Phaed 101b

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Constantinus Philo
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Phaed 101b

Post by Constantinus Philo »

οὐκοῦν, ἦ δ᾽ ὅς, τὰ δέκα τῶν ὀκτὼ δυοῖν πλείω εἶναι, καὶ διὰ ταύτην τὴν αἰτίαν ὑπερβάλλειν, φοβοῖο ἂν λέγειν, ἀλλὰ μὴ πλήθει καὶ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος; καὶ τὸ δίπηχυ τοῦ πηχυαίου ἡμίσει μεῖζον εἶναι ἀλλ᾽ οὐ μεγέθει; ὁ αὐτὸς γάρ που φόβος.

My understanding of the use of μὴ/οὐ is that here there is no difference between them . thus, sometimes μὴ/οὐ might be used before substantives without much difference. I have not found any examples either in Kuhner or in Smythe to corroborate this view. However, cf Pl., Crit, 46DE ὅτι ταῖς μὲν δεῖ τῶν δοξῶν προσέχειν τὸν νοῦν, ταῖς δὲ οὔ
and δοξάζουσιν δέοι τὰς μὲν περὶ πολλοῦ ποιεῖσθαι, τὰς δὲ μή. It may be due to the disjunctive character of the sentence that me/ ou are used indifferently; cf Smythe 2676e, where he says that the second member of the disjunctive question may be negated by either of the me/ou.
Semper Fidelis

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