A Greek Reader for Chase and Phillips
Selections from Antiquity
Brian Schmisek
A Greek Reader for Chase and Phillips
Selections from Antiquity
Copyright © 2016 Brian Schmisek. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.
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paperback isbn: 978-1-4982-3850-2
hardcover isbn: 978-1-4982-3852-6
ebook isbn: 978-1-4982-3851-9
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This Greek Reader is dedicated to Carol Andreini and Frank Russell, professors whose love of Classics inspired my own.
Preface
The idea for this reader germinated decades ago when I was an undergraduate learning Ancient Greek under the patient tutelage of Dr. Carol Andreini (now at the University of Mary in North Dakota) and with the textbook by Chase and Phillips. At the time, I wished for more practice reading Greek, as Chase and Phillips provides only a few sentences with each lesson. A supplementary reader also seemed to me appropriate for the introductory Latin textbook by Wheelock. By the time I finished my undergraduate degree, I was delighted to see that Anne Groton and James May’s Thirty-Eight Latin Stories, designed to accompany Wheelock’s Latin grammar, had been published. As I taught Latin at various levels, that reader (now in its sixth edition) was a handy tool for the students’ acquisition of the ancient language. By the time I was in graduate school at the University of Mississippi I had been exposed to many more primary Latin and Greek textbooks and grammars. But many of the Greek introductory texts lacked an accompanying reader. So I proposed to write a thesis that would bring together a variety of readings for different introductory Greek grammars. My mentor and thesis director, Dr. Frank Russell (now at Transylvania University in Kentucky) was open to the idea. So this present work is derived in part from my M.A. thesis. After completing the thesis I moved on to other projects and scarcely gave it another thought. Only recently, upon meeting the good people at Wipf and Stock, was there momentum to publish a reader focused squarely on accompanying Chase and Phillips. My only regret is the delay of two decades due to my own inattention in bringing this project to fruition. It is hoped that this reader will aid the first year student of Greek who is fortunate to be learning with Chase and Phillips. May that student also have an instructor as patient as Dr. Andreini and as encouraging as Dr. Russell.
Abbreviations (alphabetical by abbreviation)
acc accusative
Act. Active
Adv. Adverb
Aor. Aorist
ca. circa (around)
cf. see, by way of comparison
d. died
dat dative
f feminine
Fut. Future
gen genitive
Impft. Imperfect
Impv. Imperative
Inf. Infinitive
m masculine
Mid. Middle
n neuter
n. note
nom nominative
Opt. Optative
pers. person
pl. plural
Pass. Passive
Perf. Perfect
Pres. Present
Ptc. Participle
sing. singular
Introduction
This reader is designed to supplement the Alston H. Chase and Henry Phillips, Jr., A New Introduction to Greek (Third Edition Revised and Enlarged; Cambridge, Massachusetts/London, England: Harvard University Press, 1961) by keying short passages from ancient Greek to specific points of grammar presented in the book.
Many modern methods of teaching Greek, and even Latin, almost presuppose by their presentation of grammar that the student learns most effectively not by rote memorization of case endings and rigorous drilling of verb forms, but rather, by translating many lines of “easy” Greek with points of grammar furtively “slipped in.”1 In contrast, throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, classicists knew the value of routine and regular review. “Frequent reference to the grammar is the only sure means of fixing in the mind the important principles of syntax.”2 I believe it is only through this exercise of translating “real Greek” that the student will come not only to find a deeper understanding of the differing moods of the verbs, but also the more difficult task of acquiring a feeling for “the finer distinctions of the Greek tenses.”3 Thus, the text unites pedagogical methods at work in some modern textbooks4 with the wisdom expressed by those classicists who have gone before us.
Modernity requires that we neither merely parrot methods of the past, nor discard them in favor of crossword puzzles and word finds,5 but rather, incorporate proven methods into our present system of education. So, although I agree with Goodwin and White that “it is highly desirable to use as small a portion as possible of the classic literature as a corpus vile for the more minute dissection, and to enable pupils at the earliest possible moment to read Greek and Latin with an appreciative mind,”6 I do think that we must broaden the corpus vile beyond the first four books of Xenophon’s Anabasis. “Beginners today must early meet Democritus, Plato, Thucydides, and Herodotus if they are ever to be encouraged to go farther.”7 Thus the reader incorporates passages from various authors in order to attract and capture the imagination of the student who may then early on develop a relationship with those giants of Greek antiquity by translating their very words, with minimal help from a side gloss.
Reviewing a grammatical construction in a translation exercise reinforces the rules of grammar covered in the textbook. In my own experience teaching at both the college and high school level, I find that students are often encouraged by reading such passages of extended length with limited, if any, emendations. The translation of sentences in grammar books is often accompanied by the sighs of students grappling with monolinear phrases, struggling in the midst of a nebulous cloud of forms, genders, tenses, constructions, authors, and syntax to make sense of the language. The task of putting together a supplemental Greek text is therefore deemed appropriate, indeed necessary, for the modern student of Greek to have at his or her disposal an important if not essential tool for learning and comprehending the language of ancient Greece in a context of historical and anecdotal pericopes germane to the grammar presented in a particular lesson.
The readings are drawn from Diogenes Laertius, Xenophon, Plato, Plutarch and the Septuagint. These have been chosen for many reasons, not only to reinforce grammar but even moreso to inculcate a love of Greek and the stories from that language. To that end, there are several about Socrates, one story about Caesar and his early encounter with pirates, something about Plato from a biographer centuries later, and as a nod to those who learn Greek to translate biblical material, two more famous readings from the Septuagint. The fundamental parameters for selection include: the use of Attic Greek (with the exceptions of the Septuagint and Diogenes); the contribution of the particular