Tuesday, August 22nd || Homeric Greek
Today we started book one of the Iliad! This is what I've been waiting for since switching to a classics major. This is what I want to spend the rest of my life studying
That being said, I'm really excited about it
So here's the Homeric Greek:
μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος
οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί᾽ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε᾽ ἔθηκε,
πολλὰς δ᾽ ἰφθίμους ψυχὰς Ἄϊδι προΐαψεν
ἡρώων, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν
οἰωνοῖσί τε δαῖτα—Δι���ς δ᾽ ἐτελείετο βουλή—,
ἐξ οὗ δὴ τὰ πρῶτα διαστήτην ἐρίσαντε
Ἀτρεΐδης τε ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν καὶ δῖος Ἀχιλλεύς.
My at-home translation:
Sing, Muse, the destructive rage of Achilles son of Peleus,
that which set countless sufferings on the Achaeans,
sent forth many valiant souls to Hades,
the heroes themselves prey for the dogs
a feast for the birds—the will of Zeus was fulfilled—,
from the time they first separated, quarreling,
the son of Atreus, the lord of men, and heavenly Achilles.
And the edited class translation:
Sing, Muse, the destructive rage of Achilles, son of Peleus,
Which set countless sufferings on the Achaeans,
And sent forward many strong souls to Hades,
Made the heroes themselves prey for the dogs
And a feast for the birds—the will of Zeus was being fulfilled—,
Ever since the two first stood apart quarreling
The son of Atreus, the lord of men, and heavenly Achilles.
4 notes
·
View notes
translate with me! ancient greek edition
λόγος μέν ἐστ᾽ ἀρχαῖος ἀνθρώπων φανείς,
ὡς οὐκ ἂν αἰῶν᾽ ἐκμάθοις βροτῶν, πρὶν ἂν
θάνῃ τις, οὔτ᾽ εἰ χρηστὸς οὔτ᾽ εἴ τῳ κακός:
These are the first three lines of Sophocles' Trachiniae, and they are spoken by Deianeira, who was one of Heracles' wives. The lines are referencing the Athenian statesman, Solon and a conversation he reputably had with the Lydian king, Croesus.
(The grammar here isn't too complicated as the clauses are nicely separated out, but it's still worth it to go in depth and pick it apart.)
Let's look at the first clause/line. What we want to find is first the main verb and then the subject, if there is one.
λόγος μέν ἐστ᾽ ἀρχαῖος ἀνθρώπων φανείς- εστ' or εστι is our verb. It is the 3rd sg present active indicative form of the verb 'to be' (ειμι) and in this case, it is best to translate it impersonally, as 'there is.' Now is there a subject?
Yes! λόγος μέν ἐστ᾽ ἀρχαῖος ἀνθρώπων φανείς- All three of the bolded words are masculine nominative sg, and so they all could be our subject. However, since λογος is our only noun, meaning 'saying', and the others are an adjective, 'ancient,' and an aorist passive participle, 'to disclose,' respectively, it is our subject, while the other two are modifiers, describing the noun.
Now what's left? λόγος μέν ἐστ᾽ ἀρχαῖος ἀνθρώπων φανείς- ανθρωπων is a masculine genitive pl, meaning 'men' and in this case, it is a possessive genitive, modifying λογος. We can ignore μεν. It is a particle that indicates Deianeira will provide an opposing perspective in later lines.
Translation so far: There is a saying of men, from long ago, which disclosed- I translated the adjective adverbially and the participle like a relative clause for intelligibility.
Now let's look at the second clause! ὡς οὐκ ἂν αἰῶν᾽ ἐκμάθοις βροτῶν- εκμαθοις is the verb of this clause and instead of an indicative like before, this verb's mood is optative, because we are in indirect statement (indicated by ως, governed by the past tense φανεις). εκμαθοις is a 2nd sg aorist active optative, meaning 'to know thoroughly.' The adverbs ουκ and αν tells us that the phrase is negative and that the optative verb is specifically a potential one, respectively.
ὡς οὐκ ἂν αἰῶν᾽ ἐκμάθοις βροτῶν- αιων' or αιωνα, 'life,' is a m accusative sg, and is the direct object of the verb. βροτων, 'mortals,' like ανθρωπων, is m genitive pl, and is a possessive genitive modifying αιων'.
Translation: There is a saying of men, from long ago, which disclosed that you would not know thoroughly the life of mortals...
Third and fourth clause! I'm going to reverse these in translation because it just makes more sense to do that (you'll see why).
πρὶν ἂν θάνῃ τις- θανηι is a 3rd sg aorist active subjunctive, meaning 'to die.' We are still in a subordinate clause, so that is why its mood is not indicative. Specifically, we are in a πριν clause, which is a kind of temporal clause. πριν can either mean 'before' or 'until', but since the preceding clause is negative, it will mean 'until.' τις is m nom sg, meaning 'any, one', here just 'he', and it is the subject of the clause.
οὔτ᾽ εἰ χρηστὸς οὔτ᾽ εἴ τῳ κακός- The fourth clause is missing a verb, so we will have to supply a form of ειμι (like one does all the time). χρηστος, 'good,' and κακος, 'bad,' are both m nom sg. However, they are both adjectives, so it is right to assume that the noun they are modifying (the subject) has been left out also. τωι is a m dative sg, referring to the same person τις was in the last clause. It is a possessive dative with the implied subject αιων, so it will mean 'his life', instead of 'for him.' ουτ' and ει, both conjunctions, kind of mean the same thing. In this case, together they mean 'whether... or'.
Translation at the end: There is a saying of men, from long ago, which disclosed that you would not know thoroughly the life of mortals: whether his life was good or bad, until he died. Again, it was more intelligible to reverse the third and fourth clauses in translation.
Let me know if this is something that I should keep doing/ that is helpful. It's fun and a good teaching exercise. If there are any questions, I'm more than happy to try to answer them. - Dys
0 notes