| 21. Linguistic Exegesis The sentence opens with the coordinated nominative subject group Athenaioi de pantes kai hoi epidemountes xenoi {Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ πάντες καὶ οἱ ἐπιδημοῦντες ξένοι | Athē-naî-oi de pán-tes kaí hoi e-pi-dē-moûn-tes xé-noi}, combining the local citizens and the resident foreigners. The postpositive particle de marks a mild transition from the previous narrative. The prepositional phrase eis ouden heteron {εἰς οὐδὲν ἕτερον | eis ou-dén hé-te-ron} precedes the verb for emphasis, highlighting that their activity was directed “toward nothing else.” The imperfect eukairoun {ηὐκαίρουν | ēu-kai-roun} portrays a continual or habitual practice rather than a single event. This main verb governs a pair of complementary infinitives introduced by the exceptive particle e {ἢ | ē}: e legein ti e akouein ti kainoteron {ἢ λέγειν τι ἢ ἀκούειν τι καινότερον | ē lé-gein ti ē a-koú-ein ti kai-nó-te-ron}. The repetition of e with parallel infinitives legein and akouein, each followed by the indefinite pronoun ti, creates a balanced structure that underscores both speech and listening as their shared preoccupation. The placement of kainoteron at the end gives climactic focus to “something newer,” capturing the cultural bent toward novelty. In English, the habitual aspect of eukairoun is represented with “were spending their time” and “would do nothing with their time,” while the coordinated infinitives are rendered as “to tell … or to hear” and “talk … or listen,” preserving the parallelism and the sense of an exclusive focus on new ideas. |