Lysias 24, 12 wrote:καίτοι πῶς οὐκ ἄτοπόν ἐστιν, ὦ βουλή, τοῦτον ἄν,1 εἰ μὲν ἐπ᾽ ἀστράβης ὀχούμενον ἑώρα με, σιωπᾶν (τί γὰρ ἂν καὶ ἔλεγεν;), ὅτι δ᾽ ἐπὶ τοὺς ᾐτημένους ἵππους ἀναβαίνω, πειρᾶσθαι πείθειν ὑμᾶς ὡς δυνατός εἰμι2; καὶ ὅτι μὲν δυοῖν βακτηρίαιν χρῶμαι, τῶν ἄλλων μιᾷ χρωμένων, μὴ κατηγορεῖν ὡς καὶ τοῦτο τῶν δυναμένων ἐστιν: ὅτι δ᾽ ἐπὶ τοὺς ἵππους ἀναβαίνω, τεκμηρίῳ χρῆσθαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς ὡς εἰμὶ τῶν δυναμένων; οἷς ἐγώ διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν αἰτίαν ἀμφοτέροις χρῶμαι.
This is like a pre-fabricated house after it has been lifted off the semi-trailer, before it has been fastened together.Wes Wood, (Lysias 24, 12) wrote:And indeed thus is it not out of place, O Council, if indeed this [man] keeps silent seeing me sitting on a mule’s saddle? (For what else was he saying?) But because I ride horses by begging, he is trying to persuade you that I am well; and because indeed I need two walking sticks, when others need one, but this is not taken as a sign of one who is healthy, is it?: but because I ride on horses, do I give you a sure sign that I am one who is well? But I need either of them because of the same cause.
Look at these points and then decide if you would like to re-work Section 12
- There is one question extending from καίτοι to δυνατός εἰμι; You need to work the two parts together.
- ἄτοπόν is stronger more like "wrong", than "odd" as the etymologised "out of place" might suggest.
- ᾐτημένους - begged for, requested (from others). "which people only be-grudgingly let me ride". It is less than a gift.
- ὅτι could perhaps be taken as "that because" if you are having trouble joining things up at that point.
- κατηγορεῖν ὡς - to make the accusation that, to use ... (what comes after the ὡς) during the process of making an accusation.
- τεκμηρίῳ χρῆσθαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς ὡς εἰμὶ τῶν δυναμένων; The εἰμὶ is after the conjunctive ὡς so it is probably not the same person that χρῆσθαι refers to. If it's "Wow, that's just like English" time, then chances are there is a fudge (unscholarly simplification that happens to seem correct) or it is wrong. If you feel yourself suddenly going from highly logical analytic construction straight to a heart-felt ease, it is time to wonder if it was "too" easy.
- ἀμφοτέροις - means both, is that how you understand it?