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829.a) The neuter singular of the present participle with the article is sometimes used as an abstract noun, where we should expect the infinitive with the article. This occurs chiefly in Thucydides and in the poets. E.g. Ἐν τῷ μὴ μελετῶντι ἀξυνετώτεροι ἔσονται, “in the want of practice they will be less skilful.” THUC. i. 142. (Here we should expect ἐν τῷ μὴ μελετᾶν.) Γνώτω τὸ μὲν δεδιὸς αὐτοῦ τοὺς ἐναντίους μᾶλλον φοβῆσον, τὸ δὲ θαρσοῦν ἀδεέστερον ἐσόμενον. Id. i. 36. (Here τὸ δεδιός, fear, is used like τὸ δεδιέναι, and τὸ θαρσοῦν, courage, like τὸ θαρσεῖν or τὸ θάρσος.) Μετὰ τοῦ δρωμένου, with action (like μετὰ τοῦ δρᾶσθαι). Id. v. 102. Τοῦ ὑπαπιέναι πλέον τοῦ μένοντος τὴν διάνοιαν ἔχουσιν (infin. and partic. combined). Id. v. 9. Καὶ σέ γ᾽ εἰσάξω: τὸ γὰρ νοσοῦν ποθεῖ σε ξυμπαραστάτην λαβεῖν. SOPH. Ph. 674 (τὸ νοσοῦν = νόσος). Τὸ γὰρ ποθοῦν ἕκαστος ἐκμαθεῖν θέλων οὐκ ἂν μεθεῖτο, πρὶν καθ᾽ ἡδονὴν κλύειν. Id. Tr. 196.

This is really the same use of the neuter singular of an adjective for the corresponding abstract noun, which is common in ordinary adjectives; as τὸ καλόν, beauty, for τὸ κάλλος; τὸ δίκαιον and τὸ ἄδικον for δικαιοσύνη and ἀδικία.

b) A similar construction sometimes occurs when a participle and a noun are used like an articular infinitive with its subject, where in English we generally use a finite verb. E.g. Μετὰ δὲ Σόλωνα οἰχόμενον ἔλαβε νέμεσις μεγάλη Κροῖσον, i.e. after Solon was gone (like μετὰ τὸ Σόλωνα οἴχεσθαι). HDT. i. 34. Ἐπὶ τούτου τυραννεύοντος, “in his reign.” Id. i. 15: so viii. 44. Ἔτει πέμπτῳ μετὰ Συρακούσας οἰκισθείσας, “in the fifth year after the foundation of Syracuse.” THUC. vi. 3. Compare post urbem conditam in Latin. Μετὰ καλὸν οὕτω καὶ παντοδαπὸν λόγον ῥηθέντα (like μετὰ τὸ . . . ῥηθῆναι). Symp. 198B. Τῇ πόλει οὔτε πολέμου κακῶς συμβάντος οὔτε στάσεως πώποτε αἴτιος ἐγένετο, i.e. the cause of a disastrous result of any war (like τοῦ πόλεμόν τινα κακῶς συμβῆναι). XEN. Mem. i. 2, 63.

c) The same construction occurs in Homer; as ἐς ἠέλιον καταδύντα, to the going down of the sum, Il. i. 601; ἅμ᾽ ἠοῖ φαινομένηφιν, Il. ix. 682.

For the peculiar use of the aorist participle here, see 149.

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    • William Watson Goodwin, Commentary on Demosthenes: On the Crown, 32
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