Tuesday, July 22, 2025

 

A Dedicated Tutor

François Rabelais (1494-1553), Gargantua and Pantagruel I.23 (he = Gargantua, his tutor = Ponocrates; tr. J.M. Cohen):
Then he went into some private place to make excretion of his natural waste-products, and there his tutor repeated what had been read, explaining to him the more obscure and difficult points.

Puis il allait aux lieux secrets excréter le produit des digestions naturelles. Là, son précepteur répétait ce qu'on avait lu et lui expliquait les passages les plus obscurs et les plus difficiles.

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Mirth

Laurence Sterne (1713-1768), Tristram Shandy, Dedication to Mr. Pitt:
I live in a constant endeavour to fence against the infirmities of ill health, and other evils of life, by mirth; being firmly persuaded that every time a man smiles,—but much more so, when he laughs, it adds something to this Fragment of Life.

Monday, July 21, 2025

 

The Ritual of Greek Drinking

C.M. Bowra (1898-1971), Greek Lyric Poetry from Alcman to Simonides, 2nd rev. ed. (1961; rpt. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2000), p. 158 (Alcaeus, fragment 346; notes omitted):
πώνωμεν· τί τὰ λύχν᾿ ὀμμένομεν; δάκτυλος ἀμέρα.
κὰδ δἄερρε κυλίχναις μεγάλαις αἶψ' ἀπὺ πασσάλων.
οἶνον γὰρ Σεμέλας καὶ Δίος υἶος λαθικάδεον
ἀνθρώποισιν ἔδωκ᾿. ἔγχεε κέρναις ἔνα καὶ δύο
πλήαις κὰκ κεφάλας, <ἀ> δ᾿ ἀτέρα τὰν ἀτέραν κύλιξ
ὠθήτω.


Let us drink. Why do we wait for the lamps? The day has but an inch to go. Lift down the big cups at once from the pegs. For the son of Semele and Zeus gave wine to men to forget their cares. Mix one of water and two of wine, pour them in to the brim, and let one cup jostle another.

Here is the essential ritual of Greek drinking—the mention of the time of day, the drill of taking the cups from their pegs, the justification of wine because it gets rid of cares, the precise proportions of wine and water, and the call to keep the proceedings going by emptying thc cups quickly and calling for more. All is in order, but not quite usual. The drink is a good deal stronger than normally. When Alcaeus says ἔνα καὶ δύο he can only mean one part of water to two of wine, since in such phrases the water comes first and the wine second. This is evidently a special occasion when the wine is not only abundant but taken strong.

Saturday, July 19, 2025

 

Perjury

Erwin Rohde (1845-1898), Psyche, tr. W.B. Hillis (1925; rpt. Chicago: Ares Publishers, Inc., 1987), p. 54, n. 85:
It should be remembered also that no legal penalties against perjury existed in Greece, any more than in Rome. They were unnecessary in face of the general expectation that the deity whom the perjurer had invoked against himself would take immediate revenge upon the criminal.
Related post: Offenses Against Gods.

 

Teetotallers

Caesar, Gallic War 4.2.6 (of the Suebi, a German tribe; tr. James J. O'Donnell):
They do not let wine be imported to them, for they think it softens men for hard work and makes them womanly.

vinum ad se omnino importari non sinunt, quod ea re ad laborem ferendum remollescere homines atque effeminari arbitrantur.

Thursday, July 17, 2025

 

Freeloader

Euripides, Rhesus 325-326 (tr. Richmond Lattimore):
He is here for the feasting, but he was not here
with spear in hand to help the huntsmen catch the game.

ἥκει γὰρ ἐς δαῖτ᾽, οὐ παρὼν κυνηγέταις
αἱροῦσι λείαν οὐδὲ συγκαμὼν δορί.

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

 

The Multitude

Euripides, Iphigenia at Aulis 1357 (tr. David Kovacs):
The multitude are a terrible bane.

τὸ πολὺ γὰρ δεινὸν κακόν.

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

 

An Evening's Entertainment

Xenophon, Anabasis 6.1.5-13 (tr. Robin Waterfield):
[5] They poured libations and sang a paean, and then two Thracians were the first to get to their feet. Still in their armour, they danced to the accompaniment of the pipes, lightly leaping high off the ground and thrusting with their swords. In the end one of them struck the other, and everyone thought the man had been wounded, though he fell in a somewhat contrived fashion. [6] The Paphlagonians shouted out loud at the sight. Then the first man stripped the other of his arms and armour and left, singing the Sitalces, while other Thracians carried the fallen man away as though he were dead, although in fact he was completely unscathed.

