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2533. Inverse Attraction.—An antecedent nominative or (oftener) accusative may be attracted to the case of the relative. The attracted antecedent is often prefixed for emphasis to the relative clause, which thus separates it from the verb it governs or by which it is governed. Cp. urbem quam statuo vestra est, and “Him (= he whom) I accuse, By this, the city ports hath enter'd” (Shakespeare), where the antecedent is attracted into the case of the (omitted) relative.

τά_σδε (for αἵδε) ““δ᾽ ἅ_σπερ εἰσορᾷς . . . χωροῦσιbut the women whom thou seest are comingS. Tr. 283, πολι_τεία_ν (for πολι_τεία_) οἵα_ν εἶναι χρή παρὰ μόνοις ἡμῖν ἐστιν we alone have an ideal constitution (lit. such as ought to be) I. 6.48, ἔλεγον ὅτι Λακεδαιμόνιοι ὧν δέονται πάντων (for πάντα) ““πεπρα_γότες εἶενthey said that the Lacedaemonians had gained all they asked forX. H. 1.4.2.

a. The main clause may contain a resumptive demonstrative pronoun; as ““τὸν ἄνδρα τοῦτον, δ̀ν πάλαι ζητεῖς . . ., οὗτός ἐστιν ἐνθάδεthis man whom you have long been searching for, this man is hereS. O. T. 449.

b. The rare cases of the inverse attraction of the dative are suspected or admit another explanation (E. Med. 12, S. El. 653, X. Hi. 7.2).

c. So with adverbs: καὶ ἄλλοσε (for ἄλλοθι) ὅποι ἂν ἀφίκῃ ἀγαπήσουσί δε and elsewhere, wherever you go, they will love you P. Cr. 45c.

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  • Cross-references to this page (1):
    • Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 3.2.3
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