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Prepositions with the genitive: concession
studieniveau:
3
καὶ Κερκυραίους τούσδε μήτε ξυμμάχους δέχεσθε βίᾳ ἡμῶν.
‘Do not accept the Corcyrians as your allies against our will.’ (Thuc. 1.43.3)
The (‘false’) prepositions βίᾳ and πρὸς βίαν signal a concession.
Frequency
These prepositions, if they can be called prepositions in the first place, do not occur frequently. Greek tends to prefer an embedded construction.
Example Sentences:
- ὁ Πηλεὺς δ’ ἔσχε Νηρέως κόρην.
- θεοῦ διδόντος, ἢ βίᾳ θεῶν λαβών;
And Peleus married the daughter of Nereus. - After the god had granted her, or after he had taken her in spite of the gods?
τῷ δὲ τοὺς ὑπὸ τῇ Καδμείᾳ τελευτήσαντας βίᾳ Θηβαίων θάψαι παρέδωκε
And the Thebans notwithstanding he delivered the bodies of those who had died beneath the city of Cadmus to him (= Adrastus).