GREEK PREPOSITIONS. 345 



hence it is ufually tranflated with. With the accufative it de- 

 notes a guide or condudor, who goes before vis, or whom we 

 follow ; hence it is ufually rendered after *. With the dative it 

 denotes a plurality of condudors, and that we are between or 

 amidfl them ; hence it commonly ftands for among. Thus the 

 three fignifications of with, among, and after, take their rife ; 

 agreeably to which we may analyze a few of the cafes in which 

 /ASTa occurs, and thefe will fufficiently prove the juftice of the 

 explanation. 



I. Msra, with the genitive, commonly denoting with. Thus, 

 |K.ira HXccravog klixeiv, " to do injuflice with Plato," — " to doin- 

 " juftice,— condudlor Plato." 



— ^— y^aiTctt ippeuovro fft^ira xvoi>i?. HoMER. 



" Their manes were fhaken with the wind," — " their manea 

 " were fhaken, — condudlor the wind." Me^' i|M,«> roiria-atBui tov 

 " a,yum, " to engage in the conteft with us, or on our fide,"— 

 " to engage in the conteft, — condudlor in the conteft, — us." 

 'O -TToina-cci 70 h.iog ^asr' uvtov, [Liik. x. 37-), " he that fhowed 

 " mercy on him," — " that fhewed mercy, — guide or diredlion of 

 " the channel in which the mercy was to flow, — him," 



It is to be obferved, that, between a guide or condudtor 

 whom we accompany, and a mere companion in the way, the 

 difference is very often hardly perceptible. It was very natural, 

 therefore, in their mode of applying /Asra, to Aide from the one 

 to the other. Hence /xsra with the genitive, in a variety of in- 

 ftances, denotes little more than a mere conjundlion, or accom- 

 paniment, the ftridl idea of guiding or directing being thrown 



Y y 2 into 



• After, though the common, is not the univerfal fenfe of fttra with the accu- 

 fative i fometimes, with this cafe, it fignifies the fame as with the dative, Ba'^j-jo* 

 J. m-ru fiiTo, pc''?«f, (Herodian), " he had a ftaff between his hands." 



