PuUis/ied witA t/2e a~,probatio,z o t/ze Board o Trustees XOL. XII.—No. 102.] BALTIMORE, JANUARY, 1893. [PRICE, 10 CENTS. I~OTES IN PHILOLOGY. The Limitation of the Imperative in the Attic Ora- directly or imidirectl y, from the point of view of mercy, kindness, justice, tors. By C. W. E. MILLER. fairn~es, propriety, tutilily, moral obligation, absolute necessity, etc. The following are somine of the actually occuirring substitutes: l~o~ram ~rc~m’,~?, (Abstract of a paper read before tbe American Phflolo ~ ~sos and Ir’tcasov used personally, i~er’Aw, xpoo%ces, eimc6s, ai.m-o~,mcas, &~L&, 6ical Association, July, 1892, and d~moe, liucamoe’, oornp~psr, eie-~pduo w. inf.; eimc~-ws, Ismcatcmmc &m’ w. opt.; c’dm’ with before the University PhilologicalAssociation, October 28, 1892.) subjunctive or ci witir optative; tine verbal in -n-iou’ and ~p-~’ov with the An examination of the use of the imperative in tire Attic osators, that benitive or tine possessive prosroun followed by tine infinitive. was undertaken to ascertain the Greek fooling of the imperativo, showed To an emrtiu-ely differ-eat sphere belong tire mnse of the so-called imperative that the harsh tonse attributed to the imperative by lJernrobenes* gave rise question anti tire imperative use offfmramv with tine future indicative. These to certain limitations as to tire use of this mode.’ In tho discussion of these are snot nnolhifying substitutes for the imperative. oirwn- with the future limitations the following order has boon found convenient. indierstive is undoubtedly colloqtuial, as the statistics given by Weber, 1. Linsitations as to ssusaber and kirsci. Eutwickelung. gescliichte dcv Absichrtssiitze, II, p. 123, plainly show, and it a. No. of imperatives in entire body of orators. Substitutes. Guns- has no extended use in oratory. Tire imperative question, on tine otiner sion of imperative. Irnperativcs addressed to jury. Kinds of impera- hand, is used witin some degree trf freedoan, but only by’ the later Attic tive. Mollifiers. Recurrence of same verb. Cumulation ofimperative. orators, espechrily Din:rrclrus. Its tone varies all tire way from mild aston- b. Variations in the different departments of Greek oratory. isisment to untter innpatience amid intense disgunat, though Hermonenes, XVaiz c. Variations in authors. III, p. 237, who is probably not thAnking of any but tine harshest uses of d. Variations in individual speeches. tins question, considers it second only to the irenperative in degree of harsh- 2. As to form. Voice. Person. Positive and Negative. Tense. ness. For the statistics ofits mite in the orators, see A. J. P. XIII, p. 404. 3. As to positioa. It was shown above that tire ntumber of the imperatives in tire orators a. Prooemium. was considerably reduced by tire use of arolhifying substitutes, and from this b. Body of speech and epilogue. fact alone it would appear inighly probable that ims urany cases tire impera- tive was simply onnitted witinout being replaced by a smubstitute. But that I. such was tire case, is proved conclusively by the limitatiomis as to the use of There are 2445 imperatives on the 2284 solid Teubner prose pages that the actually occurring iniperatives, as described in tine following pages. remain of the Attic orators after deducting the fragusents, tire lettes’s, all Before, inorvever, passing our to the consideration of tinese limitations, it of Hyperides, and the Demostinenean collection of prooemia.t Now, while will be necessary, first of all, to distimiguisin between the imperatives 2445 is a large number, the hulk of tire orators is lilcewise large, arid about addressed to tire clerk of tine comirt, the witnesses, the adversary, etc., and one imperative per page t does not after all seem an inordinately large pro- tire imperatives addressed to tire jurry, etc. It is perfectly evident that the portion. imperatives addressed to tire clerk of tine court, etc., do mnot enter promi- But to appreciate more thorouginly the linnitatiorm as to number, it must nently into the discussion. The clemk is the servant of the court, and there be borne in mind that the imperative miglrt have beam used mucir more can be sue hrsrshnness in addressing him in tire ime~perative. So, likewise, an frequently. For we find in the orators scores ofinstances of substitutes for &m’cidn~Or or &ecifigre addressed to tine witness or witnesses is unobjectionable, the imperative, each instance representing the rvoidance of an imperative amnd tire same may be said of the imperatives directed to the adversary, for and bringing about a diminution in the number of occurrences, It is true the adversary seems to have been a perfectly legitimate object upon which the object sought to be attain d by the use of the substitute is tire same as to vent one’s wrath. Not so with the person or persons to whom the ora- in tire case of the imperative, but the appearance of wishing t~ lord it over tion is addressed. It is they above all, whose feelings must be consulted, one (hrsTcivu-ew) is removed and an appeal is nnade to the person, either and so it is only tine imperatives addressed to tinem tinat are of primary 6Xss-ra r~v i& importance in this disemission. Now of these imperatives, which, for the 7rpaoraKTLKa* Spengel, Rh,sloeGr.