William Watson Goodwin, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb

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[*] 903. Some verbs which take the supplementary participle allow also the infinitive in a similar construction, but with some difference in the meaning or at least in the point of view.

1. Αἰσχύνομαι and αἰδοῦμαι with the participle (881) mean I am ashamed of doing (something which I am doing or have done); with the infinitive, I am ashamed to do (something which I have not yet done). E.g. Τοῦτο μὲν οὐκ αἰσχύνομαι λέγων: τὸ δ᾽ “Ἐὰν μένητε παρ᾽ ἐμοὶ ἀποδώσω” αἰσχυνοίμην ἂν λέγειν, this (something just said) I am not ashamed of saying; but I should be ashamed to say the following, etc. XEN. Cyr. v. 1, 21. Αἰσχύνομαι ὑμῖν εἰπεῖν τἀληθῆ, I am ashamed to tell you the truth (but still I must tell it). PLAT. Ap. 22 B. Αἰδοῦνται τοὺς παρόντας ἀπολείπειν, i.e. they are ashamed to leave them (and do not). XEN. Symp. viii. 35. But “αἴδεσαι πατέρα προλείπων,” “be ashamed of leaving your father (as you threaten to do),” SOPH. Aj. 506. A comparison of the last example with PLAT. Ap. 22 B (above) shows that the choice of the infinitive or participle may depend on the point of view of the speaker in a special case. In Aj. 506, the threat is viewed as the inception of the act.

2. Ἀνέχομαι, ὑπομένω, τλάω, and τολμῶ with the participle (879; 880) mean to endure something now going on or already done; with the infinitive, to have the courage or to venture to do something not yet done. E.g. Καταμείναντες ἀνέσχοντο τὸν ἐπιόντα ἐπὶ τὴν χώρην δέξασθαι, “they remained and had the courage to receive the invader of their country.” HDT. vii. 139. (Cf. οὐκ ἀνέξομαι ζῶσα under 879.) So ὑπομείναντα τὰ πάντα πάσχειν, “taking courage to suffer everything.” Leg. 869 C. (Cf. μὴ ὑπομένειν Ξέρξην ἐπιόντα, not to await the coming of Xerxes, i.e. not to wait to see his coming, HDT. vii. 120.) “Ἔτλα οὐράνιον φῶς ἀλλάξαι” SOPH. Ant. 944. “Τόλμησόν ποτε ὀρθῶς φρονεῖν” AESCH. Prom. 999.

Ἀνέχομαι with the infinitive, and τλάω and τολμῶ with the participle, are rare.

3. Ἀποκάμνω τοῦτο ποιῶν (881) is I am weary of doing this; ἀποκάμνω τοῦτο ποιεῖν is I cease to do this through weariness. E.g.

Μήτε ταῦτα φοβούμενος ἀποκάμῃς σαυτὸν σῶσαι, do not, through fear of this, despair of saving yourself. PLAT. Crit. 45 B. (Cf. οὐκ ἀποκάμνεις μηχανώμενος, you are not tired of contriving, XEN. Mem. ii. 6, 35. )

4. Ἄρχομαι (Homeric ἄρχω) with the participle (879) means to be first in something, to begin with something, or to be at the beginning (not at the end); with the infinitive, to begin to do something. E.g.

Ἤρξαντο τὰ μακρὰ τείχη Ἀθηναῖοι οἰκοδομεῖν, “the Athenians began to build the long walls.” THUC. i. 107. Δεῖ ἐμὲ ἐπιδεικνύναι, ὡς οὔτ᾽ ἤρξατο λέγειν τὰ βέλτιστα οὔτε νῦν διατελεῖ πράττων τὰ συμφέροντα τῷ δήμῳ. AESCHIN. iii. 50.

5. Παύω with the participle (879) means to stop what is going on; with the infinitive, to prevent a future act. E.g. Ἔμ᾽ ἔπαυσας μάχεσθαι, “you prevented me from fighting.” Il. xi. 442. (But ἔμ᾽ ἔπαυσας μαχόμενον would be you stopped me while fighting.) Π̔αψῳδοὺς ἔπαυσε ἀγωνίζεσθαι. HDT. v. 67.

6. Περιορῶ and the other verbs signifying to overlook or see (in the sense of permit) with the participle (885) mean to see an act done without interfering to stop it; with the less frequent infinitive, to permit an act to be done without interfering to prevent it. Strictly speaking, the infinitive here expresses time future to that of the verb, while the time of the participle coincides with that of the verb. Still, both forms may sometimes be used to express practically the same sense, and may even refer to the same event, though the point of view is different. E.g. Περιιδεῖν αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ σκευῇ πάσῃ ἀεῖσαι, “to let him sing in full dress.” HDT. i. 24. Θάλασσαν πνεύματά φασι οὐ περιόψεσθαι φύσι τῇ ἑωυτῆς χρᾶσθαι, “they say that the winds will not permit the sea to follow its own nature.” Id. vii. 16. Τοὺς γὰρ Ἀθηναίους ἤλπιζεν ἴσως ἂν ἐπεξελθεῖν καὶ τὴν γῆν οὐκ ἂν περιιδεῖν τμηθῆναι, “for he hoped that the Athenians would perhaps come forth and not let their land be ravaged.” THUC. ii. 20.But in ii. 18 he has said, προσδέχομενος τοὺς Ἀθηναίους τῆς γῆς ἔτι ἀκεραίου οὔσης ἐνδώσειν τι καὶ κατοκνήσειν περιιδεῖν αὐτὴν τμηθεῖσαν, ἀνεῖχεν, that they would be unwilling to see it (the land) ravaged (referring to the same thing with περιιδεῖν τμηθῆναι, to let it be ravaged, in 20); and again in 20, οἱ Ἀχαρνῆς οὐ περιόψεσθαι ἐδόκουν τὰ σφέτερα διαφθαρέντα, it did not seem likely that the Acharnians would see their property destroyed.

7. The impersonal expressions of 901 take the infinitive more frequently than the participle, the distinction being similar to that in the last case (6). E.g. Οὐ τοῦτο πρῶτον ἠρώτα πότερον λῷον εἴη αὐτῷ πορεύεσθαι ἢ μένειν, “whether it was better for him to go or stay.” XEN. An. iii. 1, 7. But in XEN. Vect. vi. 2 we have ἐπερέσθαι τοὺς θεοὺς εἰ λῷον καὶ ἄμεινον εἴη ἂν τῇ πόλει οὕτω κατασκευαζομένῃ, whether it would be better for the state, supposing it to be thus constituted; the difference between this and better for the state to be thus constituted (οὕτω κατασκευάζεσθαι) being practically very slight.

8. It is more than doubtful whether λανθάνω, τυγχάνω, and φθάνω (887) ever have the infinitive in classic Greek. The passages formerly cited for this are now generally emended, or the readings are doubted: thus, in PLAT. Rep. 333 E, λαθεῖν ἐμποιῆσαι must be for λαθεῖν ἐμποιήσας (Schneider), and in AR. Eq. 935, φθαίης ἐλθεῖν, and AR. Nub. 1384, “οὐκ ἔφθης φράσαι” , Meineke reads ἐλθών and φράσας. See Classen on THUC. iii. 82, ὁ φθάσας θαρσῆσαι (?).