On Jun 22, 11:59 pm, Thesaurus <
thesau...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Why is "ἔγνωκας" in the perfect tense? Is it just because the act of
> learning has already been completed?
>
> Also, I thought the stickiest part was "οσοῦτον σὺ ἐμοῦ σοφώτερος εἶ
> τηλικούτου ὄντος τηλικόσδε ὤν". In regards to "τηλικούτου ὄντος" is
> this the genitive of respect in terms of the comparative "σοφώτερος"?
> 'So much wiser than me in regards to age'.
1. ἔγνωκας is perfect because, as you guessed, the knowledge has
already been acquired. It's easier to notice the distinction if you
translate it as "have learned" rather "understood".
2. τηλικούτου is a genitive of comparison used with the comparative
adjective σοφώτερος, taken with the pronoun ἐμοῦ. Taken literally and
very liberally, the first part of the sentence might read, "Are you,
being at such an age as this, so much wiser than myself, being at such
an age as this, that you have learned that..."
What I neglected to include with the footnote is that Socrates is
using a rhetorical device called chiasm, where the participial phrases
τηλικούτου ὄντος and τηλικόσδε ὤν come in reverse order compared to
the personal pronouns σὺ and ἐμοῦ, creating an a-b-b-a structure. I
don't really understand it myself, so I didn't think to include it.