ἐπεὶ δ᾽ ἡμᾶς οὐ κατέλαβον, πρὸς τοὺς Κερασουντίους ἔλεγον ὅτι θαυμάζοιεν τί ἡμῖν δόξειεν ἐλθεῖν ἐπ᾽ αὐτούς. ἐπεὶ μέντοι σφεῖς λέγειν, ἔφασαν, ὅτι οὐκ ἀπὸ κοινοῦ γένοιτο τὸ πρᾶγμα, ἥδεσθαί τε αὐτοὺς καὶ μέλλειν ἐνθάδε πλεῖν, ὡς ἡμῖν λέξαι τὰ γενόμενα καὶ τοὺς νεκροὺς κελεύειν αὐτοὺς θάπτειν λαβόντας.
I don't understand the construction of the second sentence. I can't find any finite verb to go with ἐπεὶ, and my dictionary doesn't say it can be used with an infinitive. If I ignore the commas and take ἔφασαν as the verb of the ἐπεὶ clause, then there's no main clause. I looked at two translations, one of which seems to be treating λέγειν as if it were a finite verb, while the other seems to ignore ἐπεὶ. Am I missing something or is the passage corrupt?
I don't understand the construction of the second sentence. I can't find any finite verb to go with ἐπεὶ, and my dictionary doesn't say it can be used with an infinitive. If I ignore the commas and take ἔφασαν as the verb of the ἐπεὶ clause, then there's no main clause. I looked at two translations, one of which seems to be treating λέγειν as if it were a finite verb, while the other seems to ignore ἐπεὶ. Am I missing something or is the passage corrupt?