[7] Next, some Aenianians and Magnesians stood up and began a dance in armour called the karpaia, [8] which goes like this: one man puts down his weapons and starts to sow grain and drive a team, while constantly turning this way and that as though in fear; a robber approaches and the farmer spots him, grabs his weapons, goes to meet him, and fights him to stop him stealing his team of oxen. They keep time throughout with the music of the pipes. In the end the robber ties up the farmer and steals the oxen, but sometimes the farmer ties up the robber and then puts him under the yoke next to the oxen with his hands tied behind his back and drives him on.

[9] Next, a Mysian stepped forward with a light shield in each hand. As he danced, sometimes he pretended that he was fending off two opponents, but at other times he wielded both shields as though he were fighting just one man. Then he whirled and turned somersaults while keeping the shields in his hands, which made a beautiful display. [10] Finally, he performed the Persian dance, which involved clashing his shields together, while squatting and rising up again. He kept time throughout with the music of the pipes.

[11] After the Mysian it was the turn of the Mantineans to step forward, and others from elsewhere in Arcadia also got to their feet. Dressed in the most splendid armour they could muster, they paraded in time with a martial tune played on the pipes, chanted a paean, and performed the same dance they put on during their religious processions.

The Paphlagonians found it strange that all the dances they had seen involved armour, [12] and the Mysian, seeing how surprised they were, persuaded one of the Arcadians, who owned a dancing-girl, to let him dress her in the most beautiful costume he could find, give her a light shield, and then bring her on.

[13] She performed an elegant version of the Pyrrhic dance and received loud applause. The Paphlagonians asked whether the women fought alongside them, and the Greeks said that these were the very women who had put the king to flight from his camp. And so the evening came to an end.

[5] ἐπεὶ δὲ σπονδαί τε ἐγένοντο καὶ ἐπαιάνισαν, ἀνέστησαν πρῶτον μὲν Θρᾷκες καὶ πρὸς αὐλὸν ὠρχήσαντο σὺν τοῖς ὅπλοις καὶ ἥλλοντο ὑψηλά τε καὶ κούφως καὶ ταῖς μαχαίραις ἐχρῶντο· τέλος δὲ ὁ ἕτερος τὸν ἕτερον παίει, ὡς πᾶσιν ἐδόκει πεπληγέναι τὸν ἄνδρα· ὁ δ᾽ ἔπεσε τεχνικῶς πως. [6] καὶ ἀνέκραγον οἱ Παφλαγόνες. καὶ ὁ μὲν σκυλεύσας τὰ ὅπλα τοῦ ἑτέρου ἐξῄει ᾁδων τὸν Σιτάλκαν: ἄλλοι δὲ τῶν Θρᾳκῶν τὸν ἕτερον ἐξέφερον ὡς τεθνηκότα· ἦν δὲ οὐδὲν πεπονθώς.

[7] μετὰ τοῦτο Αἰνιᾶνες καὶ Μάγνητες ἀνέστησαν, οἳ ὠρχοῦντο τὴν καρπαίαν καλουμένην ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις. [8] ὁ δὲ τρόπος τῆς ὀρχήσεως ἦν, ὁ μὲν παραθέμενος τὰ ὅπλα σπείρει καὶ ζευγηλατεῖ, πυκνὰ δὲ στρεφόμενος ὡς φοβούμενος, λῃστὴς δὲ προσέρχεται· ὁ δ᾽ ἐπειδὰν προΐδηται, ἀπαντᾷ ἁρπάσας τὰ ὅπλα καὶ μάχεται πρὸ τοῦ ζεύγους· καὶ οὗτοι ταῦτ᾽ ἐποίουν ἐν ῥυθμῷ πρὸς τὸν αὐλόν· καὶ τέλος ὁ λῃστὴς δήσας τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ τὸ ζεῦγος ἀπάγει·

[9] ἐνίοτε δὲ καὶ ὁ ζευγηλάτης τὸν λῃστήν: εἶτα παρὰ τοὺς βοῦς ζεύξας ὀπίσω τὼ χεῖρε δεδεμένον ἐλαύνει. μετὰ τοῦτο Μυσὸς εἰσῆλθεν ἐν ἑκατέρᾳ τῇ χειρὶ ἔχων πέλτην, καὶ τοτὲ μὲν ὡς δύο ἀντιταττομένων μιμούμενος ὠρχεῖτο, τοτὲ δὲ ὡς πρὸς ἕνα ἐχρῆτο ταῖς πέλταις, τοτὲ δ᾽ ἐδινεῖτο καὶ ἐξεκυβίστα ἔχων τὰς πέλτας, ὥστε ὄψιν καλὴν φαίνεσθαι. [10] τέλος δὲ τὸ περσικὸν ὠρχεῖτο κρούων τὰς πέλτας καὶ ὤκλαζε καὶ ἐξανίστατο· καὶ ταῦτα πάντα ἐν ῥυθμῷ ἐποίει πρὸς τὸν αὐλόν.

