Ἀθήναζε, 4, α, 96-99 (οὐδ'ὀλίγον χρόνον τολμῶσιν)

Χαῖρετε, πάντες!

This passage has been difficult to me:

Οὔτω χαλεπός ἐστιν ὁ ἀνήρ ὤστε πάντες οἱ δοῦλοι φόβον ἔχουσιν, καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ δεσπότου ἀποχωρεῖν οὐδ’ὀλίγον χρόνον τολμῶσιν, ὄτε ἐν τοῖς ἀγροῖς πονοῦσιν.

The first clause seems clear to me: The master is so severe that all his slaves fear him. The second, though, not so: “and they dare for a great time (οὐδ’ὀλίγον χρόνον) to flee from him while they work in the fields” seems a very harsh sentence. Did I understood οὐδ’ὀλίγον χρόνον correctly? So far it has only appeared as a synonym to Latin neque, but here it does not seem join two sentences together (ἀποχωρεῖν is what they τολμῶσιν, it is all one sentence).

Ἔρρωσθε!
Ἰωάννης Στέφανος.

They dare not even for a short time to withdraw from the master

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Oh, so I understood it completely wrong. I did not know οὐδέ could also stand for not even. Now it does not seem clumsy at all.

Much thanks, Bedwere!

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