Lesson 6a: Second Paragraph

Translation Paragraph 2

In Athens rules Aegeus; and he has a [certain] child Theseus by name. And as soon as this one grows up, he pities his companions and wants to help them. So he approaches his father and says: "Father dear, I pity my companions and want to save [them]. Send me therefore with my companions to Crete." And Aegeus is very afraid but obeys him nevertheless.

Words and expressions

βασιλεύειν

to rule, reign, be king  ὁ βασιλεὺς βασιλεύει
 

ἔστιν αὐτῷ 

there is to him = he has:  ἔστιν αὐτῷ υἱός he has a son
ἔστι μοι a car, an οἰκία μεγάλη τε καὶ καλή nominative! the house is named as belonging to me!
οὐκ ἔστι μοι παῖς
οὐκ ἔστι μοι γυνή
ἆρ' ἔστι σοι γυνή or ἀνήρ;
ἆρ' ἔστι σοι θυγάτηρ; υἱός;
ἆρ' εἰσί σοι πολλοὶ φίλοι; are there lots of friends to you
ἔστιν ἡμῖν an interesting book
Now say what you've got (= what there is to you)
what the President of the United States has got
 

ὀνόματι Θησεύς (declined like this)

called Theseus, Theseus by name (dative form of τὸ ὄνομα the name)
ἔστιν ἡμῖν an interesting book Ἀθήναζε ὀνόματι 
We have the word "onomatopoeia" (word formed from sound: to buzz, a cuckoo, sizzle...). Little children use lots of onomatopoeias. Origin: ὄνομα + ποιεῖν 
ἔστι μοι κύων ὀνόματι Ἐστέλ 
εἰσὶν ἡμῖν πολλοὶ αἴλουροι cats:
ὁ πατήρ, ὀνόματι Ubi (ubiquitous, wherever you look you see him)
καὶ ἡ μήτηρ ὀνόματι Lavinia
τε καὶ ἡ θυγάτηρ Octavia.
τὰ τῶν ἄλλων ὀνόματα (of the others) are not Latin in origin.
 

ἡβάω becomes ἡβῶ 

ἐπεὶ πρώτον ἡβᾶ when first he grows up = as soon as he...
I found τὸ ἡβᾶν a rather painful experience
τὸ ἡβᾶν the act of growing up. While in English we say "Growing up can be painful" , the Greek say: "The to grow up". We use the -ing form without an article, the Greek use the infinitive preceded by the definite article.
This is called an articular infinitive: by adding the definite article to the infinitive we let a verb play the role of a noun. In English we use the -ing form of the verb instead.
So what is:
τὸ ἐσθίειν; τὸ βασιλεύειν; τὸ πονεῖν;
τὸ μὲν ἀναγκάζειν δεινόν ἔστιν, τὸ δὲ βοηθεῖν καλόν
When passing your mouse over blue text an arrow with a question mark indicates that some information will presently be given. Wait a second and you'll see the English translation of the proposed Greek.
 

τοὺς ἑταίρους οἰκτίρει 

he pities his companions
 ὁ ἑταῖρος the comrade, companion
Who is your companion? τίς ἐστιν ὁ ἑταῖρός σου;
Little boys usually have more ἑταίρους than little girls (less choosy maybe?)
ὁ Θησεὺς τοὺς ἑταίρους οἰκτίρει
οἰκτίρομεν the poor people we see in TV programs ἀλλὰ οὐ ποιοῦμεν πολύ for them.
On the whole τὸ οἰκτίρειν is okay, ἀλλὰ τὸ βοηθεῖν would be better.
When someone has a terrible migraine you οἰκτίρεις αὐτόν/αὐτήν  but besides leaving him/her in peace  οὐ δυνατόν ἐστι βοηθεῖν
 

βούλεται βοηθεῖν αὐτοῖς

βούλεται = ἐθέλει = ἐν νῷ ἐχει (lesson 4a) he wants to, ἐπιθυμεῖ (lesson 5b) he desires, wishes to (much stronger desire!).
τί βούλεται;  βούλεται σῴζειν whom? (accusative) τοὺς ἑταίρους
τοὺς ἑπτὰ νεανίας τε καὶ τὰς ἑπτὰ παρθένους.
Better have a look at the other middle forms:
βούλομαι 

• ἀκούειν τὸν μῦθον.
• ἐσθίειν 
• βοηθεῖν ὑμῖν (all of you)

ἡ μὲν Μέλιττα βούλεται ὁρᾶν τοὺς χορούς τε καὶ τοὺς ἀγῶνας (the contests, lesson 4a)
we all πάντες βουλόμεθα peace and quiet
 

