Ascemata Hellenica 1 ἅτε + participle (Patreon)

Welcome to a new series on Patreon: Ἀσκήματα Ἑλληνικά, Greek Exercises, which are exercises I am making for myself to improve my automaticity and fluency.  Feel free to use them as a model for your own practice! Write your own examples based on the formula and leave them in the comments below.

The Ancient Greek usage of ἅτε + participle means either, “inasmuch as, seeing that” ( https://logeion.uchicago.edu/ἅτε ) — which is all well and good, but I want to make this an active part of my spoken Ancient Greek, especially because it’s used more than thousands of times across the literature.

I’ve copied and pasted a number of examples below with translations from Loeb.

In essence, this expression can be equivalent to “since,” “because,” and the like:

Ἐπειδὴ στρατιώτης ἐστίν,   ἀεὶ ἐγείρεται ὄρθρου.

= Ἅτε στρατιώτης ὢν   ἀεὶ ἐγείρεται ὄρθρου.

Since / Seeing that he is a soldier, he always wakes up before dawn.

So it’s comparable to ἐπεί/ἐπειδή, but in this scenario requires the subject of the main verb to be the same as that of the participle.  (It’s possible for these not to concord, but then a genitive absolute is needed, q.v. īnfrā).

MY EXERCISES

Ἅτε τὸ φθῑνόπωρον φιλοῦσα   τὸν οἶκον ἤδη πίμπλησι κολοκυνθῶν.

Οἴκοι μενοῦμεν ἐπὶ δείπνωι   ἅτε τὴν τροφὴν σκευάσαντες αὐτοί.

Ἅτε ἐρύθημα ἐπὶ χειρὶ ἔχων   ψωριῶ συνεχῶς.

Καίπερ οὐχ ὑγιεινὰ ὄντα   τὰ τραγήματα ὅλην τὴν ἡμέρᾱν ἔτρωγον  ἅτε πεινῶν.

Ἅτε κοπιά̄σᾱσα   ἔκειτο χαμαὶ ἡ κύων   φῡσῶσα.

Ἐξῆλθον ὡς τὰ ὀρνί̄θια ὀψόμενος   καὶ ἅτε πάντων ἐπὶ τῶν κλάδων ἀκρᾱτίζεσθαι ἐθελόντων   τὰ φαδνίδια ἐπέθηκα.

Ἀεὶ τὸ κάλλος τὸ τῶν πετρῶν θαυμάζω   ἅτε γεωλόγος ὤν.

Ἅτε στρατεύσᾱς   τρέχειν φιλῶ.

***

ACHILLES TATIUS, Leucippe and Clitophon 1.2

Ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ τἆλλα μὲν ἐπῄνουν τῆς γραφῆς, ἅτε δὲ ὢν ἐρωτικὸς περιεργότερον ἔβλεπον τὸν ἄγοντα τὸν βοῦν Ἔρωτα...

I was admiring the whole of the picture, but—a lover myself—paid particular attention to that part of it where Eros was leading the bull...

ACHILLES TATIUS, Leucippe and Clitophon 5.2

Λῃστήριον ὁμοτέχνων συγκροτήσᾱς, ἅτε θαλάσσιος ὢν ἄνθρωπος...

Being himself a sea-faring man, he got together a pirate-band of fellows of his own sort...

ARISTOTLE, History of Animals 598b

Καὶ ὁ γόνος δὲ τότε μῑκρὸς ἁλίσκεται περὶ Βυζάντιον ἅτε οὐ γενομένης ἐν τῷ Πόντῳ πολλῆς διατριβῆς.

Further, the young which are caught then off Byzantium are small, as having not spent long in the Pontus.

DIO CASSIUS, Roman History 44.21.4

Οὔτε γὰρ τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ ἔργου ἅτε μηδἓν αὐτοῦ προσκοινωνήσαντες ἔλαβον.

Nor they did not secure any reputation for the deed, because they had not had a hand in it in any way.

EPICTETUS, Discourses 1.1

Ἅτε οὖν πολλοῖς προσδεδεμένοι βαρούμεθα ὑπ’ αὐτῶν καὶ καθελκόμεθα.

Wherefore, being tied fast to many things, we are burdened and dragged down by them.

GALEN, Hygiene 1.43K

Ἅτε γὰρ οὐδέπω λόγῳ χρώμενα [τὰ μῑκρὰ παιδία] τῷ κλαίειν τε καὶ κεκραγέναι καὶ θυμοῦσθαι καὶ κινεῖν ἀτάκτως ἑαυτὰ διασημαίνει τὴν ἀνίαν.

Inasmuch as they [the little children] do not yet have the use of speech, they show their distress by crying, calling out, becoming restive, and moving themselves in a disorderly fashion.

LUCIAN, Menippus, or The Descent into Hades 11

Καὶ σφόδρα τινὲς ἀξιόπιστοι δοκοῦσιν ἅτε ἀεὶ συνοῦσαι καὶ μηδέποτε ἀφιστάμεναι τῶν σωμάτων.

And they are considered very trustworthy because they always keep us company and never leave our bodies.

PLATO, Charmides 169c

Ἅτε οὖν εὐδοκιμῶν ἑκάστοτε, ᾐσχύνετο τοὺς παρόντας, καὶ οὔτε συγχωρῆσαί μοι ἤθελεν ἀδύνατος εἶναι διελέσθαι ἃ προὐκαλούμην αὐτόν...

And so, since he usually contrived to distinguish himself, he was too ashamed to bring himself to admit to me before the company that he was unable to determine the questions with which I challenged him

XENOPHON OF ATHENS, Anabasis 6.3.3

Καὶ ἅτε ἐξαίφνης ἐπιπεσόντες, ἀνδράποδά τε πολλὰ ἔλαβον καὶ πρόβατα πολλὰ περιεβάλοντο.

And since their onset was unexpected, they took many captives and secured a large number of sheep.

XENOPHON OF ATHENS, Anabasis 4.8.27

Πολλοὶ γὰρ κατέβησαν καὶ ἅτε θεωμένων τῶν ἑταίρων πολλὴ φιλονῑκίᾱ ἐγίγνετο.

For there were a great many entries and, inasmuch as the comrades of the contestants were looking on, there was a great deal of rivalry.