[11] ἐπὶ δὲ τούτῳ ἐπιόντες οἱ Μαντινεῖς καὶ ἄλλοι τινὲς τῶν Ἀρκάδων ἀναστάντες ἐξοπλισάμενοι ὡς ἐδύναντο κάλλιστα ᾖσάν τε ἐν ῥυθμῷ πρὸς τὸν ἐνόπλιον ῥυθμὸν αὐλούμενοι καὶ ἐπαιάνισαν καὶ ὠρχήσαντο ὥσπερ ἐν ταῖς πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς προσόδοις.

ὁρῶντες δὲ οἱ Παφλαγόνες δεινὰ ἐποιοῦντο πάσας τὰς ὀρχήσεις ἐν ὅπλοις εἶναι. [12] ἐπὶ τούτοις ὁρῶν ὁ Μυσὸς ἐκπεπληγμένους αὐτούς, πείσας τῶν Ἀρκάδων τινὰ πεπαμένον ὀρχηστρίδα εἰσάγει σκευάσας ὡς ἐδύνατο κάλλιστα καὶ ἀσπίδα δοὺς κούφην αὐτῇ. ἡ δὲ ὠρχήσατο πυρρίχην ἐλαφρῶς.

[13] ἐνταῦθα κρότος ἦν πολύς, καὶ οἱ Παφλαγόνες ἤροντο εἰ καὶ γυναῖκες συνεμάχοντο αὐτοῖς. οἱ δ᾽ ἔλεγον ὅτι αὗται καὶ αἱ τρεψάμεναι εἶεν βασιλέα ἐκ τοῦ στρατοπέδου. τῇ μὲν νυκτὶ ταύτῃ τοῦτο τὸ τέλος ἐγένετο.

 

How to Live

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), Die fröhliche Wissenschaft, Book IV, § 338 (tr. Walter Kaufmann):
Live in seclusion so that you can live for yourself. Live in ignorance about what seems most important to your age. Between yourself and today lay the skin of at least three centuries. And the clamor of today, the noise of wars and revolutions should be a mere murmur for you.

Lebe im Verborgenen, damit du dir leben kannst! Lebe unwissend über Das, was deinem Zeitalter das Wichtigste dünkt! Lege zwischen dich und heute wenigstens die Haut von drei Jahrhunderten! Und das Geschrei von heute, der Lärm der Kriege und Revolutionen, soll dir ein Gemurmel sein!

Monday, July 14, 2025

 

Attacks on Citizenship Status

K.J. Dover (1920-2010), Greek Popular Morality in the Time of Plato and Aristotle (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1974; rpt. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 1994), p. 32:
The ingredients of these diatribes can be shown to be the common property of comedy and oratory.

(i) One or both of the opponent's parents are of foreign and/or servile birth, and he has improperly become an Athenian citizen.

So Aiskhines alleges (ii 78) that Demosthenes is 'descended on his mother's side from the nomad Scythians' or (iii 172) that he is 'on his mother's side a Greek-speaking Scythian barbarian' (ii 180). So does Deinarkhos i 14; cf. Lys. xxx 2 on Nikomakhos. Compare Kleon as a 'Paphlagonian' in Aristophanes' Knights, Kleophon as a 'Thracian' (Frogs 678ff., cf. Plato Comicus fr. 60), Hyperbolos as a 'Phrygian' (Polyzelos 5) or 'Lydian' (Plato Comicus fr. 170), and similar accusations of foreign birth against Lykon (Pherekrates fr. 11, Eupolis fr. 53), Arkhedemos (Eupolis fr. 71), Khaireas (Eupolis fr. 80) and Dieitrephes (Plato Comicus fr. 31); this list is only selective.
To the list add Akestor, nicknamed Sakas, from Aristophanes, Birds 30-35 (tr. Jeffrey Henderson):
You see, gentlemen of the audience, we're sick with the opposite of Sacas' sickness: he's a non-citizen trying to force his way in, while we, being of good standing in tribe and clan, solid citizens, with no one trying to shoo us away, have up and left our country with both feet flying.

ἡμεῖς γάρ, ὦνδρες οἱ παρόντες ἐν λόγῳ,
νόσον νοσοῦμεν τὴν ἐναντίαν Σάκᾳ·
ὁ μὲν γὰρ ὢν οὐκ ἀστὸς εἰσβιάζεται,
ἡμεῖς δὲ φυλῇ καὶ γένει τιμώμενοι,
ἀστοὶ μετ᾿ ἀστῶν, οὐ σοβοῦντος οὐδενὸς
ἀνεπτόμεθ᾿ ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος ἀμφοῖν τοῖν ποδοῖν.
Nan Dunbar on line 31 (student edition, pp. 116-117):
D. Holwerda, ed., Scholia Vetera et Recentiora in Aristophanis Aves (Groningen: Egbert Forsten, 1991), p. 12:

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