Meno 85d
- Constantinus Philo
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Meno 85d
οὐκοῦν εἰ μὲν ἀεὶ εἶχεν, ἀεὶ καὶ ἦν ἐπιστήμων: εἰ δὲ ἔλαβέν ποτε, οὐκ ἂν ἔν γε τῷ νῦν βίῳ εἰληφὼς εἴη. This is a rare past unreal condition, is it homeric? Smyth, 2311-12 If does not look like potential.
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Re: Meno 85d
How I hate these labels!
οὐκοῦν εἰ μὲν ἀεὶ εἶχεν, ἀεὶ καὶ ἦν ἐπιστήμων presents no difficulty (“if he had it all along, then he was also ἐπιστήμων all along”), so I guess you’re referring to εἰ δὲ ἔλαβέν ποτε, οὐκ ἂν ἔν γε τῷ νῦν βίῳ εἰληφὼς εἴη, which means “while if at some point he had gotten it, he wouldn’t/couldn’t have gotten it within his current lifetime.”
Perhaps you were expecting ἔλαβεν rather than εἰληφὼς εἴη, but the perfect participle is more precise, referring to his being in a state of having gotten it, his being in possession of it by acquisition. Separating εἰληφὼς from εἴη may make it easier for you to grasp, for οὐκ ἂν … εἴη is a regular potential optative: “he wouldn’t be in a state of having gotten it.”
So Plato has (as usual) expressed exactly what he means. I doubt the construction is Homeric.
οὐκοῦν εἰ μὲν ἀεὶ εἶχεν, ἀεὶ καὶ ἦν ἐπιστήμων presents no difficulty (“if he had it all along, then he was also ἐπιστήμων all along”), so I guess you’re referring to εἰ δὲ ἔλαβέν ποτε, οὐκ ἂν ἔν γε τῷ νῦν βίῳ εἰληφὼς εἴη, which means “while if at some point he had gotten it, he wouldn’t/couldn’t have gotten it within his current lifetime.”
Perhaps you were expecting ἔλαβεν rather than εἰληφὼς εἴη, but the perfect participle is more precise, referring to his being in a state of having gotten it, his being in possession of it by acquisition. Separating εἰληφὼς from εἴη may make it easier for you to grasp, for οὐκ ἂν … εἴη is a regular potential optative: “he wouldn’t be in a state of having gotten it.”
So Plato has (as usual) expressed exactly what he means. I doubt the construction is Homeric.