244cd

Post Reply
User avatar
Constantinus Philo
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 1403
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2019 1:04 pm

244cd

Post by Constantinus Philo »

Fowler's translation has at least one serious error which I highlight:
And it is worth while to adduce also the fact that those men of old who invented names thought that madness was neither shameful nor disgraceful otherwise they would not have connected the very word mania with the noblest of arts, that which foretells the future, by calling it the manic art. No, they gave this name thinking that mania, when it comes by gift of the gods, is a noble thing, but nowadays people call prophecy the mantic art, tastelessly inserting a T in the word;So also, when they gave a name to the investigation of the future which rational persons conduct through observation of birds and by other signs, since they furnish mind (nous)and information (historia) to human thought (oiesis) from the intellect (dianoia) they called it the oionoistic (oionoistike) art, which modern folk now call oionistic making it more high-sounding by introducing the long O. The ancients, then testify that in proportion as prophecy (mantike) is superior to augury, both in name and in fact, in the same proportion madness, which comes from god, is superior to sanity, which is of human origin.
I propose my translation which is more correct, I hope, and runs more smoothly:
It is worthwhile to bring as evidence the fact that of the ancients those who were the name-givers did not consider madness/mania as something shameful or blameworthy: for they would not have connected it with the name of the noblest art by which the future is fathomed, calling it manic. On the contrary, they called it, when granted by divine dispensation, something noble; however, nowadays people call it mantic, tastelessly inserting a T into the word. And [this is also so, namely, that mania is not something shameful], since they called the art of rational persons inquiring about the future by means of birds and other marks, inasmuch as they deliberately supply human opinion with information and insight, oionoistike, which modern people call oionistic making it more high-sounding by introducing the long O; therefore, it is clear that inasmuch as mantic is superior to oionoistike, to the same degree, as the ancients testify, divine mania is nobler than human common sense, both in name and in fact.
Semper Fidelis

Post Reply