Chapter VII
Verbal Adjectives in -τέος and -τέον
[*] 920.
The verbal in
-τέος is used in both a personal and an impersonal
construction.
[*] 921.
In the personal construction, the verbal is always passive in
sense. It expresses
necessity (like the
Latin participle in
-dus
and agrees with its subject in case. This construction is, of course,
restricted to transitive verbs. E.g.
[*] 922.
The substantive denoting the agent is here in the dative.
εἰμί is often
omitted.
[*] 923.
In the impersonal construction (which is the more common),
the verbal is in the neuter of the nominative singular (sometimes
plural), with
ἐστί
expressed or understood. The expression is equivalent to
δεῖ,
(one) must, with the infinitive active or
middle of the verb to which the verbal belongs.
This contruction is practically active in sense, and allows
transitive verbals to have an object in the same case which would follow
their verbs. The agent is generally expressed by the dative, sometimes
by the accusative. E.g.
- Ταῦτα
ἡμῖν ῾ορ ἡμᾶς)
ποιητέον ἐστί,
we must do this, equivalent
to ταῦτα ἡμὰς δεῖ
ποιῆσαι.
-
“Οἰστέον τάδε”
“we must bear these things”
EUR.
Or. 769
-
“Πειστέον τάδε ῾σξ. σοί),”
“you must obey in this (=dei=
pei/qesqai).”
SOPH.
Ph. 994
-
“Ἀπαλλακτέον αὐτοῦ
(τοῦ σώματος), καὶ αὐτῇ τῇ ψυχῇ
θεατέον αὐτὰ τὰ πράγματα ῟
δεῖ
ἀπαλλάττεσθαι αὐτοῦ, καὶ τῇ ψυχῇ
θεᾶσθαι τὰ πράγματα),”
“we must free ourselves from it (the
body), and with the soul itself we must contemplate
things themselves.”
PLAT.
Phaed. 66 E.
-
“Φημὶ δὴ διχῇ
βοηθητέον εἶναι τοῖς πράγμασισν ὑμῖν,”
“I say that you must give assistance
in two ways.”
DEM.
i.17.
-
“Τί ἂν αὐτῷ ποιητέον εἴη;”
“what would he be obliged to do?”
XEN.
Mem. 1.7,2
-
“Ἐψηφίσαντο πολεμητέα εἶναι (῀
δεῖν πολεμεῖν),”
“they voted that they must go to war”
THUC. i.
88.
-
“Τῆν χώραν, ἐξ ἧς
αὐτοῖς ὁρμωμένοις πολεμητέα ἦν.”
Id. vi.
50.
-
“Οὔτε μισθοφορητέον ἄλλους ἢ
τοὺς στρατευομένους, οὔτε μεθεκτέον τῶν πραγμάτων πλείοσιν ἢ
πεντακισχιλίοις.”
Id. viii.
65
(Here both the accusative and the dative of the agent are
found: see 926.)
-
“Ἡμῖν δὲ ξύμμαχοι
ἀγαθοὶ, οὓς οὐ
παραδοτέα τοῖς ᾿αθηναίοις ἐστὶν, οὐδὲ
δίκαις καὶ λόγοις διακριτέα μὴ λόγῳ καὶ (ἡμᾶς)
αὐτοὶς βλαπτομένους,
ἀλλὰ τιμωρητέα ἐν τάχει
καὶ παντὶ σθένει ( ῀ οὓς οὐ δεῖ ἡμᾶς
παραδοῦναλ, κ. τ. λ.᾿.”
Id. i.
86
-
“Ιτέον ἂν ει0´η θεασομένους ῾σξ. ἡμᾶς),”
“it would be best for us to
go and see her.”
XEN.
Mem. iii. 11,1
-
“Ὀὐδενὶ τρόπῳ
φαμὲν ἑκόντας ἀδικητέον
εἶναι.”
PLAT.
Crit. 49 A.
-
“Ἀτὰρ οὐ jυναικῶν
οὐδέποτ᾽ ἔσθ᾽ ἡττητ́εα
ἡμῖν ῟ οὐ jυναικῶν δεῖ ἡττᾶσθαι),”
“but we must never be beaten
by women.”
AR.
Lys. 450
So
SOPH.
Ant. 678
It will be seen that this construction admits verbals of both
transitive and intransitive verbs.
[*] 924.
The Latin participle in
-dus is used in the same personal construction as the
Greek verbal in
-τέος; as
epistula
scribenda est,
ἐπιστόλη γραπτέα ἐστίν,
a
letter must be written.
The impersonal construction is found in Latin, but generally
only with verbs which do not take an object accusative, as
Eundum est tibi (
ἰτέον ἐστί σοι), —
Moriendum est omnibus.
—
Bello utendum est
nobis (
τῷ πολέμῳ
χρηστέον ἐστὶν ἡμῖν),
we must
employ war See Madvig's
Latin
Grammar, § 421.
Occasionally the earlier Latin uses even the object
accusative, like the Greek, as
“
Aeternas quoniam poenas in morte timendum est,”
LUCR. i.112
[*] 925.
A sentence sometimes begins with an impersonal verbal in
-τέον and is
continued with an infinitive, the latter depending on
δεῖ implied in the verbal.
E.g.
“
Πανταχοῦ ποιητέον ἃ ἄν κελεύῃ ἡ πόλις καὶ ἡ
πατρὶς, ἢ πείθειν αὐτήν.”
PLAT. Crit.
51 B.
[*] 926.
The dative and the accusative of the
agent are both allowed with the verbal in
-τέον (or
-τέα), although the
equivalent
δεῖ with
the infinitive has only the accusative. Thus we can say
τοῦτο ἡμῖν ποιητέον or
τοῦτο ἡμᾶς
ποιητέον, but only
τοῦτο ἡμᾶς δεῖ
ποιεῖν.