I'm trying to understand the aspectual character of the verbs in this short narrative passage i.e. which tenses Matthew uses and why. I'm employing the terminology used in Chapter 33 of the Cambridge Grammar of Classical Greek (CGCG) which I'm currently working through. I'd appreciate some feedback from the experts here on whether I'm correctly understanding the tense-aspect choices in this passage.
1. κεκρυμμένῳ - perfect tense is used to emphasis the present state of the treasure (hidden in a field).
2. εὑρὼν and ἔκρυψεν - aorist tense is used to describe events (finding and hiding the treasure) without focusing on how or when it was found/hidden (perfective aspect). The aorist tense is also chosen to set the stage for the story.
3. ὑπάγει and ἀγοράζει - present tense (historical present) is used here to highlight the decisive/crucial event of the story (goes away and sells everything he owns to buy the field where the treasure is hidden). What still puzzles me is that CGCG says that historical present occurs nearly exclusively with telic verbs, and ὑπάγω would seem to me to be atelic (?)
4. ζητοῦντι - present tense (historical present - imperfective aspect) presents the action (seeking the mother of all pearls) as incomplete i.e. the reader imagines a man seeking and seeking...
5. εὑρὼν and ἀπελθὼν - aorist tense is used to describe events (finding and going away) as simple events without any details (perfective aspect).
6. πέπρακεν - perfect tense. Could it be that perfect tense is used here to highlight the state (of the man) resulting from the action (his selling everything he owns) i.e. dead-broke and homeless (but owning the mother of all pearls)?
7. εἶχεν - imperfect tense (imperfective aspect) aligns with present tense of ζητοῦντι earlier i.e. to describe the man's situation (he owned lots of stuff) before he found/bought the pearl.
8. ἠγόρασεν - aorist tense is used to describe event (buying the pearl) without focusing the details of the transaction (perfective aspect).
Am I getting it here or not? Thanks
