Laudator Temporis Acti

After speculating that no one else would be interested in triple correlative conjunctions in ancient Greek, I received two emails on the subject. One email was from Dr. James K. Aitken (Cambridge University), who contributed an example from the Septuagint version of Proverbs 1:2-3:

...2 γνῶναι σοφίαν καὶ παιδείαν νοῆσαί τε λόγους φρονήσεως 3 δέξασθαί τε στροφὰς λόγων νοῆσαί τε δικαιοσύνην ἀληθῆ καὶ κρίμα κατευθύνειν...

The other email was from Professor David Whitehead (Queen's University Belfast), who pointed out to my embarrassment that:

In fact Denniston does note this phenomenon (Particles pp.504-5). After commenting in general terms that it is rare in Plato and more common in Xenophon than other historians, he quotes examples as follows [I have not verified them]:

Euripides, Bacchae 379-81;
(the two Aristophanes passages);
Herodotus 1.16;
Thucydides 1.2.3;
Plato, Parmenides 165A-B;
Xenopon, Cyropaedia 6.2.17;
Lysias 19.13;
Isocrates 3.25, 5.54;
Isaeus 6.38, 7.34;
Demosthenes 21.26, 27.16.

To atone for my carelessness in reporting about Denniston's Greek Particles, I looked up all these examples, and I reproduce below texts and translations.

Euripides, Bacchae 379-381 (tr. T.A.Tucker):

...to join in dances, to laugh with the flute, and to bring an end to cares...

θιασεύειν τε χοροῖς
μετά τ᾽ αὐλοῦ γελάσαι
ἀποπαῦσαί τε μερίμνας

Herodotus 1.16.2 (tr. Aubrey De Selincourt):

Alyattes made war on the Medes under Cyaxares, grandson of Deioces, expelled the Cimmerians from Asia, captured Smyrna, a city which had been founded by people from Colophon, and attacked Clazomenae.

οὗτος δὲ Κυαξάρῃ τε τῷ Δηιόκεω ἀπογόνῳ ἐπολέμησε καὶ Μήδοισι, Κιμμερίους τε ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίης ἐξήλασε, Σμύρνην τε τὴν ἀπὸ Κολοφῶνος κτισθεῖσαν εἷλε, ἐς Κλαζομενάς τε ἐσέβαλε.

Thucydides 1.2.3 (tr. Richard Crawley):

The richest soils were always most subject to this change of masters; such as the district now called Thessaly, Boeotia, most of the Peloponnese, Arcadia excepted, and the most fertile parts of the rest of Hellas.

μάλιστα δὲ τῆς γῆς ἡ ἀρίστη αἰεὶ τὰς μεταβολὰς τῶν οἰκητόρων εἶχεν, ἥ τε νῦν Θεσσαλία καλουμένη καὶ Βοιωτία Πελοποννήσου τε τὰ πολλὰ πλὴν Ἀρκαδίας, τῆς τε ἄλλης ὅσα ἦν κράτιστα.

Plato, Parmenides 165a-b (tr. H.N. Fowler):

Because whenever the mind conceives of any of these as belonging to the masses, another beginning appears before the beginning, another end remains after the end, and in the middle are other more central middles than the middle, but smaller, because it is impossible to conceive of each one of them, since the one does not exist.

ὅτι ἀεὶ αὐτῶν ὅταν τίς τι λάβῃ τῇ διανοίᾳ ὥς τι τούτων ὄν, πρό τε τῆς ἀρχῆς ἄλλη ἀεὶ φαίνεται ἀρχή, μετά τε τὴν τελευτὴν ἑτέρα ὑπολειπομένη τελευτή, ἔν τε τῷ μέσῳ ἄλλα μεσαίτερα τοῦ μέσου, σμικρότερα δέ, διὰ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι ἑνὸς αὐτῶν ἑκάστου λαμβάνεσθαι, ἅτε οὐκ ὄντος τοῦ ἑνός.

Xenophon, Cyropaedia 6.2.17 (tr. Walter Miller):

And again, what would you have done, if you heard that chariots are coming which are not, as before, to stand still facing back as if for flight, but that the horses harnessed to the chariots are covered with mail, while the drivers stand in wooden towers and the parts of their body not defended by the towers are completely panoplied in breast-plates and helmets; and that scythes of steel have been fitted to the axles, and that it is the intention to drive these also into the ranks of the enemy?

ἔτι δὲ ἅρματα ἔρχεται, ἃ οὐχ οὕτως ἑστήξει ὥσπερ πρόσθεν ἀπεστραμμένα ὥσπερ εἰς φυγήν, ἀλλ' οἵ τε ἵπποι εἰσὶ κατατεθωρακισμένοι οἱ ἐν τοῖς ἅρμασιν, οἵ τε ἡνίοχοι ἐν πύργοις ἑστᾶσι ξυλίνοις τὰ ὑπερέχοντα ἅπαντα συνεστεγασμένοι θώραξι καὶ κράνεσι, δρέπανά τε σιδηρᾶ περὶ τοῖς ἄξοσι προσήρμοσται, ὡς ἐλῶντες καὶ οὗτοι εὐθὺς εἰς τὰς τάξεις τῶν ἐναντίων;

Lysias 19.13 (tr. W.R.M. Lamb):

My father, finding that these people had been accredited by Conon, and were of proved respectability and—at that time at least—in the good graces of the city, was persuaded to bestow her: he did not know the slander that was to follow.

