7. Verbal Adjectives in -τέος and -τέον

Chapter VII Verbal Adjectives in -τέοςand -τέον

[*] 920. The verbal in -τέος is used in both a personal and an impersonal construction.

[*] 921. In the personal construction, the verbal is always passive in sense. It expresses necessity (like the Latin participle in -dus and agrees with its subject in case. This construction is, of course, restricted to transitive verbs. E.g.

“Ὠφελητέασοι ἡ πόλις ἐστί,” “the city must be benefited by you.” XEN. Mem. iii. 6, 3

“Ἄλλας（ναῦς） ἐκτῶνξυμμάχωνμεταπεμπτέαςεἶναι（ἔφη）,” “he said that others must be sent for.” THUC. vi. 25

“Οὐ γὰρπρὸ τῆς ἀληθείαςτιμητέος ἀνήρ” “a man must not be honoured before the truth” PLAT. Rep. 595C.

“Ὁμοίαςφησὶν ἁπάσαςεἶναικαὶ τιμητέας ἐχ ἴσου” Ib. 561C.

“Φράζοντες ὡςοὔ σφιπεριοπτέη ἐστὶ ἡ Ἑλλὰς ἀπολλυμένη.” HDT. vii.168.

[*] 922. The substantive denoting the agent is here in the dative. εἰμί is often omitted.

[*] 923. In the impersonal construction (which is the more common), the verbal is in the neuter of the nominative singular (sometimes plural), with ἐστί expressed or understood. The expression is equivalent to δεῖ, (one) must, with the infinitive active or middle of the verb to which the verbal belongs. This contruction is practically active in sense, and allows transitive verbals to have an object in the same case which would follow their verbs. The agent is generally expressed by the dative, sometimes by the accusative. E.g.

Ταῦτα ἡμῖν ῾ορ ἡμᾶς） ποιητέον ἐστί, we must do this, equivalent to ταῦτα ἡμὰς δεῖ ποιῆσαι.

“Οἰστέοντάδε” “we must bear these things” EUR. Or. 769

“Πειστέοντάδε ῾σξ. σοί）,” “you must obey in this (=dei= pei/qesqai）.” SOPH. Ph. 994

“Ἀπαλλακτέοναὐτοῦ （τοῦ σώματος）, καὶ αὐτῇ τῇ ψυχῇ θεατέοναὐτὰ τὰ πράγματα ῟ δεῖ ἀπαλλάττεσθαιαὐτοῦ, καὶ τῇ ψυχῇ θεᾶσθαιτὰ πράγματα）,” “we must free ourselves from it (the body), and with the soul itself we must contemplate things themselves.” PLAT. Phaed. 66 E.

“Φημὶ δὴ διχῇ βοηθητέονεἶναιτοῖςπράγμασισν ὑμῖν,” “I say that you must give assistance in two ways.” DEM. i.17.

“Τί ἂναὐτῷ ποιητέονεἴη;” “what would he be obliged to do?” XEN. Mem. 1.7,2

“Ἐψηφίσαντοπολεμητέαεἶναι（῀ δεῖνπολεμεῖν）,” “they voted that they must go to war” THUC. i. 88.

“Τῆνχώραν, ἐξ ἧςαὐτοῖς ὁρμωμένοιςπολεμητέα ἦν.” Id. vi. 50.

“Οὔτεμισθοφορητέον ἄλλους ἢ τοὺςστρατευομένους, οὔτεμεθεκτέοντῶνπραγμάτωνπλείοσιν ἢ πεντακισχιλίοις.” Id. viii. 65 (Here both the accusative and the dative of the agent are found: see 926.)

“Ἡμῖνδὲ ξύμμαχοι ἀγαθοὶ, οὓςοὐ παραδοτέατοῖς ᾿αθηναίοις ἐστὶν, οὐδὲ δίκαιςκαὶ λόγοιςδιακριτέαμὴ λόγῳ καὶ （ἡμᾶς）αὐτοὶςβλαπτομένους, ἀλλὰ τιμωρητέα ἐντάχεικαὶ παντὶ σθένει（ ῀ οὓςοὐ δεῖ ἡμᾶςπαραδοῦναλ, κ. τ. λ.᾿.” Id. i. 86

“Ιτέον ἂνει0´ηθεασομένους ῾σξ. ἡμᾶς）,” “it would be best for us to go and see her.” XEN. Mem. iii. 11,1

“Ὀὐδενὶ τρόπῳ φαμὲν ἑκόντας ἀδικητέονεἶναι.” PLAT. Crit. 49 A.

“Ἀτὰροὐ jυναικῶνοὐδέποτ᾽ ἔσθ᾽ ἡττητ́εα ἡμῖν ῟ οὐ jυναικῶνδεῖ ἡττᾶσθαι）,” “but we must never be beaten by women.” AR. Lys. 450 So SOPH. Ant. 678 It will be seen that this construction admits verbals of both transitive and intransitive verbs.

[*] 924. The Latin participle in -dus is used in the same personal construction as the Greek verbal in -τέος; as epistula scribenda est, ἐπιστόληγραπτέα ἐστίν, a letter must be written. The impersonal construction is found in Latin, but generally only with verbs which do not take an object accusative, as Eundum est tibi (ἰτέον ἐστίσοι), — Moriendum est omnibus. — Bello utendum est nobis (τῷ πολέμῳ χρηστέον ἐστὶν ἡμῖν), we must employ war See Madvig’s Latin Grammar, § 421.

Occasionally the earlier Latin uses even the object accusative, like the Greek, as “Aeternas quoniam poenas in morte timendum est,” LUCR. i.112

[*] 925. A sentence sometimes begins with an impersonal verbal in -τέον and is continued with an infinitive, the latter depending on δεῖ implied in the verbal. E.g.

“Πανταχοῦ ποιητέον ἃ ἄνκελεύῃ ἡ πόλιςκαὶ ἡ πατρὶς, ἢ πείθειναὐτήν.” PLAT. Crit. 51 B.

[*] 926. The dative and the accusative of the agent are both allowed with the verbal in -τέον (or -τέα), although the equivalent δεῖ with the infinitive has only the accusative. Thus we can say τοῦτο ἡμῖνποιητέον or τοῦτο ἡμᾶςποιητέον, but only τοῦτο ἡμᾶςδεῖ ποιεῖν.