Tonight the scroll is mine. This is the Letter of Aristeas. It tells how the Law of Moses, the first five books of our scriptures, was translated into Greek, here, for this Library.
The Septuagint · Reported speech
The Seventy-Two
How the Law of Moses came to be translated into Greek in Alexandria, as the Letter of Aristeas tells it, and the grammar of telling what other people said: reported statements, questions and commands, told by Philo, questioned by Marcos, counted by Demetria, and weighed by Sophia.
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PHILO
SOPHIA
And it is a letter, Philo, which means that almost everything in it is somebody reporting what somebody else said. The king said, the high priest wrote, the elders answered. So tonight’s grammar chose itself: reported speech.
The story
After the Letter of Aristeas
In the days of King Ptolemy, the second of that name, Demetrius of Phalerum was in charge of the royal Library. One day he told the king that the Library now had more than two hundred thousand scrolls, but that it was still missing the laws of the Jews, which were written in Hebrew and deserved a place among the best books in the world.
The king wrote to Eleazar, the high priest in Jerusalem, with rich gifts, and asked him to send men who could translate the Law into Greek. Eleazar chose seventy-two elders, six from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, wise men who knew both languages well.
When they arrived in Alexandria with the scrolls of the Law, written in letters of gold, the king bowed before the scrolls seven times. For seven days he held a banquet for the elders, and at each dinner he asked them difficult questions about how a king should live and rule. Every answer was so wise that the whole court was amazed.
Then Demetrius took the elders across the causeway to the island of Pharos, to a quiet house by the sea. Every morning they washed their hands in the sea and prayed, and then they worked, comparing their translations with each other until they all agreed.
They finished in seventy-two days. When the translation was read aloud to the Jews of Alexandria, the people welcomed it, and the elders declared that nobody should ever add a word to it, or take a word away.
The story as the Letter of Aristeas tells it. Historians think the letter is partly legend, but the translation was real, and it was made in Alexandria.
Seventy-two or seventy?
DEMETRIA
Seventy-two elders, seventy-two days. So why do people call it the Septuagint, “the Seventy”?
PHILO
Because people like round numbers. The book says seventy-two, six from each tribe. But everybody who talks about it rounds it to seventy. Perhaps because seventy elders went up the mountain with Moses.
MARCOS
So nobody lost two translators on the way.
PHILO
Nobody lost anybody, Marcos. They just lost count.
Reported statements: the tense moves back
MARCOS
Demetrius said: “The Library has two hundred thousand scrolls.” So in the story it says: Demetrius told the king that the Library has…
SOPHIA
Almost. When the reporting verb is in the past (said, told), the tense usually moves one step back: has → had, is → was, will → would, have sent → had sent. Demetrius told the king that the Library had two hundred thousand scrolls.
Say or tell?
THE CLERK
I copied the king’s letter this morning. It said… or it told…? I can never remember.
SOPHIA
Tell needs a person: he told the king that…. Say doesn’t: he said that…, or he said to the king that…. Never “he said the king”.
Reported questions: no question order
DEMETRIA
At the banquet, the king asked: “How can a king keep his kingdom safe?” So: the king asked how could a king keep…
SOPHIA
Careful. In a reported question, the words go back into normal order, subject then verb, and there is no question mark: The king asked how a king could keep his kingdom safe. For yes / no questions, use if or whether: He asked whether they were tired.
Reported commands and requests: to + verb
PHILO
And when the high priest gave the elders their instructions: “Do not change a single word.”
SOPHIA
Commands and requests become tell / ask + person + (not) to + verb: Eleazar told them not to change a single word. The king asked Eleazar to send six elders from each tribe.
Here, today, tomorrow
THE CLERK
“We will begin here tomorrow,” they said. So they said they would begin here tomorrow?
PHILO
Not if you are reporting it a week later, somewhere else. here → there, today → that day, tomorrow → the next day, yesterday → the day before. They said they would begin there the next day.
Legend and history
SOPHIA
One more thing, and it matters. The Letter of Aristeas reports what people said, but reporting is not the same as proving. Historians think much of it is legend: Demetrius, for example, may not have been in favour with that king at all. What we know is that the Law was translated into Greek, here in Alexandria, about two hundred and fifty years ago.
PHILO
And every year we still go out to Pharos to give thanks for it.
Sophia’s summary
| Form | Use | From the fable |
|---|---|---|
| said (that) / told somebody (that) + backshift | reported statements | Demetrius told the king that the Library had 200,000 scrolls. |
| asked + wh-word + subject + verb | reported wh- questions | The king asked how a king could keep his kingdom safe. |
| asked if / whether + subject + verb | reported yes / no questions | He asked whether they were tired. |
| told / asked + person + (not) to + verb | reported commands and requests | Eleazar told them not to change a word. |
| here → there, tomorrow → the next day | place and time words change | They said they would begin there the next day. |
Practice
Answer all the questions, then press “Check my answers”. You can try again as many times as you like.
A · Choose the best form
Choose the form that fits best.
1. “The scrolls are written in gold.” → The elders said that the scrolls ___ written in gold.
2. The king ___ Eleazar that he wanted a translation.
3. “Where do you come from?” → The king asked the elders where ___.
4. “Are you tired?” → The king asked ___ they were tired.
5. “Please send six elders from each tribe.” → The king asked Eleazar ___ six elders.
6. “Don’t change a single word.” → Eleazar told them ___ a single word.
B · Complete the sentence
Report what was said. Write the missing words.
7. “We will finish in seventy-two days.” → They said that they finish in seventy-two days.
8. “We have translated the first book.” → They said that they translated the first book.
9. “How long will the work take?” → The king asked how long the work take.
10. “We will begin tomorrow.” → They said they would begin .
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
11. “The king said Demetrius that he was pleased.”
12. “Philo asked why the book was called the Seventy.”
13. “Marcos asked what had happened to the other two translators?”
Now travel to Jerusalem and back yourself, as the king’s courtier Aristeas.Play the gamebook →