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Συλλαβεῖν has a two-fold usage in ancient writers; for the meaning is different according to the different construction.[1] If the syntax involves the accusative, it shows the enmity and hostility of the person who seizes, the wickedness of the one who is seized, as in current usage, "to seize" the man. Also Demosthenes in the [speech] Against Meidias [writes]: "will we not seize him?".[2] If the dative, it indicates friendship and alliance, as Isocrates [shows] in the Counsels: "I see fortune too assisting us".[3] The equivalent of saying "striving in concert with". He adds, at any rate, [the phrase] "the present moment too is striving in concert [with us]". Also Demosthenes in Philippics 1.[4]

Ξυλλαβεῖν: διττή ἐστιν ἡ χρῆσις τοῦ συλλαβεῖν παρὰ τοῖς ἀρχαίοις: πρὸς γὰρ διάφορον κλίσιν διάφορος καὶ ἡ διάνοια. ἐὰν μὲν γὰρ πρὸς αἰτιατικὴν ἡ σύνταξις ᾖ, ἔχθραν καὶ δυσμένειαν παρίστησι τοῦ συλλαμβάνοντος, κακουργίαν δὲ τοῦ συλλαμβανομένου, ὡς νῦν, ξυλλαβεῖν τὸν ἄνδρα. καὶ Δημοσθένης ἐν τῷ κατὰ Μειδίου: οὐχὶ συλληψόμεθα αὐτόν; ἐὰν δὲ πρὸς δοτικήν, σημαίνει φιλίαν καὶ συμμαχίαν, ὡς Ἰσοκράτης ἐν ταῖς Παραινέσεσιν: ὁρῶ δὲ καὶ τὴν τύχην ἡμῖν συλλαμβάνουσαν. ἴσον τῷ συναγωνιζομένην. ἐπάγει γοῦν, καὶ τὸν παρόντα καιρὸν συναγωνιζόμενον. καὶ Δημοσθένης α# Φιλιππικῶν.

[1] I.e. it (aorist active infinitive of συλλαμβάνω / ξυλλαμβάνω ) will mean 'seize' or 'assist' according to the case with which it is construed.
[2] Demosth. 21.116 (web address 1).
[3] Isok. 1.3 (web address 2). (Counsels is the work more usually known, nowadays, as To Demonikos.)
[4] The numeral is faulty; this is probably, as Adler notes, an allusion to Demosth. 6.15 (as conventionally emended).

David Whitehead (added headword, note, keyword; cosmetics) on 17 January 2001@07:16:37.
David Whitehead (added keyword; restorative and other cosmetics) on 4 May 2003@10:18:09.
Catharine Roth (added betacode and links, raised status) on 24 March 2008@00:31:02.
Catharine Roth (augmented note) on 24 March 2008@21:49:30.

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