ὁ δὲ ὁρῶν αὐτοὺς ὑπ' ἐκείνου τε πεπιστευμένους γεγονότας τε ἐπιεικεῖς τῇ τε πόλει ἔν γε τῷ τότε χρόνῳ ἀρέσκοντας, ἐπείσθη δοῦναι, οὐκ εἰδὼς τὴν ἐσομένην διαβολήν.

τῇ <τε> Reiske      γε Reiske: τε L

Isocrates 3.25-26 (tr. George Norlin):

For we see that those who are permanently ruled by kings have the greatest powers; that those who live in well-conducted oligarchies, when it comes to matters about which they are most concerned, appoint one man, in some cases a general, in others a king, to have full powers over their armies in the field; and that those who abhor absolute rule, whenever they send out many leaders, fail to accomplish a single one of their designs.

φαίνονται γὰρ οἵ τε διὰ τέλους τυραννευόμενοι μεγίστας δυνάμεις ἔχοντες, οἵ τε καλῶς ὀλιγαρχούμενοι, περὶ ἃ μάλιστα σπουδάζουσιν, οἱ μὲν ἕνα μόνον στρατηγὸν οἱ δὲ βασιλέα τῶν στρατοπέδων κύριον καθιστάντες, οἵ τε μισοῦντες τὰς τυραννίδας, ὁπόταν πολλοὺς ἄρχοντας ἐκπέμψωσιν, οὐδὲν τῶν δεόντων πράττοντες.

Isocrates 5.54 (tr. George Norlin):

And, finally, they began war upon the Phocians, expecting that in a short time they would conquer their cities, occupy all the surrounding territory, and prevail over all the treasures at Delphi by the outlay of their own funds.

τελευτῶντες δὲ πρὸς Φωκέας πόλεμον ἐξήνεγκαν ὡς τῶν τε πόλεων ἐν ὀλίγῳ χρόνῳ κρατήσοντες, τόν τε τόπον ἅπαντα τὸν περιέχοντα κατασχήσοντες, τῶν τε χρημάτων τῶν ἐν Δελφοῖς περιγενησόμενοι ταῖς ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων δαπάναις.

Isaeus 6.38 (tr. Edward Seymour Foster):

He and his son Philoctemon possess so large a fortune that both of them were able to undertake the most costly public offices without ealizing any of their capital, and at the same time to save out of their income, so that they continually grew richer.

οὕτω πολλὴν οὐσίαν ἐκέκτητο Εὐκτήμων μετὰ τοῦ ὑέος Φιλοκτήμονος, ὥστε ἅμα τά τε μέγιστα ὑμῖν λῃτουργεῖν ἀμφοτέρους τῶν τε ἀρχαίων μηδὲν πραθῆναι τῶν τε προσόδων περιποιεῖν, ὥστε ἀεί τι προσκτᾶσθαι.

Isaeus 7.34 (tr. Edward Seymour Foster):

He well knew what had been my behavior towards my father and mother, my care for my relatives and my capacity for managing my own affairs. He was well aware that in my official capacity as thesmothete I have been neither unjust nor rapacious.

εἴς τε γὰρ τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὴν μητέρα οἷος ἦν ἀκριβῶς ᾔδει, τῶν τ' οἰκείων ἐπιμελῆ καὶ τἀμαυτοῦ πράττειν ἐπιστάμενον· ἐν ἀρχῇ τε, θεσμοθετήσας, ὡς ἐγενόμην οὐκ ἄδικος οὐδὲ πλεονέκτης, ἠπίστατο σαφῶς.

Demosthenes 21.26 (tr. J.H. Vince):

For the chorus was a state-chorus, the apparel was being prepared for a public festival, and I, the aggrieved party, was official chorus-master.

ὅ τε γὰρ χορὸς ἦν τῆς πόλεως, ἥ τ' ἐσθὴς τῆς ἑορτῆς εἵνεκα πᾶσα παρεσκευάζετο, ἐγώ θ' ὁ πεπονθὼς ταῦτα χορηγὸς ἦν.

Demosthenes 27.16 (tr. A.T. Murray):

Yet, if it be shown that he made these admissions before Demochares and the others who were present; that he received from Demophon and Therippides the money accruing from the sale of the slaves in part settlement of the marriage portion; that he gave to his co-trustees a written acknowledgement that he had received the portion; and that he occupied the house immediately after the death of my father; will it not be clear—the matter being admitted by everybody—that he has received the portion, the eighty minae, and that his denial of having received it is a piece of shameless impudence?

καίτοι, εἰ φανήσεται πρός τε τὸν Δημοχάρη ταῦθ' ὡμολογηκὼς, καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἄλλους οἳ παρῆσαν, παρά τε τοῦ Δημοφῶντος καὶ τοῦ Θηριππίδου τῶν ἀνδραπόδων εἰς τὴν προῖκα τὰς τιμὰς εἰληφώς, αὐτός θ' ἑαυτὸν ἔχειν τὴν προῖκα ἀπογράψας πρὸς τοὺς συνεπιτρόπους, οἰκῶν τε τὴν οἰκίαν, ἐπειδὴ τάχιστ' ἐτελεύτησεν ὁ πατήρ, πῶς οὐκ, ἐκ πάντων ὁμολογουμένου τοῦ πράγματος, εὑρεθήσεται φανερῶς τὴν προῖκα, τὰς ὀγδοήκοντα μνᾶς, κεκομισμένος, καὶ λίαν ἀναιδῶς μὴ λαβεῖν ἐξαρνούμενος;