Re: κήρυκας ὑποστρωννύμενοι
Posted: July 23rd, 2015, 7:24 am
Thanks very much, Carl. I certainly could swallow it, but it would also be nice to have some usage (apart from this case) to demonstrate the meaning of 'lie down on'.
It has been suggested to me that what Wallace [Exegetical Syntax 425ff] calls the permissive middle might be relevant here - something like 'they allowed sharp shells to be spread under them'. Polycarp himself is I think (I am only up to section 7 so far) depicted as neither volunteering nor resisting his martyrdom, especially after his vision which convinced him that it was the will of God for him to suffer, and perhaps one could almost go so far as to say that he cooperated in the process once it was underway. Might this be a way of looking at it?
Andrew
It has been suggested to me that what Wallace [Exegetical Syntax 425ff] calls the permissive middle might be relevant here - something like 'they allowed sharp shells to be spread under them'. Polycarp himself is I think (I am only up to section 7 so far) depicted as neither volunteering nor resisting his martyrdom, especially after his vision which convinced him that it was the will of God for him to suffer, and perhaps one could almost go so far as to say that he cooperated in the process once it was underway. Might this be a way of looking at it?
Andrew