Reported Speech, Topography, and Pretext in a Wolf-and-Lamb Fable
A candidate reading a short fable has to resolve pronouns, optatives in reported speech, and the logic of the wolf’s accusation. The Greek is: λύκος ἀμνὸν ἐν ποταμῷ πίνοντα ἰδὼν ἐβούλετο μὲν ἁρπάσαι, φοβούμενος δὲ τοὺς ποιμένας αἰτίαν ἐζήτει. στὰς οὖν ἄνωθεν ἐλοιδορεῖτο, λέγων ὅτι θολὸν ποιοίη τὸ ὕδωρ. ὁ δὲ ἀμνὸς ἀπεκρίνατο ὅτι οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον ποιοίη· κάτωθεν γὰρ πίνοι, καὶ οὐ δυνατὸν εἴη τὸ ἄνωθεν ῥέον ὑπὸ τοῦ κάτωθεν μιαίνεσθαι. The draft says: ‘The wolf wanted to snatch the lamb, but fearing the shepherds he sought a reason. Standing above, he abused him, saying that he makes the water muddy. The lamb answered that he does nothing of the kind; for he drinks below, and it is not possible for the stream above to be polluted by the one below.’ The candidate asks why the verbs are optative and whether ἄνωθεν means ‘above’ or ‘upstream’.
1. Explain the optatives ποιοίη, πίνοι and εἴη. What would change if the reporting verb were present?
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These are present optatives in indirect statement after historic reporting verbs: ἐλοιδορεῖτο and ἀπεκρίνατο. In direct speech the verbs would be indicative: ποιεῖ, πίνω, οὐ δυνατόν ἐστι. After a secondary tense, Attic Greek may use the optative by assimilation to the past or oblique context. Translate them as ordinary past reported speech: ‘saying that he was making the water muddy’, ‘he drank below’, ‘it was not possible’. They are not potential optatives meaning ‘might’. If the reporting verb were present, the indicative would normally be retained: λέγει ὅτι ποιεῖ.
2. Translate the sentence beginning στὰς οὖν ἄνωθεν and resolve ἄνωθεν. Show how the topography matters to the argument.
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στάς is an aorist participle of ἵστημι, ‘having stood’ or ‘taking his stand’. ἄνωθεν literally means ‘from above’; in a river context it means ‘upstream’. The wolf stands upstream and accuses the lamb, who is κάτωθεν, ‘downstream’ or ‘below’. Translation: ‘So standing upstream he kept abusing him, saying that he was making the water muddy.’ The topography matters because water flows downstream: the lamb cannot pollute the wolf’s water from below. The lamb’s reply exploits precisely that physical fact.
3. Assess the wolf’s reasoning: is αἰτίαν ἐζήτει a genuine legal charge or a pretext? Use μέν ... δέ and the outcome of the exchange.
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The μέν ... δέ contrast sets the wolf’s desire to snatch (ἐβούλετο μὲν ἁρπάσαι) against his fear of the shepherds (φοβούμενος δέ). Because he does not act openly, he ‘seeks a reason’ (αἰτίαν ἐζήτει). That phrase already signals a pretext rather than a genuine charge. The accusation is that the lamb muddies the water, but the lamb’s reply shows the physical impossibility: he drinks downstream, and water does not flow upward. The wolf is constructing a justification for aggression, not conducting a fair inquiry. The fable’s point depends on recognising the false αἰτία as a cover for the desire to snatch.