ζῆν

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 ζῆν

   zên

   to live
2. sentence🔊 ὡς δὲ εἶδον οἱ βάρβαροι κρεμάμενον τὸ θηρίον ἐκ τῆς χειρὸς αὐτοῦ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἔλεγον Πάντως φονεύς ἐστιν ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὗτος ὃν διασωθέντα ἐκ τῆς θαλάσσης ἡ δίκη ζῆν οὐκ εἴασεν

   hôs de EI-don hoi BAR-ba-roi kre-MA-me-non to thê-RI-on ek tês khei-ROS au-TOU pros al-LÊ-lous E-le-gon PAN-tôs pho-NEUS es-TIN ho AN-thrô-pos HOU-tos hon di-a-sô-THEN-ta ek tês tha-LAS-sês hê DI-kê zên ouk EI-a-sen

   when but they saw the native people hanging the creature from the hand of him to one another they were saying certainly a murderer is the man this whom having been saved from the sea the Justice to live not allowed

Exegesis

The subject hē dikē {ἡ δίκη | hē dí-kē} ‘Justice’ is personified and functions almost as a proper name, with the verb eiasen {εἴασεν | eí-a-sen} ‘allowed’ governing the infinitive zen {ζῆν | zên} ‘to live’ in a construction that, negated by ouk {οὐκ | ouk}, yields the sense “did not allow to live.” In translation, the temporal and connective particles are rendered with natural narrative links (“when,” “but”), the imperfect dialogue verb is conveyed by a past description of their speaking together, and the personified hē dikē is capitalized as “Justice” to convey the islanders’ belief in an active force of retributive justice.