Political theory thrived in fourth-century BCE Greece. While the political writings of Plato and Aristotle are more often read and studied today, Isocrates was also an influential and respected intellectual on political thought at the time. Among Isocrates’ writings is an open letter to Nicocles, then the ruler of the island of Cyprus. The letter offers general principles for training a king. In this section, he focuses on preparing a king mentally.

At the Last Supper, a dispute about greatness:

Exercises 36.1 Please provide the comparative and superlative nominative singulars for each of the following positive adjectives. Each is formed regularly, i.e., the comparatives are formed by adding -τερος, -τερα, -τερον, and the superlatives are formed by adding -τατος, -τατη, -τατον.

Plato’s dialogue Phaedo provides an account of the last day of Socrates’ life. It begins with a man named Echecrates, a Pythagorean who has been exiled from Italy and is now in the Greek city of Phlius. He meets Phaedo and asks for information about Socrates’ final hours. Echecrates has just explained that in Phlius they have heard very little about how it all happened:

ΦΑΙΔΩΝ

Οὐδὲ τὰ περὶ τῆς δίκης ἄρα ἐπύθεσθε ὃν τρόπον ἐγένετο;

ΕΧΕΚΡΑΤΗΣ

In Jerusalem, the Apostles have been arrested for preaching in Jesus’ name. At the trial, a Pharisee lawyer sounds a note of caution about executing them, and gives examples of similar cases in the past:

Exercises 35.1 Conjugate in full the following verbs in the imperfect AND aorist middle.

1. αἰσθάνομαι, αἰσθήσομαι, ᾐσθόμην
2. γίγνομαι, γενήσομαι, ἐγενόμην
3. ἡγέομαι, ἡγήσομαι, ἡγησάμην
4. κτάομαι, κτήσομαι, ἐκτησάμην
5. δίδωμι, δώσω, ἔδωκα
6. τίθημι, θήσω, ἔθηκα

Exercises 35.2 The following verb forms are all aorist active. For each: