For lovers of Greek prose comp: Socrates vs Hawking

[cb]

Hi all, for those of you who enjoy Greek prose composition, I just thought I'd pass along my Socratic dialogue in Platonic Greek, between Socrates and Stephen Hawking. The judges were kind enough to give it a prize:

https://antigonejournal.com/2023/02/soc ... n-winners/

The dialogue includes a link at the end to my working document, where I noted alongside each clause the choices I made re. syntax, word order, vocabulary, structure, style, Platonic Greek idiom, etc., as well as aspects of Hawking's cosmology (definitely not my area: I quickly read through a few of Hawking's books over the end of year break to get across this area, which was fun) and ancient ethics discussed in the dialogue.

https://antigonejournal.com/wp-content/ ... Bochan.pdf

Cheers, Chad

[mwh]

Chad, congratulations! A joy to read, and immensely instructive. It’s going to take me a while to work my way through your commentary, but I fully expect it will be worth it.
Michael

[cb]

Thanks Michael! There won’t be anything new in there for an expert like yourself; it was mostly for my own reference originally, but I decided to send it along to the judges in case they had questions on any of my constructions. Cheers, Chad

[jeidsath]

I skipped the English and just read the Greek. It was clear and easy to follow and very good fun. Maybe next time the two can discuss information escaping black holes with Theaetetus.

[seneca2008]

Congratulations Chad. I will have to find some time to study your entry. I am sure it will be profitable.

I think this quote about your prize winning entry from the Antigone Journal deserves to be shared here.

"The quality of the Greek prose is truly formidable; one of the judges observes that “in 20 years of teaching and examining Greek prose at university level, I have seen no better Platonic composition, nor any so free from error.” This achievement is all the more astounding, given that its composer is a complete autodidact, who has never had any teaching in Greek (or indeed Latin). "

Perhaps those of us who had the benefit of all your well considered posts over the years here on textkit should not be surprised by this. You are an inspiration and model for us all.

[cb]

Many thanks all! I still feel like a beginner to be honest (still so much to read and learn!), but more comfortable than at the beginning, thanks largely to spending many years on this forum and learning from others. Hope newbies on this site realise that with a lot of personal application and engagement here, the mist will eventually start to clear (it’s still really hard though!). Cheers, Chad

[bedwere]

Εὖγε, εὖγε.