The aim of this article is to account for the eight Historic Present (HP) forms in Demosthenes’ De corona. The starting point is the theory of Sicking & Stork (1997, 165): “The primary function of HP is to lift out from their context those narrative assertions that are essential for what the speaker has stated to be his immediate concern”. It is argued that this approach yields a convincing interpretation of (a) the five HP forms in the narrative of the Amphissian war (141-59), and (b) the three HP forms in 17-52, divided over several small narratives. Finally, it is argued that considerations of presentation and pragmatics help to explain why HP is used only in those parts of the speech where Demosthenes does not so much discuss his own policies as show that Aeschines is to blame for the current situation in Greece.
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Allan R.J. Allan R.J. & Buijs M. Sense and Sentence Complexity: Sentence Structure, Sentence Connection, and Tense-Aspect as Indicators of Narrative Mode in Thucydides’ Histories The Language of Literature: Linguistic Approaches to Classical Texts 2007 Leiden 93 121
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Rijksbaron A. de Jong I.J.F. & Rijksbaron A. On False Historic Presents in Sophocles (and Euripides) Sophocles and the Greek Language. Aspects of Diction, Syntax and Pragmatics 2006 Leiden 127 149
Sicking C.M.J. & Stork P. Two Studies in the Semantics of the Verb in Classical Greek 1996 Leiden
Sicking C.M.J. & Stork P. Bakker E.J. The Grammar of the So-Called ‘Historic Present’ in Ancient Greek Grammar as Interpretation. Greek Literature in its Linguistic Contexts 1997 Leiden 131 168
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Usher S. Greek Orators Demosthenes, On the Crown (De corona) 1993 V Warminster
Vince C.A. & Vince J.H. Demosthenes, De corona and De falsa legatione 1926 London/New York
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Cf. de Jong 1991, 39 and Rijksbaron 2006, 129.
Harris 1995, 128.
Harris 1995, 129.
Thus Yunis 2001, ad loc.; Wankel (1976) is less sure.
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The aim of this article is to account for the eight Historic Present (HP) forms in Demosthenes’ De corona. The starting point is the theory of Sicking & Stork (1997, 165): “The primary function of HP is to lift out from their context those narrative assertions that are essential for what the speaker has stated to be his immediate concern”. It is argued that this approach yields a convincing interpretation of (a) the five HP forms in the narrative of the Amphissian war (141-59), and (b) the three HP forms in 17-52, divided over several small narratives. Finally, it is argued that considerations of presentation and pragmatics help to explain why HP is used only in those parts of the speech where Demosthenes does not so much discuss his own policies as show that Aeschines is to blame for the current situation in Greece.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 393 | 33 | 4 |
Full Text Views | 111 | 0 | 0 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 45 | 1 | 0 |