hi will, do you know of any good resources on alciphron’s style?
when i was reading this it felt more like a latin sentence (in quite a natural latin order) than a grk one - bizarre.
με ἀρτίως ἥκειν is what i’d expect in latin with the pronoun in typical wackernagel second position and at the head of its infinitive phrase (rule 2 in my earlier post on latin word order
viewtopic.php?t=8738 ).
then for the goal phrase (ὡς ἑαυτήν) to come after the object of the verb (i.e. the infinitive phrase) is also quite natural in latin (devine and stephens, latin word order, pgs 58-62, e.g. CIRCITER MERIDIEM EXERCITVM IN CASTRA REDVXIT (Caesar BG 1.50), FRVMENTVMQVE IN HIBERNA COMPORTAVISSENT (Caesar BG 5.26)).
but then again dover’s chapter on logical determinants (in his book on grk word order) explains best to me why γυνή naturally falls at the end - words that are dispensable because predictable drift towards the end, and here (for me at least), with ἡ τοῦ γείτονος, it's already pretty clear about who is being referred to, and so γυνή could have been left out, and so it’s not strange to see it at the end.
the style in these letters is also v light on particles which feels more like latin.
anyway, just random thoughts, but if you have any good resources on alciphron’s style i’d appreciate it, thanks! cheers, chad