First sentence of Josephus Antiquities of the Jews

Greek Koine and Biblical and Medieval Greek
1

Hello,

I am still a relative newbie with Ancient Greek, but I’m along enough to pluck at some “real” Greek, and when I get stuck, I read the translation, and try to figure out the Greek from the translation, which works usually very well for me. Well, for Josephus, I am stuck on his very first sentence in Antiquities.

Τοῖς τὰς ἱστορίας συγγράφειν βουλομένοις οὐ μίαν οὐδὲ τὴν αὐτὴν ὁρῶ τῆς σπουδῆς γινομένην αἰτίαν, ἀλλὰ πολλὰς καὶ πλεῖστον ἀλλήλων διαφερούσας.

Three translations follow, none of which I understand one particular part.
I see that those who wish to compose histories do not have one and the same motive for their zeal; rather, their reasons are many and very different from one another. Louis Feldman
(Brill, 2000)
Those who essay to write histories are actuated, I observe, not by one and the same aim, but by many widely different motives. H. St. J. Thackeray
(Loeb Library, 1930)
Those who undertake to write histories do not, I perceive, take that trouble on one and the same account, but for many reasons, and those such as are very different one from another. William Whiston
(1736)

I don’t understand this part: οὐ μίαν οὐδὲ τὴν αὐτὴν ὁρῶ τῆς σπουδῆς γινομένην αἰτίαν

I get οὐ μίαν οὐδὲ τὴν αὐτὴν meaning “not one and the same”.
I get ὁρῶ meaning “I see” or “I think”
I get τῆς σπουδῆς meaning something about zeal or haste.
But γινομένην αἰτίαν makes no sense to me with the translations. I’ve looked at the LSJ definitions several times and I don’t see where that can be “take the trouble” “motive” or “same aim”. What am I missing?

2 
      Τοῖς 
            τὰς ἱστορίας συγγράφειν 
      βουλομένοις 
      οὐ μίαν οὐδὲ τὴν αὐτὴν 
ὁρῶ 
           τῆς σπουδῆς 
      γινομένην αἰτίαν, 
      ἀλλὰ πολλὰς καὶ πλεῖστον 
           ἀλλήλων 
      διαφερούσας.

I see that, for those who desire to compose histories, there is not one nor the same cause of zeal, but many and very much different from one another.

3

so τῆς σπουδῆς
γινομένην αἰτίαν
being “cause of zeal” as in “becoming responsible for zeal” I suppose? I think this is the failure of my “Greeklish” to make sense in my brain or something. I think the participle phrase γινομένην αἰτίαν as meaning “cause” is hard for me to trigger for some reason, but it does make sense. I have noted previously to myself that γίγνομαι has a lot of flexibility in usage, much of it semi-idiomatic, and that I would stumble on it as a result. Looks like I was right. Thanks!

4

This is the difference between “translationese” (the type of literalistic translation students use to try to capture the structure of the Greek) and idiomatic translations into English. Biblical Greek students don’t have to deal with this as much, because they have very “formal correspondence” translations such as the NAS, but outside of biblical studies, nobody feels constrained by such principles. In order to make sense out of the translations, you actually have to know Greek sufficiently well to understand it beyond the woodenly literal level.

In this case, I think seeing γινομένην as a supplementary participle in indirect statement might fill in the gap you are experiencing, something like “In the case of those wishing to compose histories, I see that there is [γινομένην] not one and the same cause (reason, motivitation…) for their zeal, but many differing to a great degree from one another”