Parsing of "ipsa" 20:54 Aug 27, 2010
No. Ipse is an emphatic rather than demonstrative pronoun. If it were neuter plural here, it would have no referent (antecedent); emphasizing an undefined "things" just does not make sense.
Here's the Lewis and Short definition: "αὐτός, self, in person, he (emphatic), himself, herself, itself, used both substantively and adjectively, to denote that person (thing) of which something is eminently or exclusively predicated." The qualities of eminence or exclusivity just do not apply to something undefined.
Moreover, as I said, this is a close variant on a quotation from the Aeneid, which the author surely knew. There it is ipse, nom. masc., referring to Aeneas (a natural, idiomatic use of the word). |