15 Narrative Structure and Verbal Aspect Choice in Luke tive verbs. These verbs bring the reader into an action that is seen as it transpires from an internal perspective. Conversely, the perfective verb in the following clause (the aorist φαγεν), because it carries the character- istic of “proximity” to the speaking consciousness and relates the action as “an event whose completion constitutes the essence of the speaker’s [i.e., the narrator’s] experience”40, creates an external perspective from which the whole of the event may be viewed. From the standpoint of the historian Luke, this action is a completed event that can be known and transcribed externally and, therefore, can be recorded with a posture of historical veracity. It is apparent, then, that these two perspectives of speaking, recorded by imperfect and aorist verbs, both semantically and functionally, closely match the mimetic and diegetic discourse modes found in Thucydides. The previously mentioned phrase ν τα ς μ ραις κε ναις exhibits the same discourse function in the gospel of Luke as Bakker has dem- onstrated γ ρ does in Thucydides and Herodotus41: it effects a switch in discourse mode. In the Luke 4,1-2 example, the phrase switches us from the internal perspective of the imperfect verbs in the prior sentence to the external perspective in the following sentence. Even though the lexi- cal semantics of these adverbial units differ –γ ρ is concerned with the grounds for a statement and ν τα ς μ ραις κε ναις is concerned with temporality– they have analogous functions. Luke utilizes this phrase elsewhere in his gospel, exploiting its per- spective-switching potential in a similar manner as in the 4,1-2 example. Chapter one ends with the story of the birth of John the Baptist and a long quotation of his father’s prophecy about the child’s mission to herald the coming of Jesus. After this, the narrative returns: [1,80] Τ δ παιδ ον η ξανε κα κραταιο το πνε ματι, κα ν ν τα ς ρ μοις ως μ ρας ναδε ξεως α το πρ ς τ ν σρα λ. [2,1] γ νετο δ ν τα ς μ ραις κε ναις ξ λθεν δ γμα παρ Κα σαρος Α γο στου πογρ φεσθαι π σαν τ ν ο κουμ νην. [1,80] And the child was growing and becoming strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the days of his appearance to Israel. [2,1] And it happened in those days that a decree went forth from Caesar Augustus that the whole world was to be enrolled in a census42. 40 Bakker, “Verbal Aspect”, 26. 41 Ibid., 45-46, 45 n. 77. 42 Luke 1,80 – 2,1, author’s translation.