I’m a massive Greek noob so forgive my confusion over something which I’m sure is quite simple. I’m struggling with this little sentence from section 31 of Book 1 concerning Kleobis and Biton:
Painfully literally: ‘the life of these men who were Argives in respect of race was sufficient to live and in addition [their] bodily strength such as the following…’
Questions:
τούτοισι ἐοῦσι Ἀργείοισι - why are these in the dative - are they datives of possession?
γένος - is this an accusative of respect governed by Ἀργείοισι?
ὑπῆν - what does this mean here - ‘to live under’?
τοιήδε - why is this feminine?
Do you have any advice for a panicked student who needs to read a large amount of Herodotean Greek quickly?
Do you have any advice for a panicked student who needs to read a large amount of Herodotean Greek quickly?
How about not panicking and use a dictionary.
You will see from LSJ that “βίος ἀρκέων ὑπῆν” occurs both in the entry for ὕπειμι and ἀρκέω. The idea is about having sufficient resources/ wealth. They were a two oxen family - zeugitai,
G.S. Farnell’s versions of various stories might be a help getting started, and Steadman’s commentaries. You may wish to read Whitesell’s short article on “Learning to Read a Foreign Language”, and Moulton’s “Study Hints for Language Students.” Both are available (for free) from JSTOR with registration.
