Verses 29-31 are a string of phrases, all in apposition to the acc. plural
pronoun AUTOUS, the object of PAAREDWKEN in verse 28.
In 29 we have three groups of such appositives (all in the acc. pl.):
(a) PEPLHRWMENOUS (pf. pass. ptc.) which is qualified by 5 datives:
PASHi ADIKIAi, PORNEIAi, PONHRIAi, PLEONEXIAi, KAKIAi
(b) MESTOUS (adjective) taking 4 genitive complements:
FQONOU, ERIDOS, DOLOU, KAKOHQEIAS
(c) YIQURISTAS, an acc. pl. noun--which is followed by several others
in verse 30
It must be remembered that these verse divisions are quite arbitrary
(perhaps constituting one line in the MS of the one making the divisions)
and quite often are a positive hindrance to understanding the logical and
syntactic sequence of the Greek. There's really nothing very extraordinary
about the grammar of this sequence, although one might note the rhetorical
asyndeton--the absence of conjunctions between the elements that are thus
strung together. In fact, this rather reminds me of a couple hexameter
lines of reproaches flung out at the person addressed:
The Muses to Hesiod: POIMENES AGRAULOI, KAK' ELEGXEA, GASTERES OION
("Hick herdsmen, foul contemptible things, merely bellies")
and Achilles to Agamemnon: KERDALEON, KUNOS OMMAT' ECWN, KRADIHN D'ELAFOIO
("greedy, with eyes of a bitch and heart of a deer")
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/