Aorist Tense:
Simple fact.
Once and for all.
Specific.
Once and for all.
Specific.
1st Aorist Tense Forms: Participles
ἡ δὲ Μέλιττα οὕτω μακρὰν τῇ προτεραίᾳ βαδίσασα ὑπέρκοπος ἦν.And Melitta, having done so much walking the day before, was worn out.
The meaning here is: because she had walked so far the day before.... .
You have to remember that the aorist always means: simple fact, specific action and does not necessarily refer to the past, except in the indicative (stating past facts).The action expressed by the aorist participle does however usually take place first, the other action, whether in the past, the present or the future is the last in any sequence:
ἡγησάμενος αὐτοῖς εἰς τὴν αὐλὴν τῷ βωμῷ προσεχώρησεAnd if we want to tell someone that these actions always take place before a journey?
καὶ σπονδὴν ποιησάμενος τὸν Δία ηὔξατο σῴζειν πάντας ....
Having lead them into the court-yard he went to the altar and
That's what the participle-loving Greeks said, we would say: He lead them into the yard, went to the altar, made a libation and prayed Zeus to keep them all safe.
A series of simple, specific actions that took place/happened some time in the past.
We just have to change the aorist indicative (past) to present indicative.
And the participles?
We have to leave them in the aorist, because they refer to actions prior to "approaching the altar" and prior to "praying Zeus":
ἡγησάμενος αὐτοῖς εἰς τὴν αὐλὴν τῷ βωμῷ προσχωρεῖ καὶAnd if we want to tell someone that these actions will take place tomorrow?
We just have to change the aorist indicative (past) to future indicative.
And the participles?
We have to leave them in the aorist, because they refer to actions prior to some other action in the future.
ἡγησάμενος αὐτοῖς εἰς τὴν αὐλὴν τῷ βωμῷ προσχωρήσει καὶIf of course we want to say that Dikaiopolis prayed/prays/will pray to Zeus while (=at the same time as) offering a libation, then we must use the present participle ποιῶν instead of ποιησάμενος for simultaneousness of actions (past, present or future)
Further examples from the text:
τὴν Μέλιτταν χαίρειν κελεύσαντες ὥρμησαν.
ἡ δὲ μήτηρ βοήσασα, 'ᾦ τλήμων παῖ,' ἐ̓́φη
οἱ παῖδες, τὴν θεὸν θεασάμενοι, ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ ἐξῆλθον.
| active participle | middle participle | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NO past tense marker | NO past tense marker | |||
| βαδίσ | 2nd aorist stem | ποιησ | 2nd aorist stem | |
| ας ασα αν |
active participle marker (m) active participle marker (f) active participle marker (n) |
άμενος αμένη άμενον |
middle participle marker (m) middle participle marker (f) middle participle marker (n) | |