One of Barbara Patla's Senior Classics students, six weeks into her course, ordered a T-shirt from her old College. The college, which prides itself justifiably on its Greek and Latin Departments, as well as excavations and courses in Greece, sent promptly a fine purple T-shirt with the chosen message, "Know Thyself."
Well, sorta the chosen message. Well-schooled by Barbara in checking cases and declensions, the student checked. And re-checked. And checked again. The "know" seemed just dandy, in the imperative case.
The "thyself" as printed on the t-shirt couldn't be found in the text for Classic Greek or in the dictionary the student was using for modern Greek.
Let's see --- gotta Sigma, gotta an alpha, gotta--- wait a minute. SAUTON?
A letter to the College asking about the apparently missing epsilon has not been answered yet, but special applause to Barbara who knows how to motivate senior-type learners.
Diogenes Laertius, LIVES OF THE PHILOSOPHERS, quotes it as a saying of Thales. He gives the form 'sauton,' which is a variant of 'seauton.' There are alternative forms for this second person reflexive pronoun. We chose to use the form that students have just learned on page 101, rather than introducing its variant.
Evidently there are several variations on this pronoun so there is no need to change the T shirt!
Page 14 ~ YOU HAVE THE LAST WORD!