| 20. Linguistic Exegesis The clause opens with the articular participle construction ho homosas {ὁ ὀμόσας | ho omósas} ‘the one who has sworn,’ which functions substantivally to describe a generic person. The discourse particle oun {οὖν | oûn} ‘therefore’ connects this statement inferentially to the preceding argument about oaths. The prepositional phrase en to thysiasterio {ἐν τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ | en tō thysiastēríō} ‘by the altar’ specifies the object or sphere with respect to which the oath is made. The finite verb omnuei {ὀμνύει | omnúei} ‘swears’ supplies the main predicate, so that the articular participle and verb together form a general legal principle: whoever does this kind of swearing is in fact doing something further. The repetition of en {ἐν | en} ‘in, by’ in en auto {ἐν αὐτῷ | en autṓ} and again in en pasi tois ep autou {ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῦ | en pâsi toîs ep autoû} creates a rhythmic, parallel structure that extends the scope of the oath from the altar itself to everything associated with it. The dative plural pasi with the article tois and the prepositional phrase ep autou ‘on it’ presents the altar’s contents as an inseparable whole with the altar. In translation, the articular participle is rendered as “the one who swears” or “anyone who makes an oath” to preserve its generic, inclusive force, and the repeated preposition en is consistently rendered as “by” to maintain the idea that the entire sphere of the altar and all that is on it is implicated in the oath. |