Herbert Weir Smyth, A Greek Grammar for Colleges

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THE PRONOUN αὐτός

[*] 1204. αὐτός is used as an adjective and as a pronoun. It has three distinct uses: (1) as an intensive adjective pronoun it means self (ipse). (2) As an adjective pronoun, when preceded by the article, it means same (idem). (3) In oblique cases as the personal pronoun of the third person, him, her, it, them (eum, eam, id, eos, eas, ea).

[*] 1205. Only the first two uses are Homeric. In Hom. αὐτός denotes the principal person or thing, in opposition to what is subordinate, and is intensive by contrast: αὐτὸν καὶ θεράποντα the man himself and his attendant Z 18 (cp. σώσα_σ᾽ αὐτὸν καὶ παῖδας P. G. 511e and see 1208 d). On αὐτός as a reflexive, see 1228 a; on αὐτός emphatic with other pronouns, see 1233 ff.

[*] 1206. αὐτός is intensive (self)

a. In the nominative case, when standing alone: αὐτοὶ τὴν γῆν ἔσχον they (the Athenians) seized the land themselves T. 1.114. Here αὐτός emphasizes the word understood and is not a personal pronoun.

b. In any case, when in the predicate position (1168) with a substantive, or in agreement with a pronoun: αὐτὸς ὁ ἀνήρ, ὁ ἀνὴρ αὐτός the man himself, αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἀνδρός, τοῦ ἀνδρὸς αὐτοῦ, etc.

[*] 1207. With a proper name or a word denoting an individual, the article is omitted: ““αὐτὸς Μένων” Menon himself” X. A. 2.1.5, πρὸ αὐτοῦ βασιλέως in front of the Great King himself 1. 7. 11.

[*] 1208. The word emphasized may be an oblique case which must be supplied: ἔλεγε δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Βρα_σίδα_ς τῇ Θεσσαλῶν γῇ καὶ αὐτοῖς (scil. τοῖς Θεσσαλοῖς) φίλος ὢν ἰέναι and Brasidas himself also said that he came as a friend to the country of the Thessalians and to the Thessalians themselves T. 4.78, δεῖ τοίνυν τοῦτ᾽ ἤδη σκοπεῖν (scil. ἡμᾶς) ““αὐτούς” we must forthwith consider this matter ourselves” D. 2.2.

[*] 1209. Special renderings of the emphatic αὐτός:

a. By itself, in itself, unaided, alone, etc.: ““αὐτὴ ἡ ἀλήθεια” the naked truth” Aes. 3.207, τὸ πλέον τοῦ χωρίου αὐτὸ καρτερὸν ὑπῆρχε the greater part of the place was strong in itself (without artificial fortification) T. 4.4. On αὐτοῖς ἀνδράσι men and all, see 1525. αὐτό with a noun of any gender is used by Plato to denote the abstract idea of a thing: αὐτὸ τὸ καλόν ideal beauty R. 493 e, αὐτὸ δικαιοσύνη ideal justice 472 c.

b. Just, merely: ““αὐτὸ τὸ δέον” just what we want” X. A. 4.7.7, ““αὐτὰ τάδε” merely this” T. 1.139.

c. Voluntarily: ““ἄνδρας οἳ καὶ τοῖς μὴ ἐπικαλουμένοις αὐτοὶ ἐπιστρατεύουσι” men who uninvited turn their arms even against those who do not ask their assistance” T. 4.60.

d. The Master (said by a pupil or slave): Αὐτὸς ἔφα_ the Master (Pythagoras) said it (ipse dixit) Diog. Laert. 8.1. 46, ““τίς οὗτος; Αὐτός. τίς Αὐτός; Σωκράτης” Who's this? The Master. Who's the Master? Socrates” Ar. Nub. 220.

e. With ordinals: ᾑρέθη πρεσβευτὴς δέκατος αὐτός he was chosen envoy with nine others (i.e. himself the tenth) X. H. 2.2.17.

[*] 1210. After the article, in the attributive position (1154), αὐτός in any case means same.

Thus ὁ αὐτὸς ἀνήρ, rarely (ὁ) ἀνὴρ ὁ αὐτός the same man; ““τοῦ αὐτοῦ θέρους” in the same summer” T. 4.58, ““τὰ αὐτὰ ταῦτα” these same things” X. A. 1.1.7, ““οἱ τοὺς αὐτοὺς αἰεὶ περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν λόγους λέγοντες” the people who are continually making the same speeches about the same things” Ant. 5.50.

a. So as a predicate: ἐγὼ μὲν ὁ αὐτός εἰμι, ἱ_μεῖς δὲ μεταβάλλετε I am the same, it is you who change T. 2.61.

[*] 1211. In Hom. αὐτός, without the article, may mean the same: ““ἦρχε δὲ τῷ αὐτὴν ὁδόν, ἥνπερ οἱ ἄλλοι” and he guided him by the same way as the others had gone” θ 107.

[*] 1212. αὐτός when unemphatic and standing alone in the oblique cases means him, her, it, them. ““ἐκέλευον αὐτὴν ἀπιέναι” they ordered her to depart” L. 1.12.

[*] 1213. Unemphatic αὐτοῦ, etc., do not stand at the beginning of a sentence.

[*] 1214. αὐτοῦ, etc., usually take up a preceding noun (the anaphoric use): καλέσα_ς δὲ Δάμνιππον λέγω πρὸς αὐτὸν τάδε summoning Damnippus, I speak to him as follows L. 12.14. But an oblique case of αὐτός is often suppressed where English employs the pronoun of the third person: ἐμπιπλὰ_ς ἁπάντων τὴν γνώμην<*> ἀπέπεμπε having satisfied the minds of all he dismissed them X. A. 1.7.8.

[*] 1215. αὐτοῦ, etc., may be added pleonastically; ““πειρά_σομαι τῷ πάππῳ, κράτιστος ὢν ἱππεύς, συμμαχεῖν αὐτῷ” I will try, since I am an excellent horseman, to be an ally to my grandfather” X. C. 1.3.15.

[*] 1216. αὐτοῦ, etc., are emphatic (= αὐτοῦ τούτου, etc.) in a main clause when followed by a relative clause referring to αὐτοῦ, etc.: εἴρηκας αὐτό, δι᾽ ὅπερ ἔγωγε ““τὰ ἐμὰ ἔργα πλείστου ἄξια νομίζω εἶναι” you have mentioned the very quality for which I consider my work worth the highest price” X. M. 3.10.14. But when the relative clause precedes, αὐτοῦ, etc., are not emphatic: ““οὓς δὲ μὴ εὕρισκον, κενοτάφιον αὐτοῖς ἐποίησαν” they built a cenotaph for those whom they could not find” X. A. 6.4.9.

[*] 1217. αὐτοῦ, etc., are often used where, after a conjunction, we expect the oblique case of a relative pronoun: ““ὃ μὴ οἶδε μηδ᾽ ἔχει αὐτοῦ σφρα_γῖδα” which he does not know nor does he have the seal of it” P. Th. 192a.