Reference · Greek syntax
Accusative Absolute
A participle standing free of the sentence, like the genitive absolute, but in the accusative and the neuter singular. It goes that way when there is nothing for it to agree with: the verb is impersonal, or an infinitive is its subject. One exception lets a personal participle in.
See also Genitive Absolute — the same construction where the participle does have a subject
οὐδεὶς τὸ μεῖζον κακὸν αἱρήσεται ἐξὸν τὸ ἔλᾱττον
No one will choose the greater evil when it is possible to choose the less
P. Pr. 358d · Smyth §2076
What licenses the accusative
Smyth and Goodwin between them list what licenses the accusative. The first four are one rule seen from four sides — the participle has no subject to agree with. The fifth is a real exception.
Οἱ δ᾽ οὐ βοηθήσαντες δέον ὑγιεῖς ἀπῆλθον;
And did those who brought no aid when it was necessary escape safe and sound?
PLAT. Alcib. i. 115B · Goodwin §851
δῆλον γὰρ ὅτι οἶσθα μέλον γέ σοι
For of course you know because it concerns you
P. A. 24d · Smyth §2076
μετεμέλοντο ὅτι μετὰ τὰ ἐν Πύλῳ, καλῶς παρασχόν, οὐ ξυνέβησαν
They repented that after what had occurred at Pylos, although a favourable occasion had presented itself, they had not come to terms
T. 5.14 · Smyth §2076
Εὖ δὲ παρασχόν,
And when an opportunity offers
THUC. i. 120 · Goodwin §851 · Goodwin’s shorter form of the impersonal Smyth quotes above
Ἐξόν εἰρήνην ἔχειν αἱρεῖται πολεμεῖν.
When it is possible to have peace, he chooses war.
Xen. Anabasis 2.6.6 · Goodell §591
ἀδύνατον ὄν
It being impossible
Goodwin §851 · Goodwin gives the form without a passage
προσταχθέν, εἰρημένον, δεδογμένον
Goodwin §851 · Goodwin's three, listed as forms
συνδόξαν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ τῇ μητρὶ γαμεῖ τὴν Κυαξάρου θυγατέρα
On the approval of (lit. it seeming good to) his father and mother he married the daughter of Cyaxares
X. C. 8.5.28 · Smyth §2059
ηὔχετο πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς τᾱ̓γαθὰ διδόναι, ὡς τοὺς θεοὺς κάλλιστα εἰδότας ὁποῖα ἀγαθά ἐστι
(Socrates) prayed to the gods that they would give him good things, in the belief that the gods know best what sort of things are good
X. M. 1.3.2 · Smyth §2078
σιωπῇ ἐδείπνουν, ὤσπερ τοῦτο προστεταγμένον αὐτοῖς
They were supping in silence just as if this had been enjoined upon them
X. S. 1. 11 · Smyth §2078
Σωκράτης ηὔχετο πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς ἁπλῶς τᾱ̓γαθὰ διδόναι, ὡς τοὺς θεοὺς κάλλιστα εἰδότας.
Sokrates used to pray to the gods simply to give what was good, feeling that the gods knew best (what is good).
Xen. Memorabilia 1.3.2 · Goodell §591 · Goodell’s rendering of the same sentence — Smyth’s “in the belief that”, Goodell’s “feeling that”
Where the grammars differ
A personal participle standing free with neither particle is rare, and the two grammars account for the commonest instance differently.
δόξαντα ῡ̔μῖν ταῦτα εἵλεσθε ἄνδρας εἴκοσι
On reaching this conclusion you chose twenty men
And. 1.81 · Smyth §2078
Δόξαν ἡμῖν ταῦτα
PLAT. Prot. 314 C · Goodwin §854 · Goodwin leaves it untranslated
Smyth reads δόξαν ταῦτα as formed on the analogy of ἔδοξε ταῦτα. Goodwin says it may simply represent it, or that an infinitive is to be supplied. Neither is a reading of the passage — they are two accounts of how the construction arose, and nothing in the sentence decides between them.
Identify
- A neuter singular participle with no noun beside it.
- Its verb is impersonal, or an infinitive stands as its subject.
- Where a personal participle stands free, ὡς or ὥσπερ stands in front of it.
- Where there is a subject at all it is a pronoun. Smyth records a substantive only once.
Rule out
Three checks, in this order.
- Does the participle have a subject of its own?
Then the genitive absolute is what you are looking at. The two are one rule split by a single question: is there anything for the participle to agree with.
Yes → genitive absolute. - Is the verb impersonal, or is an infinitive its subject?
Then the accusative, and always the neuter singular. Smyth’s reason is worth keeping: the genitive participle marks a distinction between masculine and feminine, and an impersonal has not got one.
ἧς (βουλῆς) νῦν ἀξιοῖ τυχεῖν οὐ μετὸν αὐτῷ To which he now claims admission though he has no right L. 31.32 · Smyth §2076
Yes → accusative absolute.Smyth §2076, Smyth §2077, Goodwin §851
- Is a personal participle standing free?
Look for ὡς or ὥσπερ in front of it. Without one the construction is rare, and turns up mostly with participles that were impersonal to begin with.
κῡρωθὲν οὐδὲν οἱ Μακεδόνες ἐχώρουν ἐπ᾽ οἴκου The Macedonians proceeded homewards, nothing having been accomplished T. 4.125 · Smyth §2078
No particle → rare. Check whether the participle is neuter.Smyth §2078, Goodwin §853, Goodwin §854
Variants
- Why the accusative
Smyth’s reason for the case, which is also the reason the construction exists at all.
The participle in that case marks a distinction between masculine (neuter) and feminine
Smyth §2077 · Smyth’s own wording
- Where it came from
Probably an internal accusative, developed partly by apposition: the neuter participle stands in apposition to an idea in the leading clause. It is first found in Herodotus and the fifth-century Attic prose writers.
προσταχθὲν αὐτοῖς οὐκ ἐτόλμησαν εἰσαγαγεῖν
They did not dare to bring him in—a duty that was enjoined (although it was enjoined) upon them
Is. 1.22 · Smyth §2077
- By chance
Goodwin lists it with the impersonals. It had already become an adverb.
τυχόν
Perchance
Goodwin §851 · listed as a form
- With the article
Rarely the infinitive in the accusative absolute takes τό.
αἰσχρὸν ὂν τὸ ἀντιλέγειν
XEN. Cyr. ii. 2, 20 · Goodwin §852
Sources
| Grammar | Sections |
|---|---|
| Herbert Weir Smyth, Greek Grammar for Colleges | 2059, 2070, 2076–2078 |
| Goodell, School Grammar of Attic Greek | 541, 591 |
| Goodwin, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb | 851–854 |
Goodell and Goodwin have no reader pages here yet, so those rows link to the work rather than to the section. Goodwin quotes a great deal without translating it; where he gives no English, the quotation carries none.