~iie ‘AprorsycirsvseII, p. 300, or Walz,cpio-nseIII,&vs~sv~eOdn-eep. 237: ,rxfi.e~~Ka~~~~~tr...ye 11 vp x~a ~scLOAK 1~sx~a sake of convenience, have here beesr styled effective inspes-at’ives, there are v~ Ppax,Aepc (hence also imperative forms) cal & untIl creAre, niusmrcna 81 caAclv &mrcnsv. 1- Of course, uni with the aor. subj. is inclerded in this count and interjectional ,b~pc is only 1311. exelmuded from it.. It may also be well to state thrrt all donbtful imperatives, as well as Iii judging of the sigurificamnee of tins number we must, first of all, bear in all such as are formod in qrmotations, in laws, and in bracketed portions ofthe text, have anind that not all imper-atives are of tire same degree of inam-shuess. It may been excimuded from the couurt, and in ascertaining the urriunber of the pages,ours-half line be read imn every grammar that tine imperative may be used to express a or over has been connted as one foll line, and less than one-haltline, and all laws and all command, men exinortation, or ass entreaty. Examples of the harshest of bracketed portions of the text, have been rejected. these classes are not found among tine effective iniperatives. Of the horta- IA comparison with Homer shows that in the first six books of the Iliad the umumber of imperatives is relatively about twice as great as in the orators. tive, symbourleutic and parnenetic imperatives, which constitute the second 18 JOHNS hOPKiNS [No. 102. of the above mentioned classes, we shall speak below. Suffice it for the of which is to give advice—a small number if the advice is given on one present to say that the greater number of the effective imperatives in the or two points only, a large number if a line of conduct is to be laid down. orators belong to this class, and that they vary in harshness according to Accordingly, we find a very large number of imperatives in the first three the circumstances of the case. But a large number of the imperatives belong speeches of Isocrates. Bust Isocrates even here betrays his gentlemanly to the class of entreaty. When the imperative is used in an entreaty, it spirit, his good jtm(l~ment, and his sefined taste for elegant expression by has, of course, lost almost all harshuess of tone. Moreover, two or more of many a skilful evasion of an otheruvise legitimate imperative. such imperatives are frequently used together, and even these are generally For a study of the imperative in the purely symbouleutic speeches, accompanied by some mollifying expression, so that the short. harsh colon Demosthenes is about the only orator to whom we can turn. The impera- that is characteristic of the imperative, is avoided. tive, as we have seen in the previous section, lsas a perfectly legitimate Though the tone of the delivery would as a ~eneral rule be sufficient to place in time symbouleutic speech. The veiny name points to the imperative. indicate the tone of the imperative, yet for fear that a mistake might he But it sutist be remembes-ed that ptsblic os-ators as-a really self-constituted made as to the true tone of the imperative, such strong mollifying expres- advisers, and their own personal interest, as well as the public welfare, would immake theus desirous of having them- advice meet with favor. So a sions as ~o~mi, LICErEVW, ae’rt8oXw, or a combination of these words, are some- times used, not to say anything of the frequent use of the phrase h th’lpes certain amuount of camition ninust be exercised as to the way in wlsich the ‘AO,jz’a?os (ancao-i-aQ, which in connection with the imperative has a certain advice is o~ered, and, as a matter of fact, tlsere are only 44 effective impera- mollifying effect upon the tone of the imperative. These mollifying expres- tives in every 100 pages of this kind of Densostlmenean speeds. sions are not restricted to any of the common forms of the imperative, hut TIme tlsird gm-eat class, that of the Xml-yem &ICaVL el, remains. Hese we must they occur with the aorist and present, positive and negative.
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