60: follow, throw, sleep, pay, shout

Here are today's vocabulary words; they are verbs with present, future, and aorist stems, plus a brief definition. (If you are just beginning Greek and have not studied the future or aorist stems yet, you can just focus on the present stem.) Click on the word to learn more at Logeion, and there's also a study tips post.

1. ἕπομαι ~ ἕψομαι ~ ἑσπόμην: follow, come after 

2. βάλλω ~ βαλέω ~ ἔβαλον: throw, cast 
3. καθεύδω ~ καθευδήσω ~ ἐκαθεύδησα: sleep 

4. ἀποδίδωμι ~ ἀποδώσω ~ ἀπέδοτον: give back, pay 

5. βοάω ~ βοήσω ~ ἐβόησα: shout 

Here are the proverbs and sayings:

Τῷ θεῷ ἕπου.

Βάλλ᾽ ἐς ὕδωρ.

Λαγὼς καθεύδων.

Τὰ καίσαρος ἀπόδοτε καίσαρι καὶ τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τῷ θεῷ. 

Φωνὴ αἵματος τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου βοᾷ πρός με ἐκ τῆς γῆς. 

Listen at SoundCloud.

Laura Gibbs · Greek Proverbs: 060

Plus some commentary:

Τῷ θεῷ ἕπου.

Follow the god.

This is one of the oracular sayings of ancient Greece. You can read more about these oracles at Wikipedia: Delphic oracles.

Βάλλ᾿ ἐς ὕδωρ.

Throw (someone) into the water.

This saying appears in Erasmus, who explains that it means to condemn someone to death by drowning in a river or in the sea. You can see the root of βάλλω in English "ballistic." The imperative βάλλε becomes βάλλ' before the following vowel.

Λαγὼς καθεύδων.

The sleeping hare.

This saying also appears in Erasmus, who explains that it refers to a deception: the hare sleeps with its eyes open, or so the ancient Greeks and Romans supposed, fooling people into thinking it was awake. More about this folk tradition: Lagophthalmos or Hare Eye: An Etymologic Eye Opener.

Τὰ καίσαρος ἀπόδοτε καίσαρι καὶ τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τῷ θεῷ. 

Pay the things of Caesar to Caesar, and the things of God to God.

The words appear in the Gospel of Mark, and also in Matthew and Luke. You can find out more at Wikipedia: Render Unto Caesar.

Φωνὴ αἵματος τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου βοᾷ πρός με ἐκ τῆς γῆς.

The voice of your brother's blood cries to me from the earth.

The words come from the Biblical Book of Genesis, when God rebukes Cain for the murder of Abel. You can find out more at Wikipedia: Cain and Abel. You can see the root of Greek αἶμα in English words like hemophilia and hematocrit.

Here is a 15th-century depiction of Cain and Abel:

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