ὁ Αἰγεὺς μάλιστα φοβεῖται

Obviously his father is very afraid, none have ever come back from Crete before.
ἆρ' ὁ Θησεὺς φοβεῖται;
οὐχί, ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ φοβεῖται, μάλα φοβεῖται
τί φοβεῖ;  what are YOU (personally) afraid of?
ἐγὼ μὲν φοβοῦμαι  pain and crocodiles (luckily there aren't any here)
small children (and some grown ups too)  φοβοῦνται the dark
ἆρ' φοβεῖσθε τοὺς ἑλληνικοὺς θεούς; 
Maybe not you, but the ancient Greeks certainly did
Practice φοβοῦμαι and οὐ φοβοῦμαι 
What are you (not) afraid of? in reality please!
οὐ φοβοῦμαι τοὺς κύνας,
ἀλλὰ φοβοῦμαι τὸν τοῦ γείτονος κύνα  (my neighbour's dog is vicious): θηρίον δεινόν ἐστιν
οὐ φοβοῦμαι τοὺς λύκους as there aren't any around to fear...
οὐ φοβοῦμαι πονεῖν, ἀοκνὸς γάρ εἰμι (lesson1a, Dikaiopolis is energetic)
φοβοῦμαι heights, I get vertigo...
yet

ἀλλ' ὅμως πείθεται αὐτῷ 

but he nevertheless obeys him
κάμνω ἀλλ' ὅμως πονῶ
ὁ δοῦλος οὐ βούλεται αἴρειν τὸν λίθον,
ἀλλ' ὅμως αἴρει αὐτὸν καὶ ἐκφέρει ἐκ τοῦ ἀγροῦ.
(a total eclipse of the sun) ἡμέρα ἐστὶν ἀλλ' ὅμως all is dark
June 21, North Pole, it's midnight ἀλλ' ὅμως τὸν ἥλιον βλέπομεν
 

πείθεται αὐτῷ 

obeys him
In lesson 4b we had  πείθειν to persuade.
Myrtle would like to see the festival but she says her husband is a bore who never wants to take her places. So her daughter affirms that it is
    ῥάδιόν ἐστιν πείθειν τὸν πατέρα (persuading daddy is easy). Which means ὁ πατὴρ πείθεται (is persuaded = obeys).
In Greek we (give obedience) to somebody (dative):
In the dative case, words always end in iota (even if it's only subscribed) and in -σι  (sound) in the plural, so -ξι, -ψι standing for -ksi and -psi respectively are no exception.
ἐν τοῖς ἀγροῖς etc used to be ἀγροῖσι, the extra  ι was dropped, too many i's spoiling the broth, I suppose.
So whom do you (personally) obey? τίνι πείθει;
τῷ πατρί;
τῇ μητρί;
τῷ ἀνδρί;
τῇ γυναικί;
τῷ παιδί;
τοῖς παισί; (plural, short for παιδσί: for ease of pronunciation stem τ, δ, and ζ are dropped before -σι
Think of people obeying (who? whom? where? why?..) and use πείθομαι, ει, εται, ονται . 
The dog his master, lions in the circus, kids at school, doting parents their offspring, hooligans, police, laws, speed limits, rules and regulations, our instincts, nature, good and bad. No excuse for not coming to grips with  πείθομαι, forms and meaning.
 

μετὰ τῶν ἑταίρων

with my (his) companions, comrades
We've seen, lesson 5a  μετὰ αὐτούς AFTER them. Same word, different meaning, different case to show what is meant: he doesn't want to go there
after his companions μετὰ τοὺς ἑταίρους ἀλλὰ 
with his companions μετὰ τῶν ἑταίρων
So how do we remember which case to use? Like children, concentrate on the meaning rather than the grammatical theory: practice
"he runs μετὰ αὐτούς to catch them"
as opposed to
"he runs μετὰ αὐτῶν in a group like sheep in a flock"
till the difference in meaning is firmly associated with the difference in form
both in your ears and in your mind.
 
All genitive plural forms end in -ων  so we'll have:

μετὰ τῶν	παίδων	with their children
	γυναικῶν	with their wives
	ἀνδρῶν	with their husbands
	πατέρων	with their fathers
	μητέρων	with their mothers
	υἱῶν	with their sons
	θυγατέρων	with their daughters
	φίλων	with their friends
	ἑταίρων	with their companions

Practice it! It isn't difficult to imagine.
And now let's add pronouns: with me, him, them etc.: It shouldn't be too hard to remember/imagine scenes involving you with others, her with him and us with them.
μετὰ ἐμοῦ, σοῦ, αὐτοῦ, αὐτῆς, ἡμῶν, ὑμῶν, αὐτῶν
meaning of course with me, you, him, her, with us, you all, them, as seen in lesson 5b.