: οἱ πρέσβεις ἀφικόμενοι εἰς τὴν πόλιν, τῶν πολιτῶν ἔτι καθευδόντων, εὗρον τὰς πύλας κεκλεισμένας. ὁ δὲ ἄρχων, ὡς ᾔσθετο αὐτοὺς παρόντας, ἐκέλευσεν αὐτοὺς περιμεῖναι ἕως ἂν οἱ στρατηγοὶ συλλεγῶσιν. The draft reads: ‘The ambassadors, having arrived in the city, found the gates closed while the citizens were still sleeping. But the archon, as he perceived them present, ordered them to wait until the generals gathered.’ The candidate asks whether ‘while’ is right for τῶν πολιτῶν ... καθευδόντων, whether ἀφικόμενοι should be ‘after arriving’ or ‘because they arrived’, and whether ἕως ἂν ... συλλεγῶσιν should be ‘until the generals gathered’ or ‘until they gather’. You must adjudicate the choices, not simply rewrite the sentence.
1. Explain the syntax of τῶν πολιτῶν ἔτι καθευδόντων and decide between ‘while’ and ‘after’ in English. Show how tense and aspect support your decision.
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The phrase is a genitive absolute: τῶν πολιτῶν (genitive) + ἔτι καθευδόντων (present participle, genitive plural) is grammatically independent of the main clause and supplies the circumstances of εὗρον. The present participle is imperfective and contemporaneous: the citizens’ sleeping is viewed as ongoing at the time of the finding. That supports ‘while’ or ‘at a time when’, not ‘after’. An antecedent action would more naturally be an aorist participle (καθευδησάντων) or be marked by an adverb. ἔτι (‘still’) reinforces the overlap. So the draft’s ‘while the citizens were still sleeping’ is defensible. ‘After the citizens slept’ changes the temporal relation and is not licensed by the present participle.
2. Discuss ἀφικόμενοι and the ἕως ἂν clause. Give a precise translation of the second sentence.
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ἀφικόμενοι is an aorist participle, nominative plural, agreeing with οἱ πρέσβεις. With a verb of arrival it normally denotes action preceding or immediately preceding the main verb: ‘on arriving’ or ‘after arriving’. ‘Because they arrived’ would require contextual support for a causal nuance, which is not present. The main verb ἐκέλευσεν is historic, but ἕως ἂν + subjunctive (συλλεγῶσιν, aorist passive subjunctive) remains prospective: ‘until the generals should gather/be assembled’. English may backshift to ‘until the generals gathered’ only if the future-in-the-past perspective is kept clear; ‘until they gather’ is too present. A precise rendering: ‘But the archon, when he perceived that they were present, ordered them to wait until the generals should assemble.’
3. The draft says ‘as he perceived them present’. Is ὡς here ‘as’ in the sense of simultaneity, or ‘when/after’? Justify your answer.
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ὡς with the aorist indicative ᾔσθετο is a temporal conjunction, usually ‘when’ or ‘after’. The aorist presents the perception as a single event before the order; ‘as’ can suggest simultaneous ongoing perception and is weaker. ‘When he realised that they were present’ is better. Also, αὐτοὺς παρόντας is accusative + present participle in indirect perception: ‘that they were present’, not ‘them present’ as a standalone phrase. The perception precedes the order, so ‘when/after he realised’ best captures the sequence.