> I need a lesson on the middle voice.
>...an action done by the grammatical subject to itself;
>, the agent (or grammatical subject) is not so much
> doing the action, as having the action done to it by the verb.
Not strictly correct. What you are describing here is firstly a reflexive
verb (I wash myself, I kill myself) and then a passive situation (I am
washed, am killed).
The use of the true middle in Greek is neither of these. The grammatical
subject is most definitely the agent that does the action, but the action is
not done to the agent (so not reflexive). The middle verb can take an
accusative object, or can be intransitive (without object). The essential
difference between active and middle is that in the true middle, the action
is done for the agent's benefit.
Summing up (I repeat, this is only how it is in Greek):
Active: grammatical subject = agent.
Reflexive: grammatical subject = agent and also accusative object.
Passive: grammatical subject is logical object of verbal action.
Middle grammatical subject = agent and beneficiary of action.
To complicate matters:
(a) there are some middle verbs in Greek which are simply deponent - middle
in form but active in meaning.
(b) there are some - a few - cases where middles are used as reflexives, but
this is not the main use of the voice.
Examples:
active: luo = I set free (+ accusative object)
passive: luomai = I am set free
reflexive: eme luo = I set myself free (active + acc. object)
middle: luomai = I ransom (+ acc. object)
the populace sets laws (middle tithetai = for itself)
but: the ruler sets laws (active tithesi)
I send - active pempo (+ acc)
I send for someone - middle pempomai (+ acc)
and so on.
The middle differs from the passive in form only in future and aorist